[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 229 (Friday, November 28, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66821-66822]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-29737]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 112403B]


Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

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 (Council) will 
convene a joint public meeting via conference call of the Standing and 
Special Reef Fish Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC).

DATES: The meeting will be via conference call on December 12, 2003 
beginning at 10 a.m. EDT.

ADDRESSES: Listening stations will be available at the following 
locations:
    NMFS Southeast Regional Office, 9721 Executive Center Drive, North, 
St. Petersburg, FL 33702; Contact: Peter Hood at 727-570-5305;
    NMFS Panama City Laboratory, 3500 Delwood Beach Road, Panama City, 
FL; Contact: Gary Fitzhugh at 850-234-6541, extension 214.
    Council address: Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, 3018 
U.S. Highway 301 North, Suite 1000, Tampa, FL 33619.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Atran, Population Dynamics 
Statistician, Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; telephone: 
813-228-2815.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SSC will be convened to evaluate the 
socioeconomic information contained in Reef Fish Secretarial Amendment 
1, red grouper rebuilding plan and deep-water grouper quotas. The SSC 
will be asked specifically to provide the Council with guidance on the 
economic impacts of trip limits vs. closed seasons.
    Red grouper were declared overfished by NMFS in October 2000. 
Following additional analyses and a subsequent stock assessment in 
2002, the Council, in May 2003, submitted Reef Fish Secretarial 
Amendment 1 to NMFS. This amendment contained a rebuilding plan that 
called for approximately a 10 percent reduction in harvest, to be 
achieved through a reduction in the commercial shallow-water grouper 
quota, replacing the February 15 to March 15 commercial closed season 
on gag, red and black grouper with a shallow-water grouper trip limit, 
and a recreational bag limit of no more than

[[Page 66822]]

two red grouper (out of the 5 aggregate grouper bag limit). The 
rebuilding plan also proposed a reduction in the deep-water grouper 
quota and setting of a tilefish quota in order to discourage effort 
shifting to those stocks. Because more than one year had passed since 
the designation of red grouper as overfished, the amendment was 
submitted as a Secretarial Amendment rather than as a Council Plan 
Amendment.
    NMFS reviewed the plan as submitted by the Gulf Council and made 
revisions to it. The revisions included retaining the February 15-March 
15 commercial closed season, implementing a hard quota on red grouper 
so that the commercial shallow-water grouper fishery will close when 
either the red grouper or shallow-water grouper quota is met, whichever 
comes first, and not implementing a trip limit.
    A draft of the revised Secretarial Amendment was reviewed by the 
SSC at a meeting held October 28-29, 2003. However, the NMFS revisions 
were not provided to the SSC until just prior to the meeting, and the 
SSC was unable to review the socioeconomic information contained in the 
amendment's regulatory impact review section. At the November 9-12, 
2003 Council meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi, Council members debated 
whether it would be less economically disruptive to the commercial 
shallow-water grouper fishery to have a potential quota closure or a 
shallow-water grouper trip limit set low enough to prevent a quota 
closure. Since the Council will have another opportunity to review and 
comment on Secretarial Amendment 1 at its January 12-16, 2004 meeting 
in Austin, TX, the Council decided to ask the SSC to reconvene by 
conference call to evaluate the socioeconomic information in the 
amendment, with particular emphasis on the economic impacts of trip 
limits vs. closed seasons.
    To obtain a copy of Reef Fish Secretarial Amendment 1, contact Phil 
Steele, NMFS Southeast Regional Office, 9721 Executive Center Drive, 
North, St. Petersburg, FL 33702; telephone: 727-570-5305, fax: 727-570-
5583, e-mail: [email protected]
    A copy of the agenda can be obtained by contacting the Council (see 
addresses above).
    Although non-emergency issues not contained in the agenda may come 
before the AP/SSC for discussion, in accordance with the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA), those issues 
may not be the subject of formal action during this meeting. Action 
will be restricted to those issues specifically identified in this 
notice and any issues arising after publication of this notice that 
require emergency action under section 305(c) of the MSFCMA, provided 
the public has been notified of the Council's intent to take final 
action to address the emergency.
    The listening stations 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 December 5, 2003.

    Dated: November 24, 2003.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-29737 Filed 11-26-03; 8:45 am]
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