[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 78 (Friday, April 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24099-24101]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-08483]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XB655]
NOAA Fisheries Draft Climate Science Regional Action Plans (2022-
2024)
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of the NOAA Fisheries Draft Climate
Science Regional Action Plans (2022-2024); request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We, NMFS, announce the availability of Draft Climate Science
Regional Action Plans designed to increase the production, delivery and
use of climate-related information to fulfill our stewardship mission
for the Nation's valuable living marine resources. We are soliciting
review and comment from the public and all interested parties, and will
consider all substantive comments received during the review period
before publishing final Plans. Comments are invited on: (a) The clarity
of the goals and activities in the draft Plans, (b) how to strengthen
the draft Plans and activities; (c) what additional goals and
activities need to be addressed. Comments submitted in response to this
notice will be provided to the Regional Action Plan Teams for
consideration in development of the final Plans.
DATES: Comments on the Draft Climate Science Regional Action Plans must
be received by June 2, 2022.
ADDRESSES: To review the draft regional plans, visit: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/climate/climate-science-strategy-regional-action-plans.
Comments may be submitted on the NOAA Fisheries Draft Climate
Science Regional Action Plans, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2022-0007 by any
of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to www.regulations.gov
and enter NOAA-NMFS-2022-0007 in the Search box. Click the ``Comment''
icon and complete the required fields, and enter or attach your
comments.
Mail: Submit written comments to Roger Griffis, NMFS/
Office of Science and Technology, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver
Spring, MD 20910. Include on the envelope the following identifier
``Draft Climate Science Regional Action Plans Comments.''
Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other
address or
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individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be
considered by NMFS. All comments received are 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).
The NOAA Fisheries Draft Climate Science Regional Action Plans are
available online at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/climate/climate-science-strategy-regional-action-plans or upon request from the
NMFS Office of Science and Technology.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roger Griffis, (301)-980-4694,
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Changing climate and ocean conditions are affecting the Nation's
valuable living marine resources and the many people, businesses and
communities that depend on them. From warming oceans and rising sea
levels, to ocean acidification and changes in the distribution and
abundance of marine resources, these impacts are expected to increase
with continued changes in the planet's climate and ocean systems. There
is much at risk--for example fishing and seafood industries support
over $240 billion dollars in economic activity and 1.7 million jobs
every year. There is growing demand from decision-makers for better
information on what's changing, what's vulnerable and how to respond.
NMFS is working to provide decision-makers with the information they
need to reduce impacts and increase resilience of marine resources and
the people that depend on them in a changing climate.
The NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy, released in August of
2015 and available at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/climate-change, responded to the growing demand from fisheries and other
decision makers for better information about what's changing, what's at
risk and how to respond to changing climate and ocean conditions. The
Climate Science Strategy identified seven key objectives to produce and
deliver the climate-related information to meet decision-maker needs
and fulfill NMFS mandates in a changing climate. It also provided a
national framework designed to be customized and implemented in each
region through Climate Science Regional Action Plans.
In 2016 NMFS created the first Climate Science Regional Action
Plans (available at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/climate/climate-science-strategy-regional-action-plans) in collaboration with
Fishery Management Councils and other partners to identify the
strengths, weaknesses, priorities, and specific actions to implement
the Climate Science Strategy in the Northeast, Southeast, Pacific
Islands, West Coast and Alaska Regions. While some impacts of changing
climate and oceans on living marine resources are shared across
regions, each region has a unique combination of climate-related
challenges, capabilities, and information requirements needed to
implement the Strategy.
The Climate Science Regional Action Plans are cross-agency,
coordinated efforts to increase implementation of the Climate Science
Strategy in each region. The Climate Science Regional Action Plans
include goals and actions to help track changing marine ecosystem
conditions, assess risks, provide early warnings and longer-term
projections, and evaluate management strategies under changing
conditions.
Development of the Draft Climate Science Regional Action Plans for
2022-2024
In 2021 NMFS conducted an assessment of progress to implement the
Climate Science Strategy during 2016-2020 including efforts under the
first Climate Science Regional Action Plans. This five year Progress
Report (https://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/content/tech-memo/noaa-fisheries-climate-science-strategy-five-year-progress-report) provided
information that was used in development of the draft Climate Science
Regional Action Plans for 2022-2024. NOAA also considered other
information in development of the draft Climate Science Regional Action
Plans including public input on how to increase the resilience of
fisheries and protected resources to climate change pursuant to
Executive Order 14008 Section 216c. The draft Climate Science Regional
Action Plans were developed by regional teams consisting of NMFS
personnel from Science Centers and Regional Offices. The draft Climate
Science Regional Action Plans build upon previous efforts and identify
proposed actions over the next 3 years to address key climate-science
needs in each region.
The goal of the draft Climate Science Regional Action Plans is to
continue to increase the production, delivery and use of climate-
related information needed for fisheries management and protected
species conservation in each region. Each draft Climate Science
Regional Action Plan identifies specific actions to implement the seven
objectives of the NOAA Fisheries Climate Science Strategy. The actions
address key needs in each region based on input from NMFS scientists,
resource managers, stakeholders and other sources. The draft Climate
Science Regional Action Plans include actions to provide decision
makers with better information on what's changing, what's at risk and
how different management strategies may perform under changing climate
and ocean conditions.
For example, the draft Climate Science Regional Action Plans
include specific actions and products such as:
Tracking Change: Monitor and assess key indicators of
ecosystem conditions to better track and provide early warnings of
changing conditions.
Forecasting conditions: Research and modeling to
understand the mechanisms of change and provide near and longer term
forecasts of conditions.
Assessing Risks: Assess the vulnerability of marine
resources, fisheries, fishing communities and other sectors that depend
on marine resources.
Evaluating best strategies: Identify alternative
management approaches and evaluate how they may perform under changing
conditions to identify best approaches for stewardship of the Nation's
valuable marine resources.
Public Comments Solicited
NMFS is committed to increasing the production, delivery, and use
of climate-related information to fulfill its living marine resource
stewardship mandates. NMFS works with and depends on many partners to
fulfill its science and information needs, including other government
agencies, academia, fisheries, and other organizations. As such, NMFS
is providing this opportunity for broad public review and comment on
the draft Climate Science Regional Action Plans from the Northeast,
Southeast, Pacific Islands, West Coast and Alaska Regions. These draft
Climate Science Regional Action Plans will guide efforts to provide
decision-makers with timely, actionable information to help reduce
impacts and increase resilience of living marine resources and the many
people, businesses and communities that depend on them.
[[Page 24101]]
Public comments are invited to help clarify and strengthen the
draft Climate Science Regional Action Plans. Comments are invited on:
(a) The clarity of the goals and activities in the draft Plans, (b) how
to strengthen the draft Plans and activities; (c) what additional goals
or activities need to be addressed. Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be provided to the Regional Action Plan Teams for
consideration in development of the final Plans.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1881c, Fisheries Research Section 404 (a) and
Executive Order 14008, Section 216 (c).
Dated: April 14, 2022.
Evan Howell,
Director, Office of Science and Technology, National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS).
[FR Doc. 2022-08483 Filed 4-21-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P