This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

52038 

Vol. 82, No. 216 

Thursday, November 9, 2017 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

The Department of Commerce will 

submit to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for clearance the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act. 

Agency: National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

Title: Atlantic Highly Migratory 

Species Individual Bluefin Quota (IBQ) 

Tracking. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0677. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular (revision 

and extension of a currently approved 

information collection). 

Number of Respondents: 220. 

Average Hours per Response: 10 

minutes for initial application for IBQ 

account; 15 minutes per IBQ allocation 

lease. 

Burden Hours: 54. 

Needs and Uses: Amendment 7 to the 

2006 Consolidated HMS Fishery 

Management Plan (79 FR 71510, 

December 2, 2014) implemented 

individual bluefin tuna quota (IBQ) 

shares and allocations for vessels 

permitted in the Atlantic Tunas 

Longline Category and Atlantic Tunas 

Purse Seine Category. IBQs are intended 

to fairly and effectively allocate limited 

quota for incidental capture of bluefin 

tuna among vessels in the Longline 

category, while minimizing dead 

discards and discouraging interactions 

with bluefin tuna, and better utilizing 

the Purse seine category quota. An online system developed by the NOAA 

National Marine Fisheries Service 

(NMFS) tracks allocations and 

allocation leases, and reconciles leases 

with bluefin tuna catches for quota 

monitoring. The extension of this 

collection of information will allow 

NMFS to continue to account for the 

reporting burden associated with 

allocation and lease tracking. There are 

no new requirements. Renewals of 

account requests are no longer required, 

and appeals are no longer applicable. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations. 

Frequency: On occasion. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

This information collection request 

may be viewed at reginfo.gov. Follow 

the instructions to view Department of 

Commerce collections currently under 

review by OMB. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to OIRA_Submission@

omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395–5806. 

Dated: November 6, 2017. 

Sarah Brabson, 

NOAA PRA Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2017–24426 Filed 11–8–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[XRIN 0648–XF763] 

Marine Mammals; Pinniped Removal 

Authority 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: On October 6, 2017, NMFS 

received an application under section 

120 of the Marine Mammal Protection 

Act (MMPA) from the state of Oregon 

(state) requesting authorization to 

intentionally take, by lethal methods, 

individually identifiable California sea 

lions (CSLs; Zalophus califorianus) in 

the Willamette River that are having a 

significant negative impact on the 

recovery of Upper Willamette River 

(UWR) steelhead and UWR Chinook 

salmon (Onchorhynchus spp.). Both of 

these salmonid fishery stocks are listed 

as threatened under the Endangered 

Species Act (ESA) of 1973. 

This authorization is requested as part 

of a larger effort to protect and recover 

listed salmonid stocks in the Willamette 

River basin. NMFS has determined that 

the application contains sufficient 

information to warrant establishing a 

Pinniped-Fishery Interaction Task Force 

(Task Force), which will be established 

after the closing of a public comment 

period. NMFS solicits public comments 

on the state’s application, other relevant 

information related to pinniped 

predation on salmonids in the 

Willamette River, and nominations for 

potential members of a Task Force. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

January 8, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by NOAA–NMFS–2017–0126, 

by any of the following methods: 

• Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal http://

www.regulations.gov. Go to https://

www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NOAANMFS-2017-0126, click the ‘‘Comment 

Now!’’ icon, complete the required 

fields, and enter or attach your 

comments. 

• Mail: Comments on the application 

should be addressed to: National Marine 

Fisheries Service, 1201 NE Lloyd Blvd., 

Suite 1100, Portland, OR 97232; ATTN: 

Protect Resources Division, Portland 

Branch Chief, NOAA–NMFS–2017– 

0126. 

Instructions: All comments received 

are a part of the public record and will 

generally be posted to http://

www.regulations.gov without change. 

All personal identifying information 

(e.g., name, address, etc.) voluntarily 

submitted by the commenter may be 

publically accessible. Do not submit 

Confidential Business Information or 

otherwise sensitive or protected 

information. 

NMFS will accept anonymous 

comments (enter ‘‘N/A’’ in the required 

fields, if you wish to remain 

anonymous). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert Anderson, NMFS, West Coast 

Region (503) 231–2226. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Electronic Access 

The state’s application is available via 

the Internet at the following address: 

http://

www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

protected_species/marine_mammals/ 

fisheries_interactions.html. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 216 / Thursday, November 9, 2017 / Notices 52039 

Statutory Authority 

Section 120 of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 

1361, et seq.) allows the Secretary of 

Commerce, acting through the Assistant 

Administrator for Fisheries, and the 

West Coast Regional Administrator of 

NMFS, to authorize the intentional 

lethal taking of individually identifiable 

pinnipeds that are having a significant 

negative impact on the decline or 

recovery of salmonid fishery stocks 

which have been listed as threatened or 

endangered species under the ESA, are 

approaching threatened species or 

endangered species status (as those 

terms are defined in that Act), or 

migrate through the Ballard Locks at 

Seattle, Washington. The authorization 

applies only to pinnipeds that are not 

listed under the ESA, or designated as 

a depleted or strategic stock under the 

MMPA. California sea lions are neither 

listed under the ESA nor have they been 

designated as a depleted or strategic 

stock under the MMPA. Pursuant to 

section 120(b) and (c) of the MMPA, a 

state may request authorization to 

lethally remove pinnipeds, and the 

Regional Administrator is required to: 

(1) Review the application to determine 

whether the applicant has produced 

sufficient evidence to warrant 

establishing a Task Force to address the 

situation described in the application; 

(2) publish a notice in the Federal 

Register requesting public comment on 

the application, if sufficient evidence 

has been produced; (3) establish and 

convene a Task Force; (4) consider any 

recommendations made by the Task 

Force in making a determination 

whether to approve or deny the 

application; and (5) if approved, 

immediately take steps to implement 

the intentional lethal taking, which 

shall be performed by Federal or state 

agencies, or qualified individuals under 

contract to such agencies. 

The MMPA requires the Task Force be 

composed of the following: (1) NMFS/ 

NOAA staff, (2) scientists who are 

knowledgeable about the pinniped 

interaction, (3) representatives of 

affected conservation and fishing 

community organizations, (4) Indian 

Treaty tribes, (5) the state, and (6) such 

other organizations as NMFS deems 

appropriate. The Task Force reviews the 

state’s application, the factors contained 

in section 120(d), and public comments 

and, as required by section 120, 

recommends to NMFS whether to 

approve or deny the application. The 

Task Force is also required to submit 

with its recommendation a description 

of the specific pinniped individual or 

individuals; the proposed location, 

time, and method of such taking; criteria 

for evaluating the success of the action; 

the duration of the intentional lethal 

taking authority; and a suggestion for 

non-lethal alternatives, if available and 

practicable, including a recommended 

course of action. 

Background 

On October 6, 2017, NMFS received 

an application signed by the director of 

the Oregon Department of Fish and 

Wildlife (ODFW) on the state’s behalf, 

requesting authorization under section 

120 of the MMPA to intentionally take, 

by lethal methods, individually 

identifiable CSLs in the vicinity of 

Willamette Falls, which are having a 

significant negative impact on the 

decline or recovery of salmonid fishery 

stocks listed as threatened under the 

ESA. According to the state’s 

application, impacted salmon and 

steelhead include UWR steelhead 

(threatened) and UWR Chinook salmon 

(threatened). 

On October 10, 2017, NMFS provided 

the director of the ODFW a letter 

acknowledging receipt of the 

application and a determining that the 

application produced sufficient 

evidence of the problem interaction to 

warrant establishing a Task Force. 

The state’s application provides 

information on studies conducted by the 

state that document when pinniped 

predation occurs in the vicinity of 

Willamette Falls, numbers of pinnipeds 

present, numbers of individual sea lions 

observed, numbers of salmonids 

consumed, the proportion of all 

salmonids passing Willamette Falls that 

are taken by pinnipeds in the vicinity of 

Willamette Falls, and a population 

viability analysis that predicts the 

extinction risks to UWR steelhead due 

to pinniped predation. 

The state began a pinniped predation 

monitoring program at Willamette Falls 

in 1995 followed by a CSL branding 

program in Astoria, Oregon, in 1997 to 

monitor foraging behavior throughout 

the Columbia River basin. The trend in 

CSL abundance at the Willamette Falls 

over this period has been steadily 

upward, with single-day maximum 

counts increasing each year as follows: 

27 (2014), 32 (2015), 35 (2016), and at 

least 40 (2017). The state’s application 

indicates that pinniped predation on 

wild UWR steelhead and wild UWR 

Chinook salmon in 2014 was estimated 

at 780 (12 percent of the total return) 

and 496 (7 percent of the total return) 

fish, respectively. In 2015 pinniped 

predation on wild UWR steelhead and 

wild UWR Chinook salmon was 

estimated at 577 (11 percent of the total 

return) and 899 (9 percent of the total 

return) fish, respectively. In 2016 

pinniped predation on wild UWR 

steelhead and wild UWR Chinook 

salmon was estimated at 915 (14 percent 

of the total return) and 650 (9 percent 

of the total return) fish, respectively. In 

2017 pinniped predation on wild UWR 

steelhead and wild UWR Chinook 

salmon was estimated at 270 (25 percent 

of the total return) and 399 (6 percent 

of the total return) fish, respectively. 

Pinniped predation estimates at 

Willamette Falls represent a minimum 

of the total river-wide predation because 

they apply only to the area immediately 

in the vicinity of Willamette Falls, apply 

only to the sampling period, and CSLs 

have been documented feeding on 

salmonids throughout the Columbia 

River estuary. 

The state initiated non-lethal 

deterrence methods to deter CSLs at 

Willamette Falls starting in 2010, with 

the goal to move CSLs down river and 

away from Willamette Falls to reduce 

predation on salmon and steelhead 

stocks. However, these efforts, like the 

non-lethal deterrence efforts at Ballard 

Locks and Bonneville Dam, have been 

largely unsuccessful. Over time, nonlethal deterrence methods have done 

little to eliminate or reduce predation of 

salmon and steelhead at Ballard Locks, 

Bonneville Dam, and Willamette Falls. 

Despite more than 35 years of 

exhaustive efforts to find an effective, 

long-term, non-lethal solution to 

eliminating or reducing predation on 

salmonids, such efforts have proven to 

be unsuccessful. With this in mind, the 

state, as stated in their application, 

proposes not to conduct non-lethal 

hazing concurrent with the lethal 

removal as efforts to non-lethally deter 

CLSs have proven ineffective at 

reducing or eliminating the problem 

interaction. 

The state proposes to lethally remove 

a limited number of CSLs in the vicinity 

of Willamette Falls. In addition to 

animals located in the vicinity of 

Willamette Falls, all individually 

identifiable CSLs that have been 

documented feeding on salmonids, and 

have been approved for lethal removal 

by NMFS, would be candidates for 

removal without restriction to time or 

location. Annual removals under the 

proposed action are expected to be less 

than 0.5 percent of the Potential 

Biological Removal (PBR) level for CSLs 

(current PBR level is 9,200 animals out 

of an estimated population of 296,740). 

Individual CSLs would be lethally 

removed by humane methods following 

recommendations of a Safety and 

Animal Care committee convened by 

the state. 

The proposed action to address 

pinniped predation is part of a 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
52040 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 216 / Thursday, November 9, 2017 / Notices 

comprehensive salmon and steelhead 

recovery strategy. As reported in the 

application, significant actions to 

address the decline of salmon and 

steelhead stocks in the Willamette River 

basin have been underway for several 

decades, and are progressing each year 

as a result of the implementation of ESA 

recovery plans throughout the 

Willamette River basin. These actions 

include harvest reductions, 

hydroelectric system mitigation, habitat 

restoration, predation management, and 

hatchery reforms. 

In their application, the state asserts 

that taking no action or continued use 

of only non-lethal methods will likely 

result in an expansion of the problem 

interaction by allowing CSLs to become 

recruited into the pool of nuisance 

animals. The expected benefit of 

permanent removal of the animals in 

question will be to reduce a significant 

source of mortality that has jeopardized 

state, Federal, and non-governmental 

efforts to recover ESA-listed salmon and 

steelhead stocks in the Willamette River 

basin. The state’s population viability 

analysis predicts that elimination of the 

problem interaction will reduce the 

probability of extinction of the three 

independent UWR steelhead 

populations from 20–64 percent to <5 

percent. 

