[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 14 (Monday, January 23, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3971-3972]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01210]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


RIN 0648-XC707

Endangered Species; File No. 27106; Extension of Public Comment 
Period

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

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application and conservation plan for an 
incidental take permit; extension of public comment period.

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SUMMARY: We, NMFS, announce the extension of the public comment period 
on our December 22, 2022, notice of receipt of application and 
conservation plan for an incidental take permit. North Carolina 
Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Marine 
Fisheries (NCDMF) has applied in due form for a permit pursuant to the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). As required by the 
ESA, NCDMF's application includes a conservation plan designed to 
minimize and mitigate take of endangered or threatened species. The 
permit application is for the incidental take of ESA-listed sea turtles 
and sturgeon associated with the otherwise lawful gill net fisheries 
operating in the inshore waters of North Carolina. The duration of the 
requested permit is 10 years.

DATES: The comment period for the document published at 87 FR 78659 on 
December 22, 2022, is extended. The comment period was originally 
scheduled to close on January 23, 2023. We are extending the public 
comment period by 30 days to February 22, 2023. Comments previously 
submitted do not need to be resubmitted.

ADDRESSES: The application is available for download and review at 
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/endangered-species-conservation/incidental-take-permits and at https://www.regulations.gov. The application is also available upon request 
(see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
    You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2022-0115, by 
Electronic Submission: Submit all

[[Page 3972]]

electronic public comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal https://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2022-0115 in the Search box. 
Click on the ``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and 
enter or attach your comments.
    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 
https://www.regulations.gov without change. All Personal Identifying 
Information (e.g., 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). Attachments to electronic comments will 
be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF file formats only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Celeste Stout, NMFS, Office of 
Protected Resources at email: [email protected] or phone: (301) 
427-8436; Wendy Piniak, NMFS, Office of Protected Resources at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On December 22, 2022, we published a notice of receipt of 
application and conservation plan from NCDMF for an incidental take 
permit. In that notice we made the incidental take permit application 
and associated conservation plan available for public comment.
    We received a request to extend the public comment period to a 
minimum of 120 days in order to provide the public with additional time 
to gather relevant information and adequately comment on the 
application and conservation plan in a meaningful and constructive 
manner. We considered the request and concluded that a 30-day extension 
should allow sufficient time for responders to submit comments without 
significantly delaying the completion of our review. We are therefore 
extending the close of the public comment period from January 23, 2023, 
to February 22, 2023. Comments previously submitted do not need to be 
resubmitted.
    Authority: The authority for this action is the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

    Dated: January 18, 2023.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Conservation Division, Office of Protected 
Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-01210 Filed 1-20-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P