798 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 5 / Thursday, January 8, 2009 / Notices 

1On November 26, 2008, in response to a request 

from FMC, the Department extended the deadline 

for FMC to withdraw its review request from 

November 24, 2008, until December 3, 2008. 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[A–570–847] 

Persulfates From the People’s 

Republic of China: Notice of 

Rescission of the 2007–2008 

Administrative Review of the 

Antidumping Duty Order 

AGENCY: Import Administration, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

DATES: Effective Date: January 8, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Giselle Cubillos, AD/CVD Operations, 

Office 8, Import Administration, 

International Trade Administration, 

U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th 

Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 

482–1778. 

Background 

On July 11, 2008, the Department of 

Commerce (‘‘the Department’’) 

published a notice of opportunity to 

request an administrative review of the 

antidumping duty order on persulfates 

from the People’s Republic of China 

(‘‘PRC’’). See Antidumping or 

Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or 

Suspended Investigation; Opportunity 

to Request Administrative Review, 73 

FR 39948 (July 11, 2008). On July 31, 

2008, FMC Corporation (‘‘FMC’’), a 

domestic producer of persulfates, 

requested that the Department conduct 

an administrative review of Shanghai AJ 

Import & Export Corporation—DegussaAJ Shanghai Initiators Co., LTD.’s 

exports to the United States for the 

period of review (‘‘POR’’) July 1, 2007, 

through June 30, 2008. Pursuant to this 

request, the Department published a 

notice of the initiation of the 

administrative review of the 

antidumping duty order on persulfates 

from the PRC. See Initiation of 

Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 

Administrative Reviews, 73 FR 50308 

(August 26, 2008). 

Rescission of Review 

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1), the 

Department will rescind an 

administrative review, in whole or in 

part, if a party that requested a review 

withdraws the request within 90 days of 

the date of publication of the notice of 

initiation. On December 3, 2008, FMC 

timely withdrew its request for a review, 

and no other interested party requested 

a review of this company. 1 Therefore, 

the Department is rescinding this 

administrative review of the 

antidumping duty order on persulfates 

from the PRC covering the period July 

1, 2007, through June 30, 2008, in 

accordance with 19 CFR 351.213(d)(1). 

Assessment 

The Department will instruct U.S. 

Customs and Border Protection (‘‘CBP’’) 

to assess antidumping duties on all 

appropriate entries. Antidumping duties 

shall be assessed at rates equal to the 

cash deposit of estimated antidumping 

duties required at the time of entry, or 

withdrawal from warehouse, for 

consumption, in accordance with 19 

CFR 351.212(c)(1)(i). The Department 

intends to issue appropriate assessment 

instructions directly to CBP 15 days 

after the publication of this notice in the 

Federal Register. 

Notification to Interested Parties 

This notice serves as a final reminder 

to importers of their responsibility 

under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a 

certificate regarding the reimbursement 

of antidumping duties prior to 

liquidation of the relevant entries 

during this review period. Pursuant to 

19 CFR 351.402(f)(3), failure to comply 

with this requirement could result in 

the Secretary’s presumption that 

reimbursement of antidumping duties 

occurred and the subsequent assessment 

of doubled antidumping duties. 

This notice also serves as a reminder 

to parties subject to administrative 

protective order (‘‘APO’’) of their 

responsibility concerning the 

disposition of proprietary information 

disclosed under APO, in accordance 

with 19 CFR 351.305 and as explained 

in the APO itself. Timely written 

notification of the return/destruction of 

APO materials or conversion to judicial 

protective order is hereby requested. 

Failure to comply with the regulations 

and the terms of an APO is a 

sanctionable violation. 

This notice is in accordance with 

section 777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act of 

1930, as amended, and 19 CFR 

351.213(d)(4). 

Dated: January 2, 2009. 

Edward C. Yang, 

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 

Operations. 

[FR Doc. E9–140 Filed 1–7–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XM37 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish Fisheries 

in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare an 

environmental assessment or an 

environmental impact statement; 

request for written comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS, in consultation with 

the North Pacific Fishery Management 

Council, announces its intent to prepare 

either an Environmental Assessment 

(EA) or an Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) on measures to 

minimize non–Chinook salmon bycatch 

in the Bering Sea, in accordance with 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

of 1969. The proposed action would 

replace the current Chum Salmon 

Savings Area in the Bering Sea, and the 

specific exemption to the area closure, 

with new regulatory closures, salmon 

bycatch limits, or a combination of both. 

