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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 53 / Friday, March 18, 2022 / Notices
Martin. USA–1 and USA–4 were most
recently extended in 2017 (82 FR 42327,
September 7, 2017). The current terms
of Exploration Licenses USA–1 and
USA–4 end on June 2, 2022. Section
107(a) of DSHMRA provides that NOAA
shall extend exploration licenses for a
term of not more than five years if the
licensee has substantially complied
with the license and exploration plan
and has requested an extension of the
license. 30 U.S.C. 1417.
Lockheed Martin has submitted this
request to maintain its interests and
rights under these exploration licenses.
Lockheed Martin is not currently
conducting at-sea activities under
DSHMRA exploration licenses USA–1
or USA–4, nor is the company
proposing any such activities in this
license extension request. Lockheed
Martin has stated that at-sea exploration
activities have been delayed for several
reasons including conditions in the
metals markets and the lack of
international recognition of the
DSHMRA licenses USA–1 and USA–4.
DSHMRA, which establishes a
domestic licensing regime for United
States citizens who engage in
exploration of deep seabed hard mineral
resources in areas beyond national
jurisdiction, was enacted in 1980 as an
interim statute pending the completion
of negotiations on a Law of the Sea
Convention (LOSC) acceptable to the
United States. See 30 U.S.C. 1401(a).
Although the LOSC was opened for
signature in 1982, the United States has
yet to become a party, and thus is not
a member of the International Seabed
Authority (ISA), the body established
under LOSC to regulate deep seabed
mining and award exploration and
mining contracts in areas beyond
national jurisdiction. DSHMRA
exploration licenses USA–1 and USA–4
predate the establishment of the ISA in
1994. As the United States is not a party
to the Law of the Sea Convention and
thus not a member of the ISA, the
United States is unable to seek from the
ISA an exploration contract to obtain
international legal recognition of
Lockheed Martin’s domestic law rights
under DSHMRA exploration licenses
USA–1 and USA–4. Recently, the ISA
established an Area of Particular
Environmental Interest that partially
overlaps with DSHMRA exploration
license USA–1. The ISA designation has
no bearing on the extension request
currently under consideration as it is
not within the criteria specified within
DSHMRA and its implementing
regulations for granting license
extensions.
During the requested five-year
extension, Lockheed Martin would

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continue to conduct various preparatory
activities in advance of at-sea
exploration, which may become feasible
at some future date. If NOAA grants this
extension request, Lockheed Martin
would need to obtain additional
authorization from the agency before it
would be allowed to conduct at-sea
exploration activities under these
licenses. Among other requirements,
any request by Lockheed Martin for
authorization from NOAA to conduct atsea exploration activities would require
the agency to conduct additional
environmental analysis pursuant to
NOAA’s obligations under the National
Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq., and DSHMRA.
NOAA is required under 30 U.S.C.
1417 to approve an extension request if
the licensee has substantially complied
with the license and its associated
exploration plan. In determining
substantial compliance, the DSHMRA
implementing regulations at 15 CFR
970.515(b) provide that NOAA may
make allowance for deviation from the
exploration plan for good cause such as
significantly changed market
conditions.
The request for extension and revised
exploration plan can be viewed at
www.regulations.gov, by searching for
docket number ‘‘NOAA–NOS–2022–
0033’’. NOAA is seeking comments on
Lockheed Martin’s request to extend
DSHMRA exploration licenses USA–1
and USA–4 including whether the
company has substantially complied
with the licenses and exploration plans,
and whether the revised exploration
plans for USA–1 and USA–4 meet the
terms, conditions and restrictions of
DSHMRA and the licenses issued
thereunder.
Keelin S. Kuipers,
Deputy Director, Office for Coastal
Management, National Ocean Service,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2022–05793 Filed 3–17–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–08–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Emergency Beacon
Registrations
The Department of Commerce will
submit the following information
collection request to the Office of

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Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and clearance in accordance
with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, on or after the date of publication
of this notice. We invite the general
public and other Federal agencies to
comment on proposed, and continuing
information collections, which helps us
assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize
the public’s reporting burden. Public
comments were previously requested
via the Federal Register on 12/17/2021
during a 60-day comment period. This
notice allows for an additional 30 days
for public comments.
Agency: National Oceanic &
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
Title: Emergency Beacon
Registrations.
OMB Control Number: 0648–0295.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Regular submission,
Revision of a currently approved
information collection.
Number of Respondents: 343,808.
Average Hours per Response: 15
Minutes.
Total Annual Burden Hours: 85,952.
Needs and Uses: The United States,
Canada, France, and Russia operate the
Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided
Tracking (COSPAS/SARSAT), a satellite
system with equipment that can detect
and locate ships, aircraft, and
individuals in distress if an emergency
radio beacon is being carried.
This system is used to detect digitally
encoded signals in the 406.000–406.100
MHz range, coming from these
emergency beacons. The 406.000–
406.100 MHz beacons transmit a unique
identifier, making possible the ability to
combine previously collected data
associated with that beacon and
transmit this vital data along with the
beacon’s position to the appropriate
rescue coordination center.
Persons buying 406.000–406.100 MHz
emergency radio beacons are required to
register them with NOAA prior to
installation. These requirements are
contained in Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) regulations at 47
CFR 80.1061, 47 CFR 87.199 and 47 CFR
95.1402.
The registration data is used to
facilitate a rescue and to suppress the
costly consequences of false alarms,
which if unsuppressed would initiate
the launch of a rescue mission and
thereby deplete limited resources and
possibly result in the loss of lives. This
is accomplished through the use of the
data provided to the rescue forces from
the beacon registration database
maintained by the NOAA’s United
States Mission Control Center (USMCC)

