[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 23, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54984-54985]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-27077]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[I.D. 101596B]


Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; Public Meetings

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

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene 
public meetings.

DATES: The meetings will be held on November 11-15, 1996.

ADDRESSES: These meetings will be held at the Marriott's Grand Hotel, 
U.S. Highway 98, Point Clear, AL; telephone: (334) 928-9201.
    Council address: Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, 5401 
West Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 331, Tampa, FL 33609.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wayne E. Swingle, Executive Director; 
telephone: (813) 228-2815.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Council

    November 13
     8:30 a.m.--Convene.
    9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.--Receive public testimony on Reef Fish Total 
Allowable Catch (TAC) and Draft Shrimp Amendment 9.
    November 14
    8:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon--Continue receiving public testimony on 
Draft Shrimp Amendment 9.
    1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.--Reconvene to receive a report of the Shrimp 
Management Committee.
    4:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.--Receive a report of the Budget Committee.
    4:45 p.m.- 5:00 p.m.--Receive a report of the Stone Crab Management 
Committee.
    November 15
    8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.--Receive a report of the Reef Fish 
Management Committee.
    10:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.--Receive a report of the Habitat Protection 
Committee.
    10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.--Receive a report of the International 
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas Advisory Committee.
    10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.--Receive a report of Magnuson Act 
Amendments.
    11:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. --Receive Enforcement Report.
    11:15 a.m. - 11:40 a.m.--Receive Director's Reports.
    11:40 a.m. - 12:00 noon--Other business to be discussed.

Committees

    November 11
    10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.--Convene the Budget Committee.
    11:15 a.m. - 12:00 noon--Convene the Stone Crab Management 
Committee.
    1:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.--Convene the Reef Fish Management Committee. 
The committees will hear stock assessment reports for red snapper, 
vermilion snapper, and amberjack. They will review the recommendations 
of a scientific stock assessment panel and socioeconomic panel on 
acceptable biological catch (ABC) and on TAC for these stocks as well 
as the recommendations of the Scientific and Statistical Committee 
(SSC) and Red Snapper Advisory Panel. The committee will develop its 
recommendations to the Council on TAC, bag limits, and commercial 
quotas for red snapper and vermilion snapper, and management actions 
for the other stocks.
    November 12
    8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.--Convene the Habitat Protection Committee.
    9:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. - 5 p.m.--Convene the Shrimp 
Management Committee. This committee will review summaries of the 
public comments, obtained from the 14 public hearings held in October, 
on the bycatch amendment. It will also review the recommendations of 
the Shrimp Advisory Panel and the SSC on the amendment and will develop 
its recommendations to the Council on the rules that shall be adopted. 
The alternatives for rules are as follows:
     Require the installation of a NMFS-certified Bycatch 
Reduction Device (BRD) in all nets used aboard vessels trawling for 
shrimp in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Gulf of Mexico, 
except for a single test or ``try'' net not exceeding 16 feet in 
headrope length. Vessels with trawls for groundfish or butterfish and 
those trawling for royal red shrimp beyond the 100-fathom contour depth 
are exempted.
     Require the installation of a NMFS-certified BRD in shrimp 
trawls in the EEZ of the Gulf of Mexico within the 100-fathom contour 
depth.
     Require the installation of a NMFS-certified BRD in shrimp 
trawls in the EEZ of the Gulf of Mexico within the 100-fathom contour 
depth west of Cape San Blas, FL.
     Require the installation of a NMFS-certified BRD in shrimp 
trawls in the EEZ of the Gulf of Mexico between the 10- and 100-fathom 
contour depth.
     Require the installation of a NMFS-certified BRD in shrimp 
trawls in the EEZ of the Gulf of Mexico between the 10- and 100-fathom 
contour depth and west of Cape San Blas, Fl.
     Establish the following bycatch reduction criteria for a 
BRD to be certified: It must reduce the bycatch of juvenile red snapper 
(age 0 and age 1) by 50 percent from the average level of mortality on 
those age groups during the years 1984-89.
     Establish a framework procedure for modifying the bycatch 
reduction criteria.

[[Page 54985]]

     Establish a framework procedure for establishing BRD 
certification and decertification criteria and a BRD testing protocol.
    The Shrimp Committee will also hear scientific reports of a 
statistical review committee and from stock assessment analyses related 
to the accuracy of bycatch estimates of red snapper.

Special Accommodations

    These meetings are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aids should be directed to Anne Alford at the Council (see 
ADDRESSES) by November 4, 1996.

    Dated: October 16, 1996.
Bruce Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 96-27077 Filed 10-22-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F