Amendment 116 (BSAI) limits access to the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Trawl Limited Access Sector yellowfin sole directed fishery by vessels that deliver their catch of yellowfin sole to motherships for processing. The action 1)establishes eligibility criteria based on historical participation in the fishery; 2) issues and endorsement to those groundfish License Limitation Program licenses that meet the eligibility criteria; and 3) authorizes delivery of yellowfin sole to motherships by only those vessels designated on a groundfish LLP license that is endorsed for the fishery. This action will prevent increased catcher vessel participation from reducing benefits the fisghery provides to historical and recent participants, mitigate the risk that a "raqce for fish" could develop, and help to maintain the consistently low rates of halibut bycatch in the fishey.
NOAA NEPA Document Database (beta)
This beta version of the NOAA NEPA Document Database catalogs environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements (EISs) that NOAA is currently developing. The Database also includes some of the EAs or EISs NOAA has completed in the past, although information may be limited and contain errors. The Database does not track proposed actions that rely on categorical exclusions. The Database also does not capture information on proposed actions for which another Federal agency is the lead agency for NEPA or when NOAA adopts another Federal agency’s EA or EIS. Please send any questions or corrections to noaa.nepa@noaa.gov with the Subject line: “NOAA NEPA Document Database comment.“
NMFS proposes to specify a 2017 limit of 2,000 metric tons (mt) of longline-caught bigeye tuna for each U.S. Pacific territory (American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands). NMFS would allow each territory to allocate up to 1,000 mt of its bigeye tuna catch limit to U.S. longline fishing vessels identified in a valid specified fishing agreement. As an accountability measure, NMFS would monitor, attribute, and restrict (if necessary) catches of longline-caught bigeye tuna, including catches made under a specified fishing agreement. The proposed catch limits and accountability measures would support the long-term sustainability of U.S. Pacific Island fisheries. The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended the catch and allocation limits at its October 2016 meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. The proposed limits are identical to those that the Council recommended and NMFS implemented in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Proposed specifications and draft EA with 15-day public comment period: May 2017. Final action: June 2017.
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The purpose of this amendment is to modify the maximum sustainable yield, status determination criteria, and catch levels for spiny lobster based on updated information and revised scientific recommendations, and to consider restrictions on the use of traps for recreational harvest.
The Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils are expected to take final action on this amendment at their respective Council meetings in June 2017.
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Environmental Assessment for Marine Mammal Nonlethal Deterrents
This Environmental Assessment analyzes the environmental impacts of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources proposal to issue guidelines for safely deterring marine mammals and regulations prohibiting certain methods of deterrence.
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Proposed action is to develop annual management measures for the 2017 West Coast salmon commercial, recreational, and tribal fisheries.
The annual management measures must be in place for the start of the salmon season, May 1, 2017.
This EA will have an accelerated timeline for review and approval in April to meet the May 1 fishery implementation date.
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Fund the restoration of coastal marsh habitat by hydraulically dredging sediments from the Gulf of Mexico to create approximately 400 acres of marsh. Reduce erosion by constructing 12,150 linear feet (4 acres) of marsh terraces. : Construction-related adverse impacts are considered minor and insubstantial because they are temporary or reversible. Benefits are moderate and sustained.
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This Environmental Assessment analyzes the environmental impacts of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources proposal to issue an Incidental Harassment Authorization, pursuant to section 101(a)(5)(D) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, to the University of Hawaii, for the take of small numbers of marine mammals incidental to conducting a marine geophysical survey in the Central Pacific Ocean.
The University of Hawaii has requested issuance of the Authorization by 8/1/2017
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TheUSFWS proposes to conduct seabird and shorebird monitoring and research activities over a varying number of days for each of their five projects from April 1- Nov 30, 2017. Activities may disturb hauled our pinnipeds, including gray seals (Halichoerus grypus grypus) and harbor seals (Phoca vitulina concolor) in the Eastern MA National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
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This Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzes the impacts associated with exempting a specified number of commercial pelagic longline (PLL) vessels from a portion of the existing East Florida Coast (EFC) PLL Closed Area requirements. An exempted fishing permit (EFP) would be issued to collect baseline PLL fishery data from within a portion of the EFC PLL Closed Area under current fishery conditions to evaluate the effectiveness of existing area closures at meeting current conservation and management goals. No significant impacts are anticipated.