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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 53 / Friday, March 18, 2022 / Notices

for Search and Rescue, to contact the
distressed person(s) or alternate party
via a phone call or radio broadcast.
Other data provides rescuers with
descriptive material of the element in
distress. The registration information
must be kept up-to-date.
Four registration forms are used. The
EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating
Radio Beacon) form is used for nautical
beacons. The ELT (Emergency Locator
Transmitter) form is used for aircraft
beacons. The PLB (Personal Locator
Beacon) is used to register portable
beacons carried by individuals. Ship
Security Alerting System (SSAS)
beacons are carried aboard ships, are
similar to EPIRBs and are used in the
event of an emergency situation such as
piracy or terrorism.
These forms are being updated in
response to the development of 406MHz
second generation beacons (SGBs),
which are in development and are
projected to be available to the public in
2023. Changes to the forms are as
follows:
23-Hex Beacon ID line: SGBs have 23character hexadecimal unique
identifiers. NOAA’s 406 MHz Beacon
Registration Database (RGDB) currently
allows registrations for first generation
beacons (FGBs) that contain 15character hexadecimal identifiers. Once
SGBs are on the market, beacon owners
will have the capability to register either
FGBs or SGBs in the RGDB. Even
though each registration will be for only
one beacon ID, the hardcopy registration
form must contain separate lines for
FGBs and SGBs due to the differing
number of characters and their
presentation on manufacture labels and
packaging—FGB IDs are presented in
groups of 5–5–5 and SGB IDs will be
6–6–6–5.
Old 23-Hex ID: This field was added
to enable registration of a replacement
SGB beacon. The RGDB will continue to
capture data for both FGB and SBG
replacements.
Beacon Serial No.: This field was
added to capture the beacon’s serial
number, which appears on the
manufacturer-supplied label and/or on
the beacon or its packaging. The serial
number provides additional verification
of the beacon ID and can be used by
RGDB staff to resolve cases of incorrect
or duplicate beacon IDs.
Other: An Automatic Identification
System (AIS) Maritime Mobile Service
Identity (MMSI) number was added to
the EPIRB form. The following fields
were added to the PLB form to provide
additional pertinent information to
search and rescue (SAR) forces: Radio
Call Sign (on EPIRB form), Vessel MMSI
# (on EPIRB form), AIS MMSI # (just

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added to EPIRB form), and Aircraft
Registration (Tail) No. (on ELT form).
Affected Public: Individuals or
households; Business or other for-profit
organizations; Not-for-profit
institutions; State, Local, or Tribal
government; Federal government.
Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Federal
Communications Commission (FCC)
regulations at 47 CFR 80.1061, 47 CFR
87.199 and 47 CFR 95.1402.
This information collection request
may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov.
Follow the instructions to view the
Department of Commerce collections
currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be
submitted within 30 days of the
publication of this notice on the
following website www.reginfo.gov/
public/do/PRAMain. Find this
particular information collection by
selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day
Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or
by using the search function and
entering either the title of the collection
or the OMB Control Number 0648–0295.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of
the Chief Information Officer, Commerce
Department.
[FR Doc. 2022–05792 Filed 3–17–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–HR–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XB886]

Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative
Management Act Provisions; General
Provisions for Domestic Fisheries;
Application for Exempted Fishing
Permits
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
AGENCY:

The Assistant Regional
Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries,
Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has
made a preliminary determination that
an Exempted Fishing Permit application
from Pioneers for a Thoughtful
Coexistence, Inc. contains all the
required information and warrants
further consideration. Regulations under
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act and
the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries
Cooperative Management Act require

SUMMARY:

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publication of this notice to provide
interested parties the opportunity to
comment on applications for proposed
Exempted Fishing Permits.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before April 4, 2022.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written
comments by any of the following
methods:
• Email: [email protected].
Include in the subject line ‘‘Comments
on Pioneers Ropeless Fishing EFP.’’ If
you are unable to submit comments via
the above email, please contact Laura
Hansen at (978) 281–9225, or email at
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Laura Hansen, Fishery Management
Specialist, (978) 281–9225.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pioneers
for a Thoughtful Coexistence Inc.
(Pionners), in collaboration with the
Northeaster Fisheries Science Center
(NEFSC) submitted a complete
application for an Exempted Fishing
Permit (EFP) on December 20, 2021, to
conduct a ropeless lobster gear testing
project. Pioneers is requesting an
exemption from Federal lobster
regulations that would authorize three
federally permitted commercial lobster
vessels to participate in a ropeless
lobster gear study in the Massachusetts
Bay Restricted Area (MBRA). Pioneers is
requesting an exemption from gear
marking requirements at 50 CFR
697.21(b)(2) to allow for the use of no
surface markers on a trawl of more than
three traps.
The purpose of this study is to test
real-world use of acoustic-release
systems that would reduce the risk of
entangling protected species, including
the North Atlantic right whale.
The EFP would authorize three
federally permitted lobster vessels to
modify some of their existing trawls to
use ‘‘on-demand access’’ technology for
the retrieval of the gear. Each vessel
would use 10 sets of acoustic releases
and equipment to fish 10, 20-pot trawls
each. Experimental trawls would either
have a rope spool, a buoy and stowed
rope system, or a lift bag system fitted
with an acoustic release, deployed on
one end of the trawl. One vessel would
have 5 of the 10 trawls fixed with
acoustic releases on both ends of the
trawl. Two state-permitted vessels
would also participate in the study
exclusively in state waters of the MBRA,
and do not require Federal EFPs.
Participating vessels would be testing
gear in discrete areas in the MBRA that
were selected by the applicant based on
their claim of limited historical right
whale usage, desired bottom
composition, minimal gear conflict

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