[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 22, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9733-9734]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-3883]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 223
[Docket No. 101126590-0589-01]
RIN 0648-XZ59
Endangered and Threatened Species; Proposed Threatened Status for
Subspecies of the Ringed Seal
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public hearings.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: On December 10, 2010, we, NMFS, published a proposed rule to
list the Arctic (Phoca hispida hispida), Okhotsk (Phoca hispida
ochotensis), Baltic (Phoca hispida botnica), and Ladoga (Phoca hispida
ladogensis) subspecies of the ringed seal as threatened under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). As part of that
proposal, we announced a public comment period to end on
[[Page 9734]]
February 8, 2011, and then extended the comment period to March 25,
2011. NMFS has received requests for public hearings on this issue. In
response, we announce that public hearings will be held at three
locations in Alaska (Anchorage, Barrow, and Nome) to provide additional
opportunities and formats to receive public input.
DATES: A hearing will be held on March 7, 2011, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30
p.m. in Anchorage, and on March 22, 2011, from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in
Barrow, AK. The date and time for a hearing in Nome will be announced
in a forthcoming notice in the Federal Register. As previously noted,
we will consider written comments received on or before March 25, 2011.
ADDRESSES: The March 7, 2011, hearing will be held at the Egan Center
(Lower Level), 555 West Fifth Avenue, Anchorage, AK. The March 22,
2011, hearing will be held at the I[ntilde]upiat Heritage Center, 5421
North Star Street, Barrow, AK. As noted above, we will announce the
address for a hearing in Nome in a forthcoming notice in the Federal
Register.
Send written comments to Kaja Brix, Assistant Regional
Administrator, Protected Resources Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, Attn:
Ellen Sebastian. You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0648-XZ59,
by any one of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.
Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802.
Fax: (907) 586-7557.
Hand delivery to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK.
All comments received are a part of the public record. Comments
will generally be posted without change. All Personal Identifying
Information (for example, name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by
the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential
Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
We will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required
fields, if you wish to remain anonymous). You may submit attachments to
electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF
file formats only.
The proposed rule, status review report, and other materials
relating to this proposal can be found on the Alaska Region Web site
at: http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tamara Olson, NMFS Alaska Region,
(907) 271-5006; Kaja Brix, NMFS Alaska Region, (907) 586-7235; or Marta
Nammack, Office of Protected Resources, Silver Spring, MD (301) 713-
1401.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On December 10, 2010 (75 FR 77476), we published a proposed rule to
list the Arctic, Okhotsk, Baltic, and Ladoga subspecies of the ringed
seal as threatened under the ESA. Based on the status of these
subspecies, we also proposed protective regulations pursuant to section
4(d) of the ESA for these subspecies to include all of the prohibitions
in section 9(a)(1) of the ESA. The original due date for comments on
these proposed actions (February 8, 2011) was extended to March 25,
2011 (76 FR 6754; February 8, 2011).
Public Hearings
Joint Commerce-Interior ESA implementing regulations state that the
Secretary shall promptly hold at least one public hearing if any person
requests one within 45 days of publication of a proposed regulation to
list a species or to designate critical habitat (see 50 CFR
424.16(c)(3)). In response to requests from various parties to hold
public hearings in a number of locations in Alaska, we will hold three
public hearings: One in Anchorage, one in Barrow, and one in Nome. We
will accept oral and written comments on both the proposed rule for
ringed seals and the proposed rule for bearded seals (75 FR 77496;
December 10, 2010) during these hearings.
People wishing to make an oral statement for the record at a public
hearing are encouraged to provide a written copy of their statement and
present it to us at the hearing. In the event that attendance at the
public hearings is large, the time allotted for oral statements may be
limited. Oral and written statements receive equal consideration. There
are no limits on the length of written comments submitted to us.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1533 et seq.
Dated: February 15, 2011.
Helen Golde,
Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources.
[FR Doc. 2011-3883 Filed 2-16-11; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P