[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 83 (Thursday, April 30, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24246-24247]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-10125]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XD922
Presidential Task Force on Combating Illegal Unreported and
Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud Action Plan Recommendations
14/15 Identifying Species ``At Risk'' of IUU Fishing and Seafood Fraud
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The National Ocean Council Committee on IUU Fishing and
Seafood
[[Page 24247]]
Fraud (NOC Committee) is seeking public input on principles to be used
in determining seafood species ``at risk'' for IUU fishing and seafood
fraud.
DATES: Comments must be received by June 8, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by
NOAA-NMFS-2014-0090, by any of the following methods:
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2014-0090, click the
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or
attach your comments.
Mail: Submit written comments to Danielle Rioux, 1315
East-West Highway; Silver Spring, Maryland 20910.
Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period,
may not be considered by the NOC Committee. All comments received are a
part of the public record and will generally be posted for public
viewing on www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address, etc.), confidential business
information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily
by the sender will be publicly accessible. The NOC Committee will
accept anonymous comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you
wish to remain anonymous).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Danielle Rioux, 301-427-8516.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: According to NOAA, in 2013, U.S. fishers
landed 9.9 billion pounds of fish and shellfish worth $5.5 billion.
Globally, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and
seafood fraud undermine the sustainability of U.S. and global seafood
stocks and negatively impact general ecosystem health. At the same
time, IUU fishing and fraudulent seafood products distort legal markets
and unfairly compete with the products of law-abiding fishers and
seafood industries.
On March 15, 2015, the Presidential Task Force on Combating IUU
Fishing and Seafood Fraud (Task Force), co-chaired by the Departments
of Commerce and State, took an historic step to address these issues
and published its action plan to implement Task Force recommendations
(http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/iuu/taskforce.html).
This plan articulates the aggressive steps that Federal agencies
will take to implement the recommendations the Task Force made to the
President in December 2014 on a comprehensive framework of integrated
programs to combat IUU fishing and seafood fraud. The plan identifies
actions that will strengthen enforcement, create and expand
partnerships with state and local governments, industry, and non-
governmental organizations, and create a risk-based traceability
program to track seafood from harvest to entry into U.S. commerce,
including the use of existing traceability mechanisms. The work the
Task Force began will continue under the oversight of the NOC
Committee.
This notice is the first step in implementing Task Force
Recommendations 14 and 15, ``Identifying current at risk species
threatened by IUU fishing and seafood fraud.'' Once ``at-risk'' species
have been determined, the NOC Committee will transmit the list to
agencies for appropriate action. This list will form the basis for the
species addressed in the first phase of the risk-based seafood
traceability program, as described in the Task Force Action Plan.
With this notice, the NOC Committee is soliciting comment on what
principles should be used to determine the seafood species ``at risk''
for IUU fishing and seafood fraud. Recommended principles should be
measurable (i.e., there should be a reasonable amount of existing data
to assess), and be applicable to domestic and/or international
fisheries.
For example, possible principles could include assessing the extent
to which species are known to have:
significant domestic or international enforcement-related
concerns, such as substantial numbers of violations of relevant
regulations or conservation and management measures, significant
challenges or limitations in existing enforcement regimes, or repeated
reports of IUU activity;
catches that are mis-reported or not reported according to
the reporting procedures of the relevant international regional
fisheries management organizations or national authorities,
particularly when they are of high economic value;
a human health risk when substituted for other species;
and
instances of being substituted for other species in order
to avoid tariffs or to sell a lower value fish at a higher price.
Following the public comment period, the NOC Committee will take
the input received into consideration as it develops a draft list of
principles to be used in determining species ``at risk'' for IUU
fishing and seafood fraud. The draft list of principles will then be
used to create a draft list of ``at-risk'' species. Both the draft list
of principles and the draft list of ``at-risk'' species will be
published in the Federal Register for public comment in July 2015.
Dated: April 27, 2015.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-10125 Filed 4-29-15; 8:45 am]
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