The scope of the EA or EIS will be to 

determine the impacts to the human 

environment resulting from the 

measures to minimize non–Chinook 

salmon bycatch. NMFS will accept 

written comments from the public to 

determine the issues of concern and the 

appropriate range of alternatives for 

analysis. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received by March 23, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments on issues 

and alternatives should be sent to Sue 

Salveson, Assistant Regional 

Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries 

Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, Attn: 

Ellen Sebastian. Comments may be 

submitted by: 

• E–mail: 

ChumSalmonBycatchEIS@noaa.gov. 

Include in the subject line the following 

document identifier: ‘‘RIN 0648– 

XM37’’. E–mail comments, with or 

without attachments, are limited to 5 

megabytes; 

• Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 

99802; 

• Hand Delivery to the Federal 

Building: 709 West 9th Street, Room 

420A, Juneau, AK; or 

• Fax: 907–586–7557. 

All Personal Identifying Information 

(e.g., name, address) voluntarily 

submitted by the commenter may be 


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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 5 / Thursday, January 8, 2009 / Notices 799 

publicly accessible. Do not submit 

Confidential Business Information or 

otherwise sensitive or protected 

information. 

NMFS will accept anonymous 

comments. Attachments to electronic 

comments will be accepted in Microsoft 

Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe 

portable document file (pdf) formats 

only. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gretchen Harrington, (907) 586–7228. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

Magnuson–Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson–Stevens Act), the United 

States has exclusive fishery 

management authority over all living 

marine resources found within the 

exclusive economic zone. The 

management of these marine resources, 

with the exception of certain marine 

mammals and birds, is vested in the 

Secretary of Commerce. The North 

Pacific Fishery Management Council 

(Council) has the responsibility to 

prepare fishery management plans for 

those marine resources off Alaska 

requiring conservation and 

management. Management of the 

Federal groundfish fishery in the Bering 

Sea is carried out under the Fishery 

Management Plan for Groundfish of the 

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 

Management Area (FMP). The FMP, its 

amendments, and implementing 

regulations (found at 50 CFR part 679) 

are developed in accordance with the 

requirements of the Magnuson–Stevens 

Act and other applicable Federal laws 

and executive orders, notably the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act 

(ESA). 

The Council is considering new 

measures to minimize non–Chinook 

salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea 

pollock fishery because of the potential 

negative impacts on salmon stocks in 

general, and on western Alaska salmon 

stocks in particular. Four species of 

salmon (sockeye, coho, pink, and chum) 

are aggregated into a ‘‘non–Chinook 

salmon’’ species category for catch 

accounting and prohibited species catch 

limits. Chum salmon comprises over 

99.6% of the total catch in this category. 

The majority of non–Chinook bycatch 

occurs in the pollock trawl fishery 

during the B season (June 10 to 

November 1). Historically, the portion of 

the non–Chinook bycatch from the 

pollock trawl fishery has ranged from 

88% to over 99.5% of all non–Chinook 

salmon bycatch in the federal 

groundfish fisheries. Since 2002, 

bycatch of non–Chinook salmon in the 

pollock fishery has comprised over 95% 

of the total non–Chinook salmon 

bycatch. 

From 1991 through 2002, the average 

annual bycatch in the Bering Sea 

pollock fishery was 72,668 non– 

Chinook salmon. From 2003 through 

2006, non–Chinook salmon bycatch 

numbers increased substantially to a 

historic high of 704,989 non–Chinook 

salmon in 2005. Bycatch since 2006 has 

declined substantially, with a 2008 

bycatch of 15,002 non–Chinook salmon. 

The numbers of non–Chinook salmon 

bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock 

fishery from 2003 through 2008 are 

shown in the following table: 

Year Number of non–Chinook salmon 

2003 195,135 

2004 440,692 

2005 704,989 

2006 309,676 

2007 94,349 

2008 15,002 

NMFS and the Council are initiating 

scoping in the event that an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

is the required NEPA document for the 

proposed action and its alternatives. We 

are seeking information from the public 

through the scoping process on the 

range of alternatives to be analyzed, and 

on the environmental, social, and 

economic issues to be considered in the 

analysis. Written comments generated 

during this scoping process will be 

provided to the Council and 

incorporated into the EIS, or the EA if 

we determine that an EIS is not 

required. 

