60172 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 198 / Friday, October 10, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No. 

97.022, ‘‘Flood Insurance.’’) 

Dated: September 29, 2008. 

Michael K. Buckley, 

Acting Assistant Administrator,Mitigation 

Directorate,Department of Homeland 

Security,Federal Emergency Management 

Agency. 

[FR Doc. E8–24079 Filed 10–9–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–12–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Parts 52 and 64 

[CG Docket No. 03–123 and WC Docket No. 

05–196; DA 08–2130] 

Consumer and Governmental Affairs 

Bureau Modifies Cost Submission 

Timeframes Associated With 

Implementation of the Numbering 

System for Internet-Based 

Telecommunications Relay Services 

(TRS) 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the 

Consumer and Governmental Affairs 

Bureau (Bureau) modifies the filing 

timeframes in which Video Relay 

Service (VRS) and Internet Protocol (IP) 

Relay providers requesting 

compensation from the Interstate TRS 

Fund (Fund) must submit their initial 

filing for costs associated with 

implementation of the numbering 

system for Internet-based TRS. 

DATES: Initial filing deadline is January 

30, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Thomas Chandler, Consumer and 

Governmental Affairs Bureau, Disability 

Rights Office at (202) 418–1475 (voice), 

(202) 418–0597 (TTY), or e-mail at 

Thomas.Chandler@fcc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of the Bureau’s document DA 

08–2130, released September 22, 2008 

in CG Docket No. 03–123 and WC 

Docket No. 05–196. The full text of 

document DA 08–2130 will be available 

for public inspection and copying 

during regular business hours at the 

FCC Reference Information Center, 

Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room 

CY–A257, Washington, DC 20554. 

Document DA 08–2130 and copies of 

subsequently filed documents in this 

matter may also be purchased from the 

Commission’s duplicating contractor at 

Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room 

CY–B402, Washington, DC 20554. 

Customers may contact the 

Commission’s duplicating contractor at 

its Web site, http://www.bcpiweb.com, 

or by calling 1–800–378–3160. To 

request materials in accessible formats 

for people with disabilities (Braille, 

large print, electronic files, audio 

format), send an e-mail to 

fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer 

and Governmental Affairs Bureau at 

(202) 418–0530 (voice) or (202) 418– 

0432 (TTY). Document DA 08–2130 also 

can be downloaded in Word or Portable 

Document Format (PDF) at: http:// 

www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/trs.html#orders. 

Synopsis 

On June 24, 2008, the Commission 

released Telecommunications Relay 

Services and Speech-to-Speech Services 

for Individuals with Hearing and Speech 

Disabilities; E911 Requirements for IPEnabled Service Providers, CG Docket 

No. 03–123, WC Docket No. 05–196, 

Report and Order and Further Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking, 23 FCC Rcd 

11591 (Numbering Order), published at 

73 FR 41286, July 18, 2008 and 73 FR 

41307, July 18, 2008. In document DA 

08–2130, the Bureau modifies the filing 

timeframes in which VRS and IP Relay 

providers requesting compensation from 

the Fund must submit their initial filing 

for costs associated with implementing 

the requirements of the June 24, 2008 

Numbering Order. Specifically, VRS and 

IP Relay providers must submit their 

initial filings by January 30, 2009, for 

the period of June 24, 2008 through 

December 31, 2008. Further, VRS and IP 

Relay providers subsequently must 

submit costs 30 days after the end of 

each calendar quarter for costs incurred 

during the preceding quarter. 

In the Numbering Order, the 

Commission adopted a system for 

assigning users of Internet-based TRS, 

specifically VRS and IP Relay, ten-digit 

telephone numbers linked to the North 

American Numbering Plan. In so doing, 

the Commission also determined that 

VRS and IP Relay providers could be 

compensated for their costs of 

implementing the mandates of the 

Numbering Order. The Commission 

noted that although VRS and IP Relay 

providers presently are compensated 

based on a per-minute rate calculated 

pursuant to the Commission’s rules, the 

providers’ additional costs necessary to 

implement the numbering and 

emergency call handling requirements 

have not been factored into the present 

compensation rates. The Commission 

therefore concluded that it would 

‘‘compensate these costs separately from 

the other costs presently encompassed 

by the per-minute compensation rates.’’ 

The Commission directed that VRS and 

IP Relay providers seeking 

compensation for their actual reasonable 

costs of complying with the new 

requirements in the Numbering Order 

submit to the Fund administrator 

(currently, the National Exchange 

Carrier Association) reasonably detailed 

explanations of those costs. The 

Commission further directed that those 

costs be submitted to the Fund 

administrator every three months, 

beginning three months after the release 

date of the Numbering Order, for the 

costs actually incurred during the prior 

three-month period. By these terms of 

the Numbering Order, which was 

released on June 24, 2008, the initial 

submission of those costs would be due 

September 24, 2008. 

In order to allow sufficient time for 

providers to prepare their filings upon 

the close of the cost reporting period, 

the Bureau recognizes that it is 

appropriate to afford providers 

additional time to report their costs. 

Accordingly, and in order to ensure that 

providers’ filings include costs that are 

incurred up to and including the final 

date of the reporting period, the Bureau 

modifies the reporting timeframes to 

allow providers an additional 30 days to 

file their costs after the end of a 

reporting period. In addition, for 

administrative convenience, the Bureau 

conforms the three-month reporting 

periods to calendar quarters. Finally, 

because these cost submissions 

constitute new information collections 

subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995 (PRA), Public Law 104–13, this 

requirement cannot go into effect until 

the Office of Management and Budget 

approves the collections under the PRA 

and the Commission publishes a notice 

in the Federal Register announcing 

such approval and the relevant effective 

date(s). In order to afford time for the 

Commission to receive and publish PRA 

approval to be received and announced, 

the Bureau extends the initial filing 

deadline until January 30, 2009. In other 

words, the first cost submissions to the 

Fund administrator must be filed by 

January 30, 2009, and will cover the 

period from the release date of the 

Numbering Order, June 24, 2008, 

through December 31, 2008. Subsequent 

reports will be due 30 days after the 

close of each calendar quarter. 

To illustrate, the first few subsequent 

reporting periods and filing due dates 

will be as follows: 

January 1, 2009, through March 31, 

2009: Cost submission due April 30, 

2009. 

April 1, 2009, through June 30, 209: 

Cost submission due July 30, 2009. 

July 1, 2009, through September 30, 

2009: Cost submission due October 

30, 2009. 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 198 / Friday, October 10, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 60173 

October 1, 2009, through December 31, 

2009: Cost submission due January 

30, 2010. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Nicole McGinnis, 

Deputy Chief, Consumer and Governmental 

Affairs Bureau. 

[FR Doc. E8–24006 Filed 10–9–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 224 

[Docket No. 040506143–7024–03] 

RIN 0648–AS36 

Endangered Fish and Wildlife; Final 

Rule To Implement Speed Restrictions 

to Reduce the Threat of Ship Collisions 

With North Atlantic Right Whales 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS establishes regulations 

to implement speed restrictions of no 

more than 10 knots applying to all 

vessels 65 ft (19.8 m) or greater in 

overall length in certain locations and at 

certain times of the year along the east 

coast of the U.S. Atlantic seaboard. The 

purpose of the regulations is to reduce 

the likelihood of deaths and serious 

injuries to endangered North Atlantic 

right whales that result from collisions 

with ships. 

DATES: This final rule is effective 

December 9, 2008 through December 9, 

2013. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of this rule and 

Regulatory Impact Review, Final 

Environmental Impact Statement, 

Economic Analysis and Record of 

Decision related to this final rule can be 

obtained from the Web site listed under 

the electronic access portion of this 

document. Written requests for copies of 

these documents should be addressed 

to: Chief, Marine Mammal Conservation 

Division, Attn: Right Whale Ship Strike 

Reduction Rule, Office of Protected 

Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West 

Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. 

Written comments regarding the 

burden-hour estimates or other aspects 

of the collection-of-information 

requirements contained in this final rule 

may be submitted to NMFS, Office of 

Protected Resources. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gregory Silber, PhD, or Shannon 

Bettridge, PhD, Fishery Biologists, 

Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, at 

(301) 713–2322. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Electronic Access 

Several background documents 

related to this final rule, including the 

Regulatory Impact Review, Final 

Environmental Impact Statement, 

Economic Analysis and Record of 

Decision can be downloaded from 

http://www/nmfs.noaa.gov/shipstrike. 

Background 

The Western North Atlantic right 

whale (Eubalaena glacialis) was 

severely depleted by commercial 

whaling. The only remaining population 

off North America was reduced to a few 

hundred whales or less by the early 

1900s. Despite protection from 

commercial whaling since 1935, the 

remaining population has failed to fully 

recover. The best current estimate of 

minimum population size is 313 whales 

(Waring et al., 2007), which is 

approximately the same as it was 25 

years ago (Best et al., 2001). At this 

level, with the exception of North 

Pacific right whales, North Atlantic 

right whales are the world’s most 

critically endangered large whale 

species and one of the world’s most 

endangered mammals. 

Population models suggest that their 

abundance may have increased at about 

2 percent per year during the 1980s, but 

that it declined at about the same rate 

in the 1990s (Caswell et al., 1999). Data 

on the minimum number of whales 

alive during 1995–2002 indicate a slight 

increase in the number of catalogued 

whales during the period, but with 

statistically significant inter-annual 

variation in numbers due to declines in 

the minimum number of animals found 

alive during 1998–1999 (Waring et al., 

2007). Such population trends are very 

low compared to trends for populations 

of other large whales that are recovering, 

such as south Atlantic right whales and 

western Arctic bowhead whales, which 

have been recovering steadily at rates of 

4 percent or more per year. Inherently 

low rates of reproduction in large whale 

populations mean that recovery rates for 

large whale populations can be low 

under the best of circumstances. North 

Atlantic right whales may live 60 years 

or more. The age of first reproduction 

for female North Atlantic right whales is 

about 7 to 10 years old and calving 

intervals for the population have been 

estimated to average from about 3.5 to 

more than 5 years over the past three 

decades (Kraus et al., 2001; Kraus et al., 

2007). Considering the high rates of 

natural mortality for calves and 

juveniles compared to adults, 

population projections estimate that 

female right whales must produce at 

least four calves over their lifetime to 

replace themselves. To ensure 

population growth, adult females would 

need to produce more than four calves 

over their lifetime, because half of the 

calves born are male, and the survival 

of female calves to adulthood is less 

than 0.5 (Kraus et al., 2001). 

Between the mid 1980s and late 

1990s, documented calf production for 

the North Atlantic right whale 

population averaged about 11 calves per 

year (Kraus et al., 2001). Since 2000, a 

series of good calving years has 

provided a source of optimism for future 

recovery. Between 2000/01 and 2005/ 

06, calf production increased to an 

average of more than 22 calves per year 

and the average calving interval for 

adult females has declined to close to its 

lowest recorded level (Kraus et al., 

2007). However, the mean number of 

cows recruited into the population was 

3.8 per year (Kraus et al., 2001). 

Because of the species’ low 

reproduction level and small population 

size, even low levels of human-caused 

mortality can pose a significant obstacle 

for North Atlantic right whale recovery. 

Population modeling studies in the late 

1990s (Caswell et al., 1999; Fujiwara 

and Caswell, 2001) indicated that 

preventing the death of two adult 

females per year could be sufficient to 

reverse the slow decline detected in 

right whale population trends in the 

1990s. In this regard, the primary cause 

of the species’ failure to recover is 

believed to be mortality caused by 

collisions with ships and entanglement 

in commercial fishing gear (Kraus, 1990; 

Knowlton and Kraus, 2001; Moore et al., 

2005; NMFS, 2005; MMC, 2006). Since 

1970, there have been more than 73 

confirmed right whale deaths, nearly 

half of which (49 percent) have been 

attributed to ship collisions (29 deaths) 

or entanglements (7 deaths). NOAA 

believes the actual number of deaths is 

almost certainly higher than those 

documented as some deaths likely go 

undetected or unreported, and in many 

cases when deaths are detected or 

reported it is not possible to determine 

the cause of death from recovered 

carcasses. The number of documented 

deaths may be as little as 17 percent of 

the actual number of deaths (Kraus et 

al., 2005). 

The number of human-caused right 

whale deaths and serious injuries may 

be increasing. Since 1990, there have 

been more than 50 confirmed deaths, 56 

percent of which have been attributed to 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with RULES