[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 47 (Monday, March 10, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12708-12709]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4613]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN: 0648-XG14


Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; Public Meetings

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

ACTION: Notice of a public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to convene its 
Socioeconomic Panel (SEP) via conference call.

DATES: The conference call will be held March 25, 2008, at 1 p.m. EDT.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held via conference call and listening 
stations will be available. For specific locations see SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION.
    Council address: Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, 2203 
North Lois Avenue, Suite 1100, Tampa, FL 33607.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Assane Diagne, Economist, Gulf of 
Mexico Fishery Management Council; telephone: (813) 348-1630.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The conference call will begin at 1 p.m. EDT 
and conclude no later than 3 p.m. EDT. Listening stations are available 
at the following locations:

[[Page 12709]]

The Gulf Council office (see ADDRESSES), and the National Marine 
Fisheries Service (NMFS) offices as follows:

St. Petersburg, FL

263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, Contact: Stephen 
Holiman, telephone: (727) 551-5719;

Galveston, TX

4700 Ave U, Conference room - Bldg 305, Galveston, TX 77551, Contact: 
Ronnie O'Toole, telephone: (409) 766-3500;

Miami, FL

75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, FL 33149, Contact: Sophia Howard, 
telephone: (305) 361-4259; and

Panama City, FL

3500 Delwood Beach Road, Panama City, FL 32408, Contact: Janice Hamm, 
telephone: (850) 234-6541.

    The SEP will hold a conference call to discuss Reef Fish Amendment 
30-B. Amendment 30B contains potential management measures to define 
overfishing and overfished thresholds and an optimum yield (OY) target 
for gag; end overfishing of gag; increase the total allowable catch 
(TAC) of the red grouper stock to its OY level; establish recreational 
and commercial allocations for gag and red grouper; establish 
accountability measures for gag to assure compliance with ending 
overfishing; adjust commercial grouper quotas and recreational grouper 
bag limits; closed seasons; and/or size limits; reduce discards and 
discard mortality of groupers; establish a new reef fish marine reserve 
and/or extend the duration of the existing Madison-Swanson and 
Steamboat Lumps marine reserves; and require that federally permitted 
reef fish vessels comply with the more restrictive of federal or state 
reef fish regulations when fishing in state waters.
    Although other non-emergency issues not on the agenda may come 
before the SEP for discussion, in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnsuon-Stevens Act), those 
issues may not be the subject of formal action during the meeting. 
Actions will be restricted to the issue specifically identified in the 
agenda 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 SEP's intent to take 
action to address the emergency.

Special Accommodations

    The listening stations are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aids should be directed to Tina Trezza at the Council (see 
ADDRESSES) at least 5 working days prior to the meeting.

    Dated: March 5, 2008.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-4613 Filed 3-7-08; 8:45 am]
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