63896 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 207 / Monday, October 27, 2014 / Notices 

1See section 771(5)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, 

as amended. 

softwood lumber products to the United 

States, including stumpage subsidies. 

The Department submitted its last 

subsidy report on June 16, 2014. As part 

of its newest report, the Department 

intends to include a list of subsidy 

programs identified with sufficient 

clarity by the public in response to this 

notice. 

Request for Comments 

Given the large number of countries 

that export softwood lumber and 

softwood lumber products to the United 

States, we are soliciting public comment 

only on subsidies provided by countries 

whose exports accounted for at least one 

percent of total U.S. imports of softwood 

lumber by quantity, as classified under 

Harmonized Tariff Schedule code 

4407.1001 (which accounts for the vast 

majority of imports), during the period 

January 1, 2014 through June 30, 2014. 

Official U.S. import data published by 

the United States International Trade 

Commission Tariff and Trade DataWeb 

indicate that only one country, Canada, 

exported softwood lumber to the United 

States during that time period in 

amounts sufficient to account for at least 

one percent of U.S. imports of softwood 

lumber products. We intend to rely on 

similar previous six-month periods to 

identify the countries subject to future 

reports on softwood lumber subsidies. 

For example, we will rely on U.S. 

imports of softwood lumber and 

softwood lumber products during the 

period July 1, 2014 through December 

31, 2014, to select the countries subject 

to the next report. 

Under U.S. trade law, a subsidy exists 

where an authority: (i) Provides a 

financial contribution; (ii) provides any 

form of income or price support within 

the meaning of Article XVI of the GATT 

1994; or (iii) makes a payment to a 

funding mechanism to provide a 

financial contribution to a person, or 

entrusts or directs a private entity to 

make a financial contribution, if 

providing the contribution would 

normally be vested in the government 

and the practice does not differ in 

substance from practices normally 

followed by governments, and a benefit 

is thereby conferred.1

Parties should include in their 

comments: (1) The country which 

provided the subsidy; (2) the name of 

the subsidy program; (3) a brief 

description (at least 3–4 sentences) of 

the subsidy program; and (4) the 

government body or authority that 

provided the subsidy. 

Submission of Comments 

Persons wishing to comment should 

file comments by the date specified 

above. Comments should only include 

publicly available information. The 

Department will not accept comments 

accompanied by a request that a part or 

all of the material be treated 

confidentially due to business 

proprietary concerns or for any other 

reason. The Department will return such 

comments or materials to the persons 

submitting the comments and will not 

include them in its report on softwood 

lumber subsidies. The Department 

requests submission of comments filed 

in electronic Portable Document Format 

(PDF) submitted on CD–ROM or by 

email to the email address of the EC 

Webmaster, below. 

The comments received will be made 

available to the public in PDF on the 

Enforcement and Compliance Web site 

at the following address: http://

enforcement.trade.gov/sla2008/slaindex.html. Any questions concerning 

file formatting, access on the Internet, or 

other electronic filing issues should be 

addressed to Laura Merchant, 

Enforcement and Compliance 

Webmaster, at (202) 482–0367, email 

address: webmaster_support@trade.gov. 

All comments and submissions in 

response to this Request for Comment 

should be received by the Department 

no later than 5 p.m. Eastern Standard 

Time on the above-referenced deadline 

date. 

Dated: October 20, 2014. 

Christian Marsh, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Antidumping 

and Countervailing Duty Operations. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25476 Filed 10–24–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XD585 

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; 

Exempted Fishing, Scientific Research, 

Display, and Chartering Permits; 

Letters of Acknowledgment 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of intent; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces its intent to 

issue Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs), 

Scientific Research Permits (SRPs), 

Display Permits, Letters of 

Acknowledgment (LOAs), and 

Chartering Permits for Atlantic highly 

migratory species (HMS) in 2015. 

Exempted fishing permits and related 

permits would authorize collection of a 

limited number of tunas, swordfish, 

billfishes, and sharks (collectively 

known as HMS) from Federal waters in 

the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and 

Gulf of Mexico for the purposes of 

scientific data collection, bycatch 

research, and public display. Chartering 

permits allow the collection of HMS on 

the high seas or in the Exclusive 

Economic Zone of other nations under 

certain conditions. Generally, EFPs and 

related permits will be valid from the 

date of issuance through December 31, 

2015, unless otherwise specified, 

subject to the terms and conditions of 

individual permits. 