Our goal is to obtain clearance from NMFS NEPA by January 4, 2017. This is because we must have the NOA to the Office of Federal Register by January 9, 2017.
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NMFS is proposing to issue a final rule and annual Letters of Authorization (LOAs) to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The regulations will be valid for five years beginning around May 1, 2016 through April 30, 2022. The regulations together with associated LOAs authorizes takes, by Level B harassment, of marine mammals incidental to the rehabilitation of the jetty system at the Mouth of the Columbia River (MCR) which includes Jetty A, North Jetty, and South Jetty, in Washington and Oregon.
Rule/LOA needed by January 15, 2017
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HGMPs of several inland Spring-run Hatcheries on the Willamette River
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Kure Atoll NMSA Permit
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Sunset Utilities NMSA Permit for FKNMS
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NMFS is proposing to issue an IHA to the City of Unalaska to take marine mammals incidental to pile driving and pile removal associated with construction activities that would expand the existing Unalaska Marine Center (UMC) Dock in Dutch Harbor in the City of Unalaska, on Amaknak Island, Alaska. The COU proposes to demolish portions of the existing UMC dock and install a new dock between March 1, 2017 and November 1, 2017. The use of both vibratory and impact pile driving during pile removal and installation is expected to produce underwater sound at levels that have the potential to result in behavioral harassment of marine mammals. Species with the expected potential to be present during all or a portion of the in-water work window include Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), harbor seal (Phoca vitulina), humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), and killer whale (Orcinus orca).
The COU is requesting that NMFS issue a final IHA by March 1, 2017.
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DEA to analyze impacts of NOAA’s NMFS determination that six hatchery programs for Snohomish River Basin salmon as described in joint state-tribal HGMP satisfy the Endangered Species Act Section 4(d) Rule.
Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA) to analyze impacts of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) determination that six hatchery programs for Snohomish River Basin salmon as described in joint state-tribal Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans (HGMP) satisfy the Endangered Species Act Section 4(d) Rule. The proposed action analyzed in the DEA is NMFS’s ESA determination regarding the effects of HGMPs for two Chinook salmon, three coho salmon, and one fall chum salmon hatchery programs in the Snohomish River basin encompassing part of the range of the ESA-listed Puget Sound Chinook Salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit and Puget Sound Steelhead Distinct Population Segment pursuant to limit 6 of the ESA 4(d) Rule for listed Puget Sound salmon and steelhead. No significant impacts to protected species are expected.
Under the NMFS schedule developed with the Puget Sound salmon resource comanagers (the Treaty Tribes and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife), the ESA determination for the proposed action is expected to be completed By January 1, 2017.
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The proposed activity, which could affect marine mammals, includes installation of steel piles and steel sheet piles using vibratory and impact pile driving and an underwater saw. Maine DOT is requesting an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to take, by Level B Harassment only, small numbers of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), gray seals (Halichoerus grypus), harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), and Atlantic white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus) during the specified activity.
This EA is a NMFS EA written in 2014 for the same applicant (Maine DOT) previous IHA (same location, same work). Maine DOT is requesting to have a final IHA by end of Jan/early Feb 2017. The proposed IHA will have to go out for public comment early to mid November. Very tight turnaround.
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The PDARP/PEIS considers programmatic alternatives, composed of Restoration Types, to restore natural resources, ecological services, and recreational use services injured or lost as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident.
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The proposed action is conditional approval by NOAA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of the proposed Illinois Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program, based on finding that Illinois' program meets many, but not all, of the requirements of section 6217 of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments and related guidance. The PEA evaluates consequences associated with federal approval and state implementation of the program proposed by Illinois, which includes management measures for nonpoint sources related to urban development, marinas and recreational boating, hydromodification, wetlands, riparian areas, and vegetated treatment systems. The PEA concludes that approval of Illinois' program will not result in any significant environmental impacts different from those analyzed in a 1996 Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program, from which the PEA is tiered, which concluded that approving state programs would not have significant environmental effects. The proposed action would have no effect on protected species or historic properties.