[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 219 (Friday, November 13, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70188-70189]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-28817]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XE313


New England Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

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

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council, NEFMC) 
will hold a three-day meeting to consider actions affecting New England 
fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

DATES: The meeting will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 
December 1-3, 2015, starting at 9 a.m. on December 1, and at 8:30 a.m. 
on both December 2-3.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88 
Spring Street, Portland, ME 04101; telephone: (207) 775.2311, fax: 
(207) 761.8224, or online at www.innbythebay.com/.
    Council address: New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water 
Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950; telephone 978-465-0492.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, 
New England Fishery Management Council; telephone: (978) 465-0492, ext. 
113.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Agenda

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

    After introductions and any announcements, the Council meeting will 
open with brief reports from the NEFMC Chairman and Executive Director, 
the NOAA Regional Administrator for the Greater Atlantic Region, 
Northeast Fisheries Science Center and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management 
Council liaisons, NOAA General Counsel and Office of Law Enforcement 
representatives, and staff from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 
Commission, the U.S Coast Guard, and the Northeast Regional Ocean 
Council. These reports will be followed by a Mid-Atlantic Fishery 
Management Council (MAFMC) staff overview on proposed 2016-17 spiny 
dogfish fishery specifications. Because it is a joint plan with the 
MAFMC, the NEFMC is scheduled to vote on the specifications at this 
meeting.
    Following a lunch break, the public will have an opportunity to 
make brief

[[Page 70189]]

comments on items that are relevant to Council business but otherwise 
not listed on the published agenda. The Northeast Fisheries Science 
Center director will then provide the Council with a briefing on the 
Center's Strategic Plan. The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) 
will present its recommendations for an overfishing limit (OFL) and an 
acceptable biological catch (ABC) for the following: Atlantic sea 
scallops for fishing years 2016-17; red hake for 2016-17; and most of 
the 20 groundfish stocks in the Northeast Multispecies Fishery 
Management Plan (FMP) for fishing years 2016-18. The Council also will 
receive the SSC's comments on NOAA's Ecosystem-based Fishery Management 
(EBFM) Policy. The EBFM Committee will present a progress report on the 
development of a pilot EBFM Plan and ask for approval of its draft 
comments on the agency's EBFM policy.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

    Wednesday's session will begin with a report from the Council's 
Skate Committee. It will recommend final action (approval) of Framework 
Adjustment 3 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan 
(FMP). It will contain next year's fishery specifications, in addition 
to measures that address possession limits and possible modifications 
to the seasonal management of the skate wing fishery. This will be 
followed by an update on NOAA Fisheries' activities concerning a 
petition to list thorny skates as threatened or endangered. Next, the 
Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office staff will brief the Council 
on its Recreational Fishery Implementation Plan and solicit public 
comments. During the Groundfish Committee's report to follow, the 
Council will consider recommendations for recreational management 
measures for stocks of Gulf of Maine haddock and Gulf of Maine cod for 
fishing year 2016. They will be further considered by NOAA Fisheries 
and announced prior to the beginning of the upcoming fishing year. The 
Council also plans to approve Framework 55 to the Northeast 
Multispecies FMP, including specifications for its groundfish stocks 
for fishing years 2016-18, plus three U.S./Canada stocks for 2016 only. 
At-sea monitoring alternatives and other management measures are being 
proposed for inclusion in the framework.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

    The final meeting day will begin with consideration and approval of 
the NEFMC's management priorities for 2016, followed by a briefing 
about the collection of fisheries data through the Atlantic Coastal 
Cooperative Statistics Program, and a report by the Council's Research 
Steering Committee regarding work on sea scallops and monkfish. The 
Scallop Committee will ask the Council to approve final action on 
Amendment 19 to the Sea Scallop FMP. The action is intended to expedite 
the implementation date of the sea scallop fishery specifications each 
year. Final approval is also expected on Framework Adjustment 29 to the 
Scallop FMP, which includes fishing year 2016 fishery specifications 
and default measures for fishing year 2017.
    Although other non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda 
may come before this Council for discussion, those issues may not be 
the subject of formal action during this meeting. Council action will 
be restricted to those issues specifically listed 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 that the public has been notified of the Council's intent to 
take final action to address the emergency.

Special Accommodations

    This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. 
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to Thomas A. Nies (see ADDRESSES) at least 5 days 
prior to the meeting date.

    Dated: November 9, 2015.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-28817 Filed 11-12-15; 8:45 am]
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