DATES: Written comments on these 

activities received in response to this 

notice will be considered by NMFS 

when issuing EFPs and related permits 

and must be received on or before 

November 26, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted by any of the following 

methods: 

• Email: nmfs.hms.efp2015@

noaa.gov. Include in the subject line the 

following identifier: 0648–XD585. 

• Mail: Craig Cockrell, Highly 

Migratory Species Management Division 

(F/SF1), NMFS, 1315 East-West 

Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Craig Cockrell, phone: (301) 427–8503, 

fax: (301) 713–1917. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Issuance 

of EFPs and related permits are 

necessary for the collections of HMS for 

scientific research; the acquisition of 

information and data; the enhancement 

of safety at sea; the purpose of collecting 

animals for public education or display; 

and the investigation of bycatch, 

economic discards, and regulatory 

discards. These permits exempt permit 

holders from regulations (e.g., fishing 

seasons, prohibited species, authorized 

gear, closed areas, and minimum sizes) 

that may otherwise prohibit the 

collection of HMS. Collection under 

EFPs, SRPs, LOAs, display, and 

chartering permits represents a small 

portion of the overall fishing mortality 

for HMS, and this mortality is counted 

against the quota of the species 

harvested, as appropriate and 

applicable. The terms and conditions of 

individual permits are unique; however, 

all permits will include reporting 

requirements, limit the number and/or 

species of HMS to be collected, and only 

authorize collection in Federal waters of 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 207 / Monday, October 27, 2014 / Notices 63897 

the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and 

Caribbean Sea. 

EFPs and related permits are issued 

under the authority of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Reauthorization Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) (16 U.S.C. 1801 

et seq.) and/or the Atlantic Tunas 

Convention Act (ATCA) (16 U.S.C. 971 

et seq.). Regulations at 50 CFR 600.745 

and 635.32 govern scientific research 

activity, exempted fishing, chartering 

arrangements, and exempted public 

display and educational activities with 

respect to Atlantic HMS. Since the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act does not define 

fishing to include scientific research, 

scientific research is exempt from this 

statute, and NMFS does not issue EFPs 

for bona fide research activities (e.g., 

research conducted from a research 

vessel and not a commercial or 

recreational fishing vessel) involving 

species that are only regulated under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act (e.g., most 

species of sharks) and not under ATCA. 

NMFS generally does not consider 

recreational or commercial vessels to be 

bona fide research vessels. However, if 

the vessels have been contracted only to 

conduct research and not participate in 

any commercial or recreational fishing 

activities during that research, NMFS 

may consider those vessels as bona fide 

research platforms while conducting the 

specified research. For example, in the 

past, NMFS has determined that 

commercial pelagic longline vessels 

assisting with population surveys for 

sharks may be considered ‘‘bona fide 

research vessels’’ while engaged only in 

the specified research. NMFS requests 

copies of scientific research plans for 

these activities and acknowledges the 

activity by issuing an LOA to 

researchers to indicate that the proposed 

activity meets the definition of research. 

Examples of research conducted under 

LOAs include tagging and releasing of 

sharks during bottom longline surveys 

to understand the distribution and 

seasonal abundance of different shark 

species, and collecting and sampling 

sharks caught during trawl surveys for 

life history studies. 

Scientific research is not exempt from 

regulation under ATCA. NMFS issues 

SRPs which authorize researchers to 

collect HMS from bona fide research 

vessels for collection of species 

managed under this statute (e.g., tunas, 

swordfish, billfish, and some species of 

sharks). One example of research 

conducted under SRPs consists of 

scientific surveys of HMS conducted 

from NOAA research vessels. EFPs are 

issued to researchers collecting ATCA 

and Magnuson-Stevens Act-managed 

species and conducting research from 

commercial or recreational fishing 

vessels. NMFS regulations concerning 

the implantation or attachment of 

archival tags in Atlantic HMS require 

scientists to report their activities 

associated with these tags. Examples of 

research conducted under EFPs include 

deploying pop-up satellite archival tags 

on billfish, sharks, and tunas to 

determine migration patterns of these 

species; conducting billfish larval tows 

to determine billfish habitat use, life 

history, and population structure; and 

determining catch rates and gear 

characteristics of the swordfish buoy 

gear fishery. 

