Notice2022-01151
Review of Nomination for Mariana Trench National Marine Sanctuary
Primary source
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Published
January 21, 2022
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is requesting written comments to facilitate ONMS' five-year review of the nomination for the Mariana Trench National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) at the five-year interval. In particular, NOAA is requesting relevant information as it pertains to its 11 evaluation criteria for inclusion in the inventory. In this five-year review, NOAA will pay particular attention to any new information about the significance of the area's natural or cultural resources, changes to any threats to these resources, and any updates to the management framework of the area. NOAA has provided the original nominating parties, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Friends of the Marianas Trench, an opportunity to share their views on these same questions. Following this information gathering and internal analysis, NOAA will make a final determination on whether or not the Mariana Trench NMS nomination will remain in the inventory for another five- year period.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 14 (Friday, January 21, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 14 (Friday, January 21, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3284-3285]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-01151]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Review of Nomination for Mariana Trench National Marine Sanctuary
AGENCY: Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), National Ocean
Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Department of Commerce (DOC).
ACTION: Notice; request for written comments.
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SUMMARY: The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is requesting
written comments to facilitate ONMS' five-year review of the nomination
for the Mariana Trench National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) at the five-year
interval. In particular, NOAA is requesting relevant information as it
pertains to its 11 evaluation criteria for inclusion in the inventory.
In this five-year review, NOAA will pay particular attention to any new
information about the significance of the area's natural or cultural
resources, changes to any threats to these resources, and any updates
to the management framework of the area. NOAA has provided the original
nominating parties, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Friends of the
Marianas Trench, an opportunity to share their views on these same
questions. Following this information gathering and internal analysis,
NOAA will make a final determination on whether or not the Mariana
Trench NMS nomination will remain in the inventory for another five-
year period.
DATES: Written comments must be received by February 22, 2022. NOAA
will conduct a virtual meeting on Saturday, February 12, 2022, from 10
a.m.-12 p.m. ChST (Guam/Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands)/
Friday, February 11, 2022, from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. HST (Hawai[revaps]i).
NOAA may end the meeting before the time noted above if all those
participating have completed their oral comments.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by one of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Submit electronic comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal and
search for Docket Number NOAA-NOS-2022-0005.
<bullet> Mail: Kristina Kekuewa, Pacific Islands Regional Director,
NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, 1845 Wasp Blvd., Honolulu,
Hawaii 96818.
<bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#501b22392324393e317e1b353b25352731103e3f31317e373f26"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="09427b607a7d60676827426c627c6c7e684967666868276e667f">[email protected]</span></a>.
<bullet> Public Scoping Meeting: Provide oral comments during a
virtual public scoping meeting, as described under DATES. Webinar
registration details and additional information about how to
participate in the public scoping meeting is available at <a href="https://nominate.noaa.gov/5-year-review.html">https://nominate.noaa.gov/5-year-review.html</a>.
Instructions: All comments received are a part of the public
record. All personal identifying information (for example, name and
address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly
accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or
otherwise sensitive or protected information. NOAA will accept
anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required fields to remain
anonymous).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristina Kekuewa, Pacific Islands
Regional Director, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, 1845
Wasp Blvd., Honolulu, Hawaii 96818, or at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="aac1d8c3d9dec3c4cb84c1cfc1dfcfddcbeac4c5cbcb84cdc5dc">[email protected]</a>, or
at 808-725-5252.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background Information
In 2014, NOAA issued a final rule re-establishing the sanctuary
nomination process (SNP), which details how communities may submit
nominations of areas of the marine and Great Lakes environment for NOAA
to consider for designation as national marine sanctuaries (79 FR
33851). NOAA moves successful nominations to an inventory of areas that
could be considered for national marine sanctuary designation. The
final rule re-establishing the SNP included a five-year limit on any
nomination added to the inventory that NOAA does not advance for
designation.
In November 2019, NOAA issued a Federal Register notice (84 FR
61546) to clarify procedures for evaluating and updating a successful
nomination as it approaches the five-year mark in the inventory of
areas that could be considered for national marine sanctuary
designation. This notice explained that if a nomination remains
responsive to the evaluation criteria for inclusion in the inventory,
it may be appropriate to allow the nomination to remain in the
inventory for another five years. The notice also established a process
for NOAA to consider the continuing viability of nominations nearing
the five-year expiration mark.
The nomination for Mariana Trench NMS was accepted to the national
inventory on March 13, 2017, and is therefore scheduled to expire on
March 13, 2022. The full nomination can be found at <a href="https://nominate.noaa.gov/nominations/">https://nominate.noaa.gov/nominations/</a>.
NOAA is not proposing to designate the Mariana Trench NMS with this
action. Instead, NOAA is seeking public comment on ONMS' five-year
review of the nomination for Mariana Trench NMS. Accordingly, written
comments submitted as part of this request should
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not focus on whether NOAA should initiate the designation process for a
Mariana Trench NMS. Rather, comments should address the relevance of
the nomination towards NOAA's 11 evaluation criteria and any new
information NOAA should consider about the nominated area (these
criteria are detailed at <a href="https://nominate.noaa.gov/guide.html">https://nominate.noaa.gov/guide.html</a>).
Comments that do not pertain to the evaluation criteria, or present new
information on the Mariana Trench NMS nomination, will not be
considered in NOAA's decision on whether to retain this nomination in
the inventory.
Whether removing or maintaining the nomination for Mariana Trench
NMS, NOAA would follow the same procedure for notifying the public NOAA
followed when the nomination was submitted, including a letter to the
nominator, a notice in the Federal Register, and posting information on
``<a href="http://nominate.noaa.gov">nominate.noaa.gov</a>''.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.
John Armor,
Director, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, National Ocean
Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2022-01151 Filed 1-20-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-NK-P
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