[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 235 (Thursday, December 7, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 70965]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-20723]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 110306B]


Small Coastal Shark 2007 Stock Assessment Data Workshop

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the date, time, and location for the small 
coastal shark (SCS) stock assessment Data Workshop, the first of three 
stock evaluation workshops for the SCS stock assessment to be conducted 
in 2007. Any potential changes to existing management measures for SCS 
will be based, in large part, on the results of this 2007 stock 
assessment. The workshop is open to the public.

DATES: The Data Workshop will start at 1 p.m. on Monday, February 5, 
2007, and will conclude at 1 p.m. on Friday, February 9, 2007.

ADDRESSES: The Data Workshop will be held at the Bay Point Marriott 
Resort, 4200 Marriott Drive, Panama City Beach, FL 32408.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie Neer at (850) 234-6541; or Karyl 
Brewster-Geisz at (301) 713-2347, fax (301) 713-1917.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Atlantic shark fisheries are managed 
under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act. The Consolidated Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery 
Management Plan (FMP) (October 2, 2006; 71 FR 58058) is implemented by 
regulations at 50 CFR part 635.
    Stock assessments are periodically conducted to determine stock 
status relative to current management criteria. Collection of the best 
available scientific data and conducting stock assessments are critical 
to determine appropriate management measures for rebuilding stocks. 
Based on the last SCS stock assessment in 2002, NMFS determined that 
the SCS complex and three of the species in that complex are not 
overfished with no overfishing occurring. The only exception was for 
finetooth sharks, where fishing mortality in some years was above the 
mortality level associated with producing maximum sustainable yield 
(MSY). Any potential changes to existing management measures for SCS 
will be based, in large part, on the results of this 2007 stock 
assessment.
    This assessment will be conducted in a manner similar to the 
Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) process. SEDAR is a 
cooperative process initiated in 2002 to improve the quality and 
reliability of fishery stock assessments in the South Atlantic, Gulf of 
Mexico, and U.S. Caribbean. SEDAR emphasizes constituent and 
stakeholder participation in assessment development, transparency in 
the assessment process, and a rigorous and independent scientific 
review of completed stock assessments. SEDAR is organized around three 
workshops. The first is a Data Workshop where datasets are documented, 
analyzed, and reviewed, and data for conducting assessment analyses are 
compiled. The second workshop is an Assessment Workshop where 
quantitative population analyses are developed and refined and 
population parameters are estimated. The third and final workshop is a 
Review Workshop where a panel of independent experts review the data 
and assessment and recommend the most appropriate values of critical 
population and management quantities. All workshops are open to the 
public. More information on the SEDAR process can be found at http://www.sefsc.noaa.gov/sedar/. The 2005/2006 large coastal shark stock 
assessment also followed this process.
    NMFS announces the Data Workshop, the first of three workshops for 
the SCS 2007 stock assessment. The Data Workshop will be held from 
February 5 - 9, 2007, at the Bay Point Marriott Resort in Panama City 
Beach, FL (see DATES and ADDRESSES). Prospective participants and 
observers will be contacted with the data workshop details. This 
workshop is open to the public. Persons interested in participating or 
observing the Data Workshop should contact Julie Neer (see FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT). Tentative dates for the next two workshops are 
May 7 - 11, 2007, for the Assessment Workshop and August 6 - 10, 2007, 
for the Review Workshop. The times and locations of these workshops 
will be announced in a future Federal Register notice.

Special Accommodations

    These meetings are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aids should be directed to Julie Neer at (850) 234-6541, at 
least 7 days prior to the Data workshop.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.

    Dated: November 29, 2006.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. E6-20723 Filed 12-6-06; 8:45 am]
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