Chum Salmon Savings Area and 

Prohibited Species Catch Limit 

The Chum Salmon Savings Area in 

the Bering Sea is a time–area closure 

designed to reduce overall non–Chinook 

salmon bycatch in the federal 

groundfish trawl fisheries. This time– 

area closure was adopted based on 

historically observed salmon bycatch 

rates and was designed to avoid areas 

and times of high non–Chinook salmon 

bycatch. The Chum Salmon Savings 

Area is closed to pollock fishing from 

August 1 through August 31 of each 

year. Additionally, if the prohibited 

species catch limit of 42,000 non– 

Chinook salmon are caught by vessels 

using trawl gear in the Catcher Vessel 

Operational Area during the period 

August 15 through October 14, the 

Chum Salmon Savings Area remains 

closed to directed fishing for pollock for 

the remainder of the calendar year. 

Non–CDQ and CDQ pollock vessels 

participating in an inter–cooperative 

agreement (ICA) using the Voluntary 

Rolling Hotspot System (VHRS) are 

exempted from closures of the Chum 

Salmon Savings Area. The purpose of 

the VHRS ICA is to use real–time 

salmon bycatch information to avoid 

areas of high non–Chinook salmon 

bycatch rates. The ICA utilizes a system 

of base bycatch rates, assignment of 

vessels to tiers based on bycatch rates 

relative to the base rate, a system of 

closures for vessels in certain tiers, and 

monitoring and enforcement through 

private contractual arrangements. The 

VRHS ICA was necessary because 

comparisons of non–community 

development quota (non–CDQ) vessels 

fishing outside of the salmon savings 

areas with CDQ vessels fishing inside of 

the salmon savings areas indicated that 

salmon bycatch rates were much higher 

outside of the savings areas, and 

closures were displacing vessels to 

higher bycatch areas. 

Proposed Action 

The proposed action is to replace the 

current Chum Salmon Savings Areas 

and the VRHS ICA regulations with new 

regulatory closures, salmon bycatch 

limits, or a combination of both based 

on current salmon bycatch information. 

The purpose of the proposed action is 

to minimize non–Chinook salmon 

bycatch to the extent practicable while 

achieving optimum yield from the 

pollock fishery. The proposed action is 

necessary to ensure long–term 

conservation and abundance of salmon, 

maintain a healthy marine ecosystem, 

provide maximum benefit to fishermen 

and communities that depend on 

salmon and pollock, and comply with 

the Magnuson–Stevens Act. 

Alternative Management Measures 

We will evaluate a range of alternative 

management measures for the Bering 

Sea pollock fishery. Alternatives may be 

formulated based on the elements 

identified here, and those developed 

through the public scoping and Council 

processes. Possible alternatives could be 

constructed from one or more of the 

following measures: 

1. Hard Cap – Establish a hard cap for 

non–Chinook salmon bycatch in the 

CDQ and non–CDQ pollock fisheries. 

The eight hard cap options range from 

58,176 to 488,045 non–Chinook salmon. 

Hard caps could be apportioned to the 

CDQ and non–CDQ pollock fisheries or 

divided among the fishery sectors. 

Sector level caps could be further 

divided among the cooperatives. Fishery 


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800 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 5 / Thursday, January 8, 2009 / Notices 

participants would be required to stop 

fishing when the hard cap is reached. 

2. Triggered area closure – Establish a 

salmon savings area closure based on 

current salmon bycatch information. 

These closures would occur once a 

specified cap level was reached. 

Additional information about non– 

Chinook salmon bycatch and the 

alternatives that the Council may 

consider may be found on the Council’s 

website at: http:// 

www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/npfmc/ 

currentlissues/bycatch/ 

chumbycatch1208.pdf. 

Preliminary Identification of Issues 

A principal objective of the scoping 

and public input process is to identify 

potentially significant impacts to the 

human environment. The analysis will 

evaluate the impacts of the alternatives 

for all resources, species, and issues that 

may be directly or indirectly affected by 

non–Chinook salmon bycatch in the 

Bering Sea pollock fisheries. The 

following components of the biological 

and physical environment may be 

evaluated: (1) target and non–target fish 

stocks, forage fish, and prohibited 

species, including salmon species; (2) 

species listed under the ESA and their 

critical habitat; (3) seabirds; (4) marine 

mammals; and (5) the ecosystem. 