NMFS is also seeking public comment 

on its intent to issue display permits for 

the collection of sharks and other HMS 

for public display in 2015. Collection of 

sharks and other HMS sought for public 

display in aquaria often involves 

collection when the commercial fishing 

seasons are closed, collection of 

otherwise prohibited species, and 

collection of fish below the regulatory 

minimum size. NMFS established a 60- 

metric ton (mt) whole weight (ww) 

(approximately 3,000 sharks, although 

conversion factors, and thus final 

numbers, differ by species) quota for the 

public display and research of sharks 

(combined) in the final Fishery 

Management Plan for Atlantic Tunas, 

Swordfish, and Sharks (1999 FMP). Out 

of this 60 mt ww quota, 1.4 mt ww is 

set aside to collect sandbar sharks under 

a display permit and 1.4 mt ww is set 

aside to collect sandbar sharks under 

EFPs created in 2008 under Amendment 

2 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP. 

Public display of dusky sharks is 

prohibited; NMFS considers collection 

of dusky sharks for research under an 

EFP and/or SRP on a case-by-case basis. 

The environmental effects of these 

quotas have been analyzed in 

conjunction with other sources of 

mortality in the 2006 Consolidated HMS 

FMP and its amendments, and NMFS 

has determined that harvesting this 

amount for public display and scientific 

research will not have a significant 

impact on the stocks. The number of 

sharks harvested for display and 

research has remained under the annual 

60-mt ww quota every year since 

establishment of the quota. In 2013, 

permits issued by NMFS requested 

approximately 30 percent of the 60 mt 

ww quota for sharks. Amendment 3 to 

the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP 

established a separate set-aside quota of 

6 mt ww for smoothhound sharks (i.e., 

smooth dogfish, Florida smoothhounds, 

and Gulf smoothhounds) taken for 

research purposes, which would be in 

addition to the overall 60-mt ww quota 

for the public display and research of all 

sharks. At this time, the smoothhound 

shark research set-aside quota is not yet 

effective and their harvest resulting 

from research activities is not yet 

deducted from the set-aside quota for 

public display and research of sharks. 

However, in Amendment 9 to the 2006 

Consolidated HMS FMP, NMFS 

proposes to establish an effective date 

for the research set-aside for 

smoothhound sharks (August 7, 2014, 

79 FR 46217). Once Amendment 9 is 

finalized, NMFS expects to issue EFPs 

and related permits for the public 

display and research of smoothhound 

sharks, as appropriate. 

The majority of EFPs and related 

permits described in this annual notice 

relate to scientific sampling and tagging 

of Atlantic HMS, within existing quotas, 

the impacts of which have been 

previously analyzed in various 

environmental assessments and 

environmental impact statements for 

Atlantic HMS. NMFS intends to issue 

these permits without additional 

opportunity for public comment beyond 

what is provided in this notice. 

Occasionally NMFS receives 

applications for research activities that 

were not anticipated, or for research that 

is outside the scope of general scientific 

sampling and tagging of Atlantic HMS, 

or rarely, for research that is particularly 

controversial. Should NMFS receive 

such applications; NMFS will provide 

additional opportunity for public 

comment. Additionally, if the 

application from the purse seine vessel 

requests exemptions that are 

significantly different than those 

provided in the 2014 permit, NMFS will 

provide additional opportunity for 

public comment. 

In 2015, NMFS expects to once again 

receive an application for an EFP from 

the owner of an Atlantic bluefin tuna 

purse seine vessel. A 2014 application 

requested an exemption from the annual 

incidental purse seine retention limit on 

the harvest of large medium Atlantic 

bluefin tuna. On June 30, 2014, NMFS 

published a notice (79 FR 36728) 

requesting comments on the application 

and the issuance of a permit. NMFS 

received several comments in support of 

and opposition to that EFP, and on 

August 1, 2014, NMFS issued an EFP to 

the vessel owner. The 2014 EFP 

contained the following terms and 

conditions: (1) Mandatory observer 

coverage on all trips, (2) all dead bluefin 

tuna at haul back must available to 

observers for sampling, (3) sub-legal 

bluefin tuna that are released alive and 

in good condition will not be counted 

against the vessel’s quota, (4) any sublegal bluefin tuna that are dead at 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
63898 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 207 / Monday, October 27, 2014 / Notices 

haulback may not be released by the 

vessel operator, and (5) only the 

observer has discretion over dead sublegal fish that may be released without 

sampling. NMFS expects to receive a 

similar request for an EFP in 2015 and 

requests comments, via this notice, on 

the continuation of such an EFP with 

similar terms and conditions. NMFS 

will consider the information and data 

gathered through the EFP this year and 

will provide notice and an additional 

opportunity for public comment on the 

purse seine EFP application if new 

information warrants additional 

comment or if the application differs 

substantively from the 2014 application. 

