[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 83 (Monday, May 2, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 22647]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-2069]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 042605B]


New England Fishery Management Council; Public Meetings

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

ACTION: Public meetings.

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SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is 
scheduling public meetings of its Herring and Habitat/MPA/Ecosystems 
Oversight Committees in May, 2005 to consider actions affecting New 
England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations 
from these groups will be brought to the full Council for formal 
consideration and action, if appropriate.

DATES: The meetings will be held on May 17-18, and May 26, 2005. See 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for specific dates and times.

ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held in Peabody, MA, and Narragansett, 
RI. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for specific locations.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, 
New England Fishery Management Council (978) 465-0492. Requests for 
special accommodations should be addressed to the New England Fishery 
Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950; 
telephone: (978) 465-0492.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Meeting Dates and Agendas

    Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. and Wednesday, May 18, 2005 at 9 
a.m.--Herring Oversight Committee Meeting.
    Location: Holiday Inn, One Newbury Street, Peabody, MA 01960; 
telephone:(978) 535-4600.
    The Committee will review updated surveys, trends in herring stock 
status, and related Herring Plan Development Team (PDT) conclusions/
recommendations; review work/analyses completed for the Draft 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) for Amendment 1 to 
the Herring Fishery Management Plan and address any outstanding issues 
regarding the Amendment 1 alternatives and measures under consideration 
and provide clarification and guidance to the Herring PDT as 
appropriate. Also on the agenda will be review of the work completed by 
the Herring and Groundfish PDTs regarding a measure to establish 
bycatch caps for groundfish stocks of concern and finalize the details 
of this measure for inclusion in Amendment 1. They will also discuss 
concerns related to the role of herring as a forage species and 
localized depletion and begin to develop a strategy to address these 
issues over the short-term and long-term.
    Thursday, May 26, 2005 at 9:30 a.m.--Habitat/MPA/Ecosystem 
Oversight Committee Meeting.
    Location: Village Inn, Narragansett, One Beach Street, 
Narragansett, RI 02882; telephone: (401) 783-6767.
    The Committee will continue work on elements of the Essential Fish 
Habitat Omnibus Amendment 2 including, but not limited to; review of 
the progress on the Habitat Advisory Panel's gear descriptions document 
preparation; receive an update on the progress of the NMFS Habitat 
Evaluation Working Group (EFH designation methods) and review the Terms 
of Reference for Phase 1 of the upcoming two-part Habitat Evaluation 
Review Committee peer review workshop in June 2005; receive an update 
on the progress by the PDT to conduct a risk assessment to evaluate the 
vulnerability, availability and recovery of impacts to EFH and 
presentation of Habitat Area of Particular Concern Proposals received 
by the Council during the Request for Proposal Period which ended March 
25, 2005. Other topics to be addressed by the Committee include: a 
briefing on the various Liquified Natural Gas proposals in the 
Northeast Region; presentation of the preliminary results of the Marine 
Protected Areas Education and Outreach Workshops which are scheduled 
for May 5-6 and May 10-11, 2005. In addition the Committee will receive 
an update on Ecosystems Pilot Project and will discuss other topics at 
their discretion.
    Although non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda may come 
before this group for discussion, those issues may not be the subject 
of formal action during this meeting. Action will be restricted to 
those issues specifically listed in this notice and any issues arising 
after publication of this notice that require emergency action under 
section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, provided the public has 
been notified of the Council's intent to take final action to address 
the emergency.

Special Accommodations

    These meetings are 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 dates.

    Dated: April 27, 2005.
Tracey Thompson,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E5-2069 Filed 4-29-05; 8:45 am]
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