[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 179 (Monday, September 15, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53194-53195]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-21469]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XK50


Fisheries of the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico; SEDAR; Public 
Meetings

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

ACTION: Notice of Southeastern Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) 
Procedural Workshop on Indices Development and Selection Criteria.

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SUMMARY: Measures of population abundance are critical to developing 
adequate and reliable quantitative stock assessments. Given the 
complexity of developing indices of abundance and determining which 
indices may be useful for use in stock assessments, a 4 day workshop 
will be convened to gather key members of the SEDAR assessment 
community to prepare a guide to index development and evaluation. 
Topics of discussion will include: methods for indices development, 
review of criteria used in determining usefulness of indices in past 
SEDARs, meta-analysis of indices presented in past SEDARs (examining 
factors such as duration, coefficients of variation, and spatial 
coverage), and possible criteria for indices selection. Participants 
will produce summaries and/or documents of various issues to be 
discussed prior to the workshop and participant in the development of 
the final report during and after the meeting.

DATES: The SEDAR Indices Procedural Workshop will take place October 
14-17, 2008; SEDAR - Indices Procedural Workshop Schedule: October 14, 
2008: 1 p.m. - 8 p.m.; October 15-16, 2008: 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.; October 
17, 2008: 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The SEDAR Indices Procedural Workshop will be held at the 
NOAA Fisheries, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, 75 Virginia Beach 
Drive, Miami, FL 33149; telephone: (305) 361-4200.
    Council address: South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, 4055 
Faber Place Drive, Suite 201, North Charleston, SC 29405.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie Neer, SEDAR Coordinator, 4055 
Faber Place Drive, Suite 201, North Charleston, SC 29405; telephone: 
(843) 571-4366.

[[Page 53195]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and 
Caribbean Fishery Management Councils, in conjunction with NOAA 
Fisheries and the Atlantic and Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commissions 
have implemented the Southeast Data, Assessment and Review (SEDAR) 
process, a multi-step method for determining the status of fish stocks 
in the Southeast Region. SEDAR includes three workshops: (1) Data 
Workshop, (2) Stock Assessment Workshop and (3) Review Workshop. The 
product of the Data Workshop is a data report which compiles and 
evaluates potential datasets and recommends which datasets are 
appropriate for assessment analyses. The product of the Stock 
Assessment Workshop is a stock assessment report which describes the 
fisheries, evaluates the status of the stock, estimates biological 
benchmarks, projects future population conditions, and recommends 
research and monitoring needs. The assessment is independently peer 
reviewed at the Review Workshop. The product of the Review Workshop is 
a Consensus Summary documenting Panel opinions regarding the strengths 
and weaknesses of the stock assessment and input data. Participants for 
SEDAR Workshops are appointed by the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, 
and Caribbean Fishery Management Councils and NOAA Fisheries Southeast 
Regional Office and Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Participants 
include data collectors and database managers; stock assessment 
scientists, biologists, and researchers; constituency representatives 
including fishermen, environmentalists, and NGO's; International 
experts; and staff of Councils, Commissions, and state and federal 
agencies.
    Each SEDAR workshop panel is asked to provide research and 
monitoring recommendations to improve future assessments and feedback 
on the process to help improve SEDAR itself. Over time, certain key 
topics emerge that reveal a research need or procedural suggestion that 
is common to multiple assessments. The SEDAR Steering Committee 
endorses procedural workshops such as that noticed here to address 
those issues that affect multiple assessments and require more time and 
resources to resolve than are typically available during the normal 
assessment development process. The goal of these workshops is to 
develop guidelines and practices that will increase the efficiency of 
subsequent SEDAR assessments.
    Although non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda may come 
before these groups for discussion, in accordance with the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), 
those issues may not be the subject of formal action during these 
meetings. Actions 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 
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 the Council office (see ADDRESSES) 
at least 10 business days prior to each workshop.

    Dated: September 10, 2008.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-21469 Filed 9-12-08; 8:45 am]
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