[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 66 (Friday, April 5, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20616-20618]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07954]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XC607


Western Pacific Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

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

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

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SUMMARY: The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will 
hold meeting of its Pelagics Plan Team (PPT) and Archipelagic Fishery 
Ecosystem Plan Teams, in Honolulu, HI, to discuss fishery issues and 
develop recommendations for future management.

DATES: The meeting of the PPT will be held between April 23 and 24, 
2013, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the Archipelagic Fishery Ecosystem 
Plan Teams will be held between April 22 and April 25, 2012, 8:30 a.m. 
to 5 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held at the Council Office Conference 
Room, Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, 1164 Bishop St., 
Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 96813; telephone: (808) 522-8220.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kitty M. Simonds, Executive Director; 
telephone: (808) 522-8220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The PPT will meet at the Council Pelagics 
Conference Room to discuss the following agenda items:

Tuesday, April 23, 2013, 8.30 a.m.

1. Introduction
2. Annual Report
    a. Review 2012 Annual Report

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modules and recommendations
    i. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)
    ii. American Samoa
    iii. Guam
    iv. Hawaii
    v. International
    vi. Recreational
    b. 2012 Annual Report region wide recommendations

Wednesday, April 24, 2013, 8.30 a.m.

3. Ninth Regular Session of the Western and Central Pacific Fishery 
Commission
4. South Pacific albacore and American Samoa longline costs earnings 
study
5. North Pacific striped marlin
6. Pacific bluefin tuna
7. Cook Islands/Forum Fisheries Agency sub-regional office in Pago Pago
8. Update on false killer whale Take Reduction Plan
9. Biological opinion for deep set tuna fishery
10. Outstanding Fishery Ecosystem Plan amendments
11. Other business
12. Public comment
13. Pelagic Plan Team Recommendations

    The Hawaii and Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIAS) Archipelago 
Fishery Ecosystem Plan Team Meeting will meet at the Council's 
Conference Room to discuss the following agenda items:

Tuesday, April 22, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Approval of the Agenda
3. Assignment of Rapporteurs
4. Status of Fishery Monitoring Programs and Research Projects
    A. Coral Reef Fisheries
    B. Crustacean Fisheries
    C. Precious Coral Fisheries
    D. Bottomfish Fisheries
    i. Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) Annual Catch Target (ACT) Monitoring
    ii. Market Delay Amendment
    E. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Pacific Islands 
Regional Office (PIRO PIRO Administrative Activities
    F. Discussions
5. Improving Annual Catch Limit (ACL) specifications and stock 
assessments
    A. Recalculation of gold coral Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)
    B. New black coral research to support ACL re-specification
    C. Discussions
6. Data collection and reporting issues
    A. Recreational fishing updates
    B. Update on Omnibus Data Collection Improvement Proposal
    C. Discussions
    7. Review of the Council Five-Year Research Priorities
    8. Update Cooperative Research and developing priorities
9. General Discussions
10. Other Business
11. Public Comment
12. Hawaii and PRIA Archipelago Plan Team recommendations

    The Joint American Samoa and Marianas Archipelago Fishery Ecosystem 
Plan Team will meet at the Council's Conference Room to discuss the 
following agenda items:

Wednesday-Thursday, April 23-24, 2013, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

13. Welcome and Introductions
14. Approval of the Agenda
15. Assignment of Rapporteurs
16. Report on previous Plan Team recommendations and Council actions
17. Review of the Status of the Western Pacific Insular Fisheries
    A. Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands
    i. Coral reef fisheries
    ii. Bottomfish fisheries
    iii. Potential use of Bio-Sampling data to improve fishery data
    iv. Update of fishery dependent and independent studies
    v. Administrative and regulatory updates
    vi. Discussions
    B. Guam
    i. Coral reef fisheries
    ii. Bottomfish fisheries
    iii. Potential use of Bio-Sampling data to improve fishery data
    iv. Update of fishery dependent and independent studies
    v. Administrative and regulatory updates
    vi. Discussions
    C. American Samoa
    i. Coral reef and crustacean fisheries
    ii. Bottomfish fisheries
    iii. Potential use of Bio-Sampling data to improve fishery
    iv. Update of fishery dependent and independent studies
    v. Administrative and regulatory updates
    vi. Discussions
18. Review of the Council Five-Year Research Priorities
19. Update of Cooperative Research and Developing Priorities and 
Projects
20. General Discussions
21. Other Business
22. Public Comment
23. Annual Catch Limits
    A. Evaluating 2012 catches relative to its respective ACLs
    B. Using model based approaches to determine MSY and depletion-
corrected average catches for Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) 
specification
    C. Discussions
24. Improving Fishery Data Collection in the Western Pacific Region
    A. Update on Status of Fishery Data Collection Improvement Actions
    B. Data collection in military installations in Guam
    C. Update on the status of the Omnibus Fishery Data Collection 
Improvement Proposal
    D. Using Bio-Sampling data to enhance creel surveys
25. Protected Species
    A. Update on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Petitioned Species
    i. Pacific humphead wrasse
    ii. Eight species of coral reef fish
26. Other Business
27. Public Comments
28. Rapporteur reports
29. General discussions and Plan Team recommendations

Plan Team Training: A Brief Introduction to Length-Based Mortality 
Assessment for Coral Reef Fishes

30. Length-based stock assessment approach: pros and cons, some 
examples from Florida, Caribbean, and Hawaii.
31. Age and growth of tropical boney fishes. Age at length relationship 
(e.g., von Bertalanffy). Fitting growth curves. Allometric (Weight-
Length) growth.
32. Mortality rates and abundance estimation. Development of 
exponential mortality model, average population size, and population 
biomass models. Assessing life span, maximum age and natural mortality, 
size-age of first capture, selectivity.
33. Integrating the parts. Model development and assessing exploitation 
rates via average size in the exploited phase of the population.
34. Fisheries-independent and fisheries-dependent surveys to obtain 
average length in the exploited phase.
35. Computer Laboratory--Estimating mortality rates using a length-
based mortality model in Excel.

    The order in which the agenda items are addressed April change. The 
PPT will meet as late as necessary to complete scheduled business.
    Although non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda April 
come before the PPT for discussion, those issues April not be the 
subject of formal action during these meetings. Plan Team action will 
be restricted to those issues specifically listed in this document and

[[Page 20618]]

any issue arising after publication of this document that requires 
emergency action under section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act, provided the public has been notified 
of the Councils 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 Kitty M. Simonds, (808) 522-8220 
(voice) or (808) 522-8226 (fax), at least 5 days prior to the meeting 
date.

    Authority:  16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: April 2, 2013.
William D. Chappell,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-07954 Filed 4-4-13; 8:45 am]
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