Social and economic impacts also 

would be considered in terms of the 

effects that changes to non–Chinook 

salmon bycatch management measures 

would have on the following groups of 

individuals: (1) those who participate in 

harvesting pollock; (2) those who 

process and market pollock and pollock 

products; (3) those who consume 

pollock products; (4) those who rely on 

living marine resources caught in the 

management area, particularly non– 

Chinook salmon; (5) those who benefit 

from subsistence, commercial, and sport 

salmon fisheries; and (6) fishing 

communities. 

Public Involvement 

Scoping is an early and open process 

for determining the scope of issues to be 

addressed in an EA for EIS and for 

identifying the significant issues related 

to the proposed action. A principal 

objective of the scoping and public 

involvement process is to identify a 

range of reasonable of management 

alternatives that will delineate critical 

issues and provide a clear basis for 

distinguishing among those alternatives 

and selecting a preferred alternative. 

Through this notice, we are notifying 

the public that a NEPA analysis and 

decision–making process for this 

proposed action has been initiated so 

that interested or affected people may 

participate and contribute to the final 

decision. 

We are seeking written public 

comments on the scope of issues, 

including potential impacts, and 

alternatives that should be considered 

in revising non–Chinook salmon 

bycatch management measures. Written 

comments will be accepted at the 

address above (see ADDRESSES). Written 

comments should be as specific as 

possible to be the most helpful. Written 

comments received during the scoping 

process, including the names and 

addresses of those submitting them, will 

be considered part of the public record 

of this proposal and will be available for 

public inspection. 

The public is invited to participate 

and provide input at Council meetings 

where the latest scientific information 

regarding salmon bycatch in the Bering 

Sea pollock fishery is reviewed and 

alternative non–Chinook salmon 

bycatch reduction measures are 

developed and evaluated. Notice of 

future Council meetings will be 

published in the Federal Register and 

posted on the Internet at http:// 

alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/. Please visit 

this website for more information on 

this proposed action and for guidance 

on submitting effective public 

comments. 

Dated: January 2, 2009. 

Emily H. Menashes 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–125 Filed 1–7–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XM55 

Marine Mammals; File No. 782–1708 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; issuance of permit 

amendment. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the NMFS National Marine Mammal 

Laboratory, Seattle, WA has been issued 

a minor amendment to Scientific 

Research Permit No. 782–1708–04. 

ADDRESSES: The amendment and related 

documents are available for review 

upon written request or by appointment 

in the following office: 

Permits, Conservation and Education 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 

13705, Silver Spring, MD 20910; phone 

(301)713–2289; fax (301)427–2521. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Tammy Adams or Kate Swails, 

(301)713–2289. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

requested amendment has been granted 

under the authority of the Marine 

Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) and 

the regulations governing the taking and 

importing of marine mammals (50 CFR 

part 216). 

The original permit (No. 782–1708), 

issued on August 23, 2003 (68 FR 

53967) and valid through December 31, 

2008, authorized research on northern 

fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) of the 

San Miguel Islands Stock at San Miguel 

Island, California, and of the Eastern 

North Pacific Stock at Bogoslof Island 

and the Pribilof Islands in Alaska. The 

permit was subsequently amended four 

times to modify methods and take 

numbers. The minor amendment (No. 

782–1708–05) extends the duration of 

the permit through December 31, 2009, 

and does not change any other terms or 

conditions of the permit. 

Dated: January 2, 2009. 

P. Michael Payne, 

Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–124 Filed 1–7–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

United States Patent and Trademark 

Office 

[Docket No. PTO–C–2008–0058] 

National Medal of Technology and 

Innovation Nomination Evaluation 

Committee 

AGENCY: United States Patent and 

Trademark Office. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

nominations. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce 

(United States Patent and Trademark 

Office) is requesting nominations of 

individuals to serve on the National 

Medal of Technology and Innovation 

Nomination Evaluation Committee. The 

United States Patent and Trademark 

Office will consider nominations 

received in response to this notice as 

well as from other sources. The 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this notice provides committee and 

membership criteria. 


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