In considering whether the 

application should be approved or 

denied, the MMPA requires that the 

Task Force and NMFS consider: (1) 

Population trends, feeding habits, the 

location of the pinniped interaction, 

how and when the interaction occurs, 

involved; (2) past efforts to deter such 

pinnipeds, and whether the applicant 

has demonstrated that no feasible and 

prudent alternatives exist and that the 

applicant has taken all reasonable 

nonlethal steps without success; (3) the 

extent to which such pinnipeds are 

causing undue injury impact to, or 

imbalance with, other species in the 

ecosystem, including fish populations; 

and (4) the extent to which such 

pinnipeds are exhibiting behavior that 

presents an ongoing threat to public 

safety. The NMFS West Coast Regional 

Administrator has considered the state’s 

application and determined that it 

provides sufficient evidence to warrant 

establishing a Task Force. The 

application describes the means of 

identifying individual pinnipeds, 

includes a detailed description of the 

problem interaction between pinnipeds 

and listed salmonids in the vicinity of 

Willamette Falls, and describes the 

expected benefits of potential taking of 

pinnipeds. The application also 

documents the state’s past non-lethal 

efforts to deter pinnipeds in the vicinity 

of Willamette Falls. 

Request for Comments and Other 

Information 

NMFS solicits public comments on 

the state’s application and any 

additional information that should be 

considered by the Task Force in making 

its recommendation, or by NMFS in 

making its determination whether to 

approve or deny the application. NMFS 

is interested in receiving additional 

information related to the factors that 

must be considered in determining 

whether to approve or deny the 

application (see Background), and on 

the impact of sea lion predation in the 

vicinity of Willamette Falls on the 

affected salmonid stocks. 

NMFS requests that comments be 

specific. In particular, we request 

information regarding: (1) Observations 

of pinnipeds (number, species and 

predation on salmonids) in the 

Willamette River; 

(2) Information on areas where 

numbers of pinnipeds are concentrated 

in the Willamette River, including 

resting/haul out sites and locations 

where pinnipeds have been repeatedly 

observed taking salmonids; and 

(3) Dates when pinnipeds have been 

observed in the Willamette River. 

NMFS also solicits the names and 

affiliations of experts from the academic 

and scientific community, tribes, 

Federal and state agencies, and the 

private sector for consideration as 

potential Task Force members. A Task 

Force, established under section 120(c) 

of the MMPA must, to the maximum 

extent practicable, consist of an 

equitable balance among representatives 

of resource users and non-users as 

outlined above. The state’s application 

included a list of suggested agencies and 

organizations for inclusion in the Task 

Force (see Electronic Access). 

Nominations for Task Force 

membership must include sufficient 

background information (e.g., 1–page 

resume) on the candidate to allow us to 

judge their expertise and should 

indicate the prospective candidate’s 

willingness to serve without 

compensation. 

Dated: November 3, 2017. 

Donna S. Wieting, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2017–24352 Filed 11–8–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; West Coast Region 

Groundfish Trawl Fishery Monitoring 

and Catch Accounting Program 

AGENCY: National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, invites the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

take this opportunity to comment on 

proposed and/or continuing information 

collections, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted on or before January 8, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance Officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 

14th and Constitution Avenue NW., 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

Internet at pracomments@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument and instructions should be 

directed to the West Coast Regional 

Office—7600 Sand Point Way NE., 

Seattle, WA 98115, Keeley Kent, 

telephone number ((206) 526–4655), or 

keeley.kent@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

This request is for extension of a 

currently approved information 

collection. 

In January 2011, the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration’s 

(NOAA) National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS) implemented a trawl 

rationalization program, a catch share 

program, for the Pacific coast groundfish 

fishery’s trawl fleet. The program was 

developed through Amendment 20 to 

the Groundfish Fishery Management 

Plan (FMP), under the authority of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act (16 

U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) and consists of an 

individual fishing quota (IFQ) program 

for the shorebased trawl fleet (including 

whiting and non-whiting fisheries); and 

cooperative (coop) programs for the atsea mothership (MS) and catcher/ 

processor (C/P) trawl fleets (whiting 

only). Fixed allocations to the limited 

entry trawl fleet were developed 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES