New regs for Wednesday: Cellphones, hunting, catfish

Wednesday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new rules for blocking robocalls, hunting regulations, and inspection standards for catfish slaughter places.

Here’s what is happening:

Cellphones: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing new rules to block robocalls that are “reasonably likely to be illegal.”

The FCC’s proposed rules build on guidance issued last year that allowed cellular networks to “block calls when the subscriber to a particular telephone number requests that calls originating form that number be blocked.”

Any changes would be reflected in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The public has 45 days to comment.

Hunting: The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and Forest Service are proposing new hunting regulations for Alaska.

The Alaska hunting and trapping regulations would be in effect from 2018 through 2020. The proposal also includes harvest limits and rules governing the “methods and means  related to taking of wildlife for subsistence.”

The public has 30 days to comment.

Fish: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is considering new catfish inspection standards.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued Tuesday a request for comment on the agency’s plan to update the inspection coverage for places that slaughter certain fish, including catfish. Under the plan, these places would be subject to inspection “once per production shift,” as opposed to during “all hours of operations.”

The changes would affect 16 places that slaughter catfish. “All of these establishments receive live fish that are subsequently slaughtered and further processed,” the agency said.

The public has 30 days to comment.

– This story was corrected on May 17 to clarify that The Fish and Wildlife Service’s rules apply only to Alaska.