On December 22, 2022, National Marine Fisheries Service published in the Federal Register (87 FR 78659) the Notice of Receipt and request for public comments for North Carolina’s Incidental Take Permit application and conservation plan to address sturgeon and sea turtle interactions in the state’s estuarine anchored gill net fishery.
The notice incorrectly stated: “NCDMF’s monitoring program is largely funded through state appropriations and is supplemented through other sources such as the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.”
The NCDMF Observer Program is funded completely by the North Carolina Commercial Fishing Resource Fund, where the funds come from an increase in NCDMF’s commercial fishing license fees (G.S. 113-173.1). This information is correctly presented in the NCDMF’s application, which is available for download and review at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/endangered-species-conservation… and at http://www.regulations.gov.
The National Marine Fisheries Service has published a correction in the Federal Register (https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2022-28553/permits-ap…).
This correction does not impact the comment period. Public comments may be submitted electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov. 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.
For more commenting instructions, please refer to the Notice of Receipt published here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/12/22/2022-27799/endange….