[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 46 (Monday, March 10, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 10822-10823]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-5784]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 022797A]


New England Fishery Management Council; Meeting

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

ACTION: Public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold 
a 2-day public meeting on March 12 and 13, 1997, to consider actions 
affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone.

DATES: The meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 12, 1997, at 10 
a.m. and on Thursday, March 13, 1997, at 8:30 a.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will take place at the King's Grant Inn, Route 
128 and Trask Lane, Danvers, MA; telephone (508) 774-6800. Requests for 
special accommodations should be addressed to the New England Fishery 
Management Council, 5 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906-1097; telephone: (617) 
231-0422.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, 
New England Fishery Management Council, (617) 231-0422.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

March 12, 1997

    The March 12 session will begin with Enforcement Committee 
recommendations on cod trip limits and fishing vessels transiting 
closed areas. In addition to reviewing NMFS and Coast Guard reports to 
the Council on recent enforcement actions, the Enforcement Committee 
will provide an update on a Vessel Tracking System trial program and an 
evaluation of the current scallop regulations. The Scallop Committee 
will review its most recent discussion of

[[Page 10823]]

fishing effort consolidation. The day will conclude with a report by 
the Groundfish Committee chairman. His briefing on the committee's 
discussions will include: Maintaining or opening groundfish closed 
areas to scallop dredging; consideration of a framework adjustment to 
the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) that would 
contain measures to protect incoming year classes of winter flounder; 
development of a timetable for winter flounder stock rebuilding and for 
whiting management; consideration of a year-round fishery for small 
scallop dredges in the Nantucket Shoals Dogfish Exemption Area; the 
August 15 through September 13 Northeast Closure Area for groundfish, 
as it relates to the gillnet fishery requirement to take 21 days off 
from groundfish fishing between June and September; and initial action 
on a framework adjustment to the FMP under the framework for 
abbreviated rulemaking procedure contained in 50 CFR 648.82. In 
addition to allowing fishing in the North Atlantic Fisheries 
Organization regulated area without using multispecies days-at-sea 
(DAS) allocations, this framework adjustment would provide incentives 
to fish offshore through several means including not counting steaming 
time against multispecies DAS allocations.

March 13, 1997

    The Council Chairman; Executive Director; Regional Administrator, 
Northeast Region, NMFS; representatives from the Northeast Fisheries 
Science Center; Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC); 
U.S. Coast Guard; and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council 
liaison will report on recent activities. There will be a briefing on 
the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program followed by an 
update on public comments received to date on monkfish management 
proposals. During the latter portion of the meeting, the Responsible 
Fishing Committee will discuss fishermen's training and certification 
programs. There will be an update on ASMFC's lobster management program 
and a NMFS update on actions to restrict lobster gear to reduce the 
risk of northern right whale entanglements.

Announcement of Experimental Fishery Applications

    There will be a discussion of several experimental fisheries that 
have been recently submitted to NMFS for review and approval. Among the 
proposed experiments are extensions of two previous experiments, two 
expansions of previously conducted experiments and two new experiments. 
The Regional Administrator has conducted preliminary reviews of the 
experimental fishery proposals and is seeking Council and industry 
comments on the proposals.
    The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of 
Fish Game and Wildlife conducted studies on food habits and digestive 
systems of lobsters taken from artificial reef systems off of New 
Jersey. One fishing vessel was issued an experimental fishing permit 
(EFP) that exempted it from the possession limit for vessels without a 
Federal American lobster permit, size limit, and prohibition on 
possession of lobster parts. The investigators were not able to collect 
their target numbers of 150 lobsters and have therefore requested an 
extension of the EFP to cover the period from June through October of 
1997.
    The Research Foundation of the State University of New York (SUNY) 
has been issued an EFP for a fishing vessel that it has chartered to 
conduct studies on interactions between juvenile groundfish and their 
habitats. The study is funded under the Saltonstall/Kennedy Grant 
program and the EFP expires on April 30, 1997. SUNY has requested that 
the EFP be extended to cover the duration of the funded activities. The 
project involves collection of samples of juvenile fish in the New York 
Bight area with small mesh trawl gear. An EFP is required to exempt the 
participating vessel from DAS, gear and mesh size restrictions, and 
minimum fish size limits of the FMP.
    A member of the fishing industry has requested that the seasonal 
experimental whiting separator trawl fishery conducted in the Northern 
Shrimp Small Mesh Exemption Area be extended to allow fishing under the 
experiment for the entire year. In addition, the applicant has 
requested the use of a grate bar spacing of 2 inches (5.08 cm) instead 
of the previous 1-9/16 - inch (4-cm) bar spacing used in the previous 
fishery. EFPs would be necessary to exempt participating vessels from 
mesh size, DAS, and bycatch restrictions of the FMP.
    The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MADMF) has 
requested that its experimental small mesh raised footrope trawl 
whiting fishery conducted in Cape Cod Bay be expanded to allow two to 
three vessels to fish in three additional distinct areas within the 
GOM/GB Regulated Mesh Area. MADMF would monitor the vessels and the 
trawl gear to determine if the raised footrope trawl is an appropriate 
gear to reduce bycatch of regulated species in areas outside of Cape 
Cod Bay. EFPs would be required to exempt vessels from mesh size, DAS, 
and bycatch restrictions of the multispecies FMP.
    The MADMF and an industry member have submitted an application to 
conduct comparisons of catch rates of yellowtail flounder using diamond 
and square mesh trawls. The purpose of the study is to determine the 
selectivity of diamond or square mesh trawls on yellowtail flounder. An 
EFP would be required to exempt the vessel from possession limits, DAS, 
and mesh size restrictions of the FMP. While the vessel will be using 
the regulated 6-inch (15.24-cm) mesh trawls, small mesh codend covers 
will be used to measure the catches of the fish for each type of trawl. 
The applicants have further requested that the vessel be allowed to 
retain and land legal sized regulated multispecies on the experimental 
trips.
    The Maine Department of Marine Resources (MEDMR) had requested that 
fishing vessels and recreational fishers be allowed to catch and retain 
juvenile tagged regulated multispecies that were raised and released by 
MEDMR. Participating fishers would return the tagged fish to MEDMR. The 
purpose of the tagged fish recovery effort is to measure the 
survivability of released fish. Those catching and returning tagged 
juvenile regulated species would be required to be exempted from the 
minimum fish size limits and possibly DAS and possession limits of the 
multispecies FMP.
    Prior to the conclusion of the meeting, the Council will discuss 
policy advice to the Mid-Atlantic Council on mackerel joint ventures 
and comments on NMFS' proposed swordfish fishery limited access 
program.

Special Accommodations

    This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. 
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to Paul J. Howard (see ADDRESSES) at least 5 days 
prior to the meeting date.

    Authority: 16 U.S. C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: March 4, 1997.
Bruce Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 97-5784 Filed 3-7-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F