[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 126 (Thursday, July 1, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 38070-38071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16066]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 216
[Docket No. 0907301201-91203-01]
RIN 0648-AY15
Implementation of Fish and Fish Product Import Provisions of the
Marine Mammal Protection Act
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; reopening of comment
period.
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SUMMARY: NMFS is reopening the comment period, in order to provide
additional opportunities for the public, foreign nations that export
fish and fish products to the United States, and other interested
parties to comment on the advance notice of proposed rulemaking to
implement the provisions of section 101(a)(2)(A) of the Marine Mammal
Protection Act for imports of fish and fish products. On April 30,
2010, NMFS published the advance notice of proposed rulemaking, with a
June 29, 2010, deadline for comments. NMFS is now reopening the comment
period until August 30, 2010. NMFS is seeking advance public comment on
the development of procedures to implement section 101(a)(2)(A) of the
Marine Mammal Protection Act and on the types of information to be
considered in the process.
DATES: Written comments must be received by 5 p.m. on August 30, 2010.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
(1) Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public comments
via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.
(2) Mail: Director, Office of International Affairs, Attn: MMPA
Fish Import Provisions, NMFS, F/IA, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver
Spring, MD 20910.
(3) Fax: (301) 713-2313.
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) voluntarily
submitted by the commenter may be publicly 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). Attachments to electronic
comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or
Adobe portable document file (pdf) formats only.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristy Long at [email protected] or
301-713-2322.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), 16
U.S.C. 1361-1423h, contains provisions addressing bycatch, or the
incidental mortality and serious injury, of marine mammals in both
domestic and foreign fisheries. With respect to foreign fisheries,
section 101(a)(2) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1371(a)(2)) states that
``[t]he Secretary of the Treasury shall ban the importation of
commercial fish or products from fish which have been caught with
commercial fishing technology which results in the incidental kill or
incidental serious injury of ocean mammals in excess of United States
standards. For purposes of applying the preceding sentence, the
Secretary [of Commerce]- (A) shall insist on reasonable proof from the
government of any nation from which fish or fish products will be
exported to the United States of the effects on ocean mammals of the
commercial fishing technology in use for such fish or fish products
exported from such nation to the United States.''
[[Page 38071]]
On April 30, 2010, NMFS published an advance notice of proposed
rulemaking to implement section 101(a)(2)(A) of the Marine Mammal
Protection Act, with a June 29, 2010, deadline for comments. NMFS is
now reopening the comment period until August 30, 2010, in order to
provide additional opportunities for the public, foreign nations that
export fish and fish products to the United States, and other
interested parties to comment.
This rulemaking would define the ``United States standards''
referred to in MMPA section 101(a)(2), along with any associated
criteria by which the United States would assess foreign fisheries that
supply fish and fish product imports to the United States (hereafter
``import-supplying fisheries'') with respect to marine mammal bycatch.
The rule also would describe procedures for ensuring the established
standards and their associated criteria are met, as well as procedures
for developing recommendations regarding import prohibitions if those
standards and associated criteria are not met.
NMFS requests comments on the standards to be used when evaluating
foreign import-supplying fisheries, including any suggestions of other
standards or associated criteria NMFS should consider or modifications
of the standards suggested above; and whether to apply one or more
standards.
NMFS also requests comments on the procedures under consideration
for ensuring that foreign fisheries imports meet U.S. marine mammal
bycatch standards, including whether to apply one or more of the
possible standards when evaluating import-supplying fisheries to make
decisions regarding initiating consultation or banning imports, which
standards to apply, and whether to apply different standards for making
the decision to initiate consultation than are used to make the
decision to ban imports. Further, NMFS requests comments on what issues
and conditions should be considered during consultation and whether and
what kind of alternative procedures should be established for
implementing import prohibitions on a shipment-by-shipment or shipper-
by-shipper basis. Finally, NMFS is requesting comments regarding if and
how intermediary nations should be addressed by the procedures under
consideration.
Dated: June 28, 2010.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-16066 Filed 6-30-10; 8:45 am]
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