NMFS is also requesting comments on 

chartering permits considered for 

issuance in 2015 to U.S. vessels fishing 

for HMS while operating under 

chartering arrangements with foreign 

countries. NMFS has not issued any 

chartering permits since 2004. A 

chartering arrangement is a contract or 

agreement between a U.S. vessel owner 

and a foreign entity by which the 

control, use, or services of a vessel are 

secured for a period of time for fishing 

for Atlantic HMS. Before fishing under 

a chartering arrangement, the owner of 

the U.S. fishing vessel must apply for a 

chartering permit. The vessel chartering 

regulations can be found at 50 CFR 

635.5(a)(4) and 635.32(e). 

In addition, Amendment 2 to the 2006 

Consolidated HMS FMP implemented a 

shark research fishery. This research 

fishery is conducted under the auspices 

of the exempted fishing permit program. 

Research fishery permit holders assist 

NMFS in collecting valuable shark life 

history data and data for future shark 

stock assessments. Fishermen must fill 

out an application for a shark research 

permit under the exempted fishing 

program to participate in the shark 

research fishery. Shark research fishery 

participants are subject to 100-percent 

observer coverage in addition to other 

terms and conditions. A Federal 

Register notice describing the objectives 

for the shark research fishery in 2015 

and announcing that NMFS will be 

accepting applications is expected to 

publish in the near future. NMFS 

requests public comment specific to the 

specifics of this fishery during the 

comment period of this notice. 

The authorized number of species for 

2014, as well as the number of 

specimens collected in 2013, is 

summarized in Table 1. The number of 

specimens collected in 2014 will be 

available when all 2014 interim and 

annual reports are submitted to NMFS. 

In 2013, the number of specimens 

collected was less than the number of 

authorized specimens for all permit 

types. 

In all cases, mortality associated with 

an EFP, SRP, Display Permit, or LOA 

(except for larvae) is counted against the 

appropriate quota. NMFS issued a total 

of 38 EFPs, SRPs, Display Permits, and 

LOAs in 2013 for the collection of HMS. 

As of October 9, 2014, NMFS has issued 

a total of 37 EFPs, SRPs, Display 

Permits, and LOAs. 

TABLE 1—SUMMARY OF HMS EXEMPTED FISHING PERMITS ISSUED IN 2013 AND 2014 

[‘‘HMS’’ refers to multiple species being collected under a given permit type] 

Permit 

type 

2013 2014 

Permits 

issued ** 

Authorized 

fish 

(num) 

Authorized 

larvae 

(num) 

Fish 

kept/ 

discarded 

dead 

(num) 

Larvae kept 

(num) 

Permits 

issued ** 

Authorized 

fish 

(num) 

Authorized 

larvae 

(num) 

EFP: 

HMS .......................... 3 229 0 52 0 3 188 0 

Shark ......................... 10 3,239 0 286 0 10 3,145 0 

Tuna .......................... 5 327 0 0 0 3 1,677 0 

Billfish ........................ 1 30 1,000 1 2,131 0 35 1,000 

SRP: 

HMS .......................... 3 941 0 1 0 3 941 0 

Shark ......................... 3 2,132 0 2 0 2 2,008 0 

Tuna .......................... 2 80 2,000 0 0 2 80 2,000 

Display: 

HMS .......................... 2 94 0 10 0 3 94 0 

Shark ......................... 4 121 0 18 0 3 121 0 

Total ................... 32 7,193 3,000 370 2,243 29 8,289 3,000 

LOA* 

Shark ......................... 6 2,770 0 1,964 0 8 2,770 0 

*LOAs are issued for bona fide scientific research activities involving non-ATCA managed species (e.g., most species of sharks). Collections 

made under an LOA are not authorized; rather this estimated harvest for research is acknowledged by NMFS. Permitees are encouraged to report all fishing activities in a timely manner. 

Final decisions on the issuance of any 

EFPs, SRPs, Display Permits, and 

Chartering Permits will depend on the 

submission of all required information 

about the proposed activities, NMFS’ 

review of public comments received on 

this notice, an applicant’s reporting 

history on past permits issued any prior 

violations of marine resource laws 

administered by NOAA, consistency 

with relevant NEPA documents, and 

any consultations with appropriate 

Regional Fishery Management Councils, 

states, or Federal agencies. NMFS does 

not anticipate any significant 

environmental impacts from the 

issuance of these EFPs as assessed in the 

1999 FMP, the 2006 Consolidated HMS 

FMP and its amendments, 2011 Bluefin 

Tuna Specifications, and 2012 

Swordfish Specifications. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 16 

U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: October 22, 2014. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25470 Filed 10–24–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES