[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 75 (Thursday, April 19, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19701-19702]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-7469]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 110306B]


Small Coastal Shark 2007 Stock Assessment 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) Assessment Workshop, the second 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 Assessment Workshop will start at 1 p.m. on Monday, May 7, 
2007, and will conclude at 1 p.m. on Friday, May 11, 2007.

ADDRESSES: The Assessment 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 managing 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 Assessment Workshop, the second of three 
workshops for the SCS 2007 stock assessment. The Assessment Workshop 
will be held from May 7 - 11, 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

[[Page 19702]]

open to the public. Persons interested in participating or observing 
the SCS Assessment Workshop should contact Julie Neer (see FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT). Tentative dates for the Review Workshop are 
August 6 - 10, 2007. 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 business days prior to the Assessment Workshop.

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

    Dated: April 13, 2007.
Alan D. Risenhoover
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. E7-7469 Filed 4-18-07; 8:45 am]
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