[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 86 (Monday, May 5, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Page 25582]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-10229]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XD254


Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office's Geographic 
Information Systems Program; Availability of Files

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice, process for making GIS files available; opportunity to 
comment

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the process for making available 
Geographic Information System files representing fisheries and 
regulated areas that are managed by the National Marine Fisheries 
Service's Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office.

DATES: Written comments must be received (see ADDRESSES) on or before 
May 5, 2014.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified NOAA-
NMFS-2014-0049, by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2014-0049, click the ``Comment Now!'' icon, 
complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to NMFS, Greater Atlantic 
Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 
01930, ATTN: GIS Committee.
    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 NMFS. 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. 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, or Adobe PDF file formats only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Additional information regarding the 
publication of the GIS files (i.e., shapefiles) and the shapefiles may 
be obtained at www.nero.noaa.gov/gis or by contacting Dean Szumylo, 
Geographic Information Specialist, (978) 281-9479, 
[email protected]; Douglas Potts, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 
(978) 281-9341, [email protected]; or Ellen Keane, Protected 
Resources Division, (978) 282-8476, [email protected]. Individuals 
who use a telecommunications device for the hearing impaired may call 
the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. 
and 4 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday, excluding Federal 
holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background: GIS is designed to capture, store, analyze, manage, and 
present all types of geographic data. Over the past decade, the use of 
these systems in fisheries management has grown rapidly and requests 
for geospatial data have increased. To satisfy the need for geospatial 
data, NMFS's Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) has 
developed standardized, high-quality geospatial data for areas managed 
by GARFO. This includes areas authorized under the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries 
Cooperative Management Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine 
Mammal Protection Act.
    Creation of GIS Files: In developing these files, we implemented 
standards and policies to ensure that the files are of high, known 
quality and are accompanied by the metadata that are compliant with the 
Federal Geographic Data Committee's Standards. Metadata is information 
that captures the basic characteristics of the data, its creation, its 
usage, and any constraints. Data files are in an ESRI shapefile format. 
In developing the GIS files, we interpreted any regulatory area 
boundary intended to be a straight line on a chart in Mercator 
projection to be a rhumb line. GARFO regulations frequently define an 
area's boundary by coordinates that define the corners of the feature. 
In developing the GIS files, errors may be introduced into the boundary 
if only the endpoints of the boundary are used. This error may increase 
as the distance between coordinates increases. To ensure that the 
shapefiles developed accurately represent the boundaries, we held the 
lines to a constant bearing by adding vertices between coordinates 
using the Construct Loxodrome tool or by densifying the line every 10 
nautical miles in a Mercator projection within ESRI's ARcGIS software.
    Data Availability: The files are in the form of ESRI shapefiles 
packaged as zipped files for each regulated area. As the files for each 
regulated area are finalized, they will be made publicly available via 
our Web site. Files may be downloaded from www.nero.noaa.gov/gis or 
obtained by written request to the GARFO (see ADDRESSES). For each 
regulated area, we provide the shapefile, the metadata (within the 
shapefile and as a PDF), and a reference map image (pdf and jpg 
format). The purpose of the reference map image is to allow users to 
quickly locate files for managed areas that are of interest.
    Request for Comments: We will accept public comments on this new 
service, including data creation, as described above.

    Dated: April 30, 2014.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-10229 Filed 5-2-14; 8:45 am]
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