[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 170 (Thursday, September 1, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60345-60347]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-21019]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XE849


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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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, 
September 20, 21, and 22, 2016. It will start at 9 a.m. on September 
20; 8:30 a.m. on September 21; and at 8:30 a.m. on September 22, 2016.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, 
50 Ferncroft Road, Danvers, MA 01923; telephone: (978) 777-2500; online 
at http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/massachusetts/doubletree-by-hilton-hotel-boston-north-shore-BOSNSDT/index.html.
    Council address: New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water 
Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950; telephone: (978) 465-0492; 
www.nefmc.org.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 60346]]

Agenda

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

    After introductions and brief announcements, the meeting will begin 
with the swearing-in of new and reappointed Council members, followed 
by the annual election of officers. Next, the Council will receive 
reports from its Chairman and Executive Director, NMFS's Regional 
Administrator for the Greater Atlantic Regional Office (GARFO), 
liaisons from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and Mid-Atlantic 
Fishery Management Council, representatives from NOAA General Counsel 
and the Office of Law Enforcement, and staff from the Atlantic States 
Marine Fisheries Commission and the U.S Coast Guard. Following these 
reports, the Council will receive a presentation from the NMFS Highly 
Migratory Species (HMS) staff on Draft Amendment 10 to the Consolidated 
HMS Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which addresses habitat revisions.
    After a lunch break, members of the public will be able to speak 
during an open comment period on issues that relate to Council business 
but are not included on the published agenda for this meeting. Next, 
the Whiting Plan Development Team (PDT) will present the 2015 Annual 
Monitoring Report for the small-mesh multispecies fishery, which 
includes red, silver, and offshore hakes. Based on the contents of this 
report, the Council may, if necessary, initiate a framework adjustment 
to modify accountability measures (AMs) in the fishery. The Council 
then will receive an update from its Atlantic Herring Committee about 
two actions that are under development: (1) Amendment 8 to the Atlantic 
Herring FMP, which is considering acceptable biological catch (ABC) 
control rules for the fishery under a management strategy evaluation 
(MSE) process and measures to address localized depletion; and (2) 
Framework Adjustment 5 to potentially modify haddock bycatch AMs in the 
herring midwater trawl fishery. The Council will close out the day with 
a report from the GARFO staff about its electronic monitoring (EM) 
pilot project on Atlantic herring and mackerel midwater trawl vessels 
to test the utility of EM for future programs.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

    The second day of the meeting will begin with a report from the 
Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee (TRAC) with results from 
the 2016 stock assessments for Eastern Georges Bank cod, Eastern 
Georges Bank haddock, and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder. The 
Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will report next with ABC 
recommendations for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, monkfish, and 
deep-sea red crab. Following the SSC report, the Council will hear from 
U.S. representatives to the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee 
(TMGC) and potentially approve TMGC recommendations for 2017 total 
allowable catches (TACs) for U.S./Canada shared stocks on Georges Bank. 
Next, the Council will go into its Groundfish Committee report, where 
it is scheduled to approve a range of alternatives for Framework 
Adjustment 56, including: (1) 2017 U.S./Canada specifications; (2) 
2017-19 witch flounder specifications; and (3) commercial and 
recreational management measures for groundfish. More specifically, the 
management measures under consideration include: (a) Establishment of a 
sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) for northern windowpane flounder for 
the scallop fishery; (b) a potential increase to the sub-ACL for 
Georges Bank haddock for the Atlantic herring midwater trawl fishery; 
(c) revisions to the process for determining recreational management 
measures; and (d) potential modifications to Atlantic halibut measures. 
Finally, the Council will receive a briefing on the PDT's Groundfish 
Monitoring White Paper.
    The Council will take a lunch break and, if necessary, conclude any 
unfinished groundfish business immediately following lunch. Then it 
will receive a report from its Monkfish Committee, which will include 
an update on fishing year 2017-19 specifications and potentially lead 
to the initiation of a framework adjustment if the Council determines 
that additional management measures are warranted. Closing out the day, 
the Council will receive an Atlantic deep-sea red crab report and take 
final action on 2017-19 specifications for the fishery.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

    The final meeting day will begin with a preliminary discussion of 
2017 Council priorities. Here, the Council will review and discuss a 
draft list of possible actions and tasks for further development in 
2017 covering all committees. The Council will not take final action on 
priorities until its November meeting. Next, the Council will receive 
an update from its Habitat Committee on the development of two actions: 
(1) The Omnibus Deep-Sea Coral Amendment; and (2) a Clam Dredge 
Framework Adjustment. The Council will hear about ongoing analyses for 
both actions and provide recommendations for further work. It also will 
review and possibly approve minor adjustments to the range of 
alternatives in the coral amendment. The Scallop Committee will report 
next with an update on Framework Adjustment 28 to the Atlantic Sea 
Scallop FMP. The framework includes: (1) Specifications for fishing 
year 2017 with default measures for 2018; (2) a measure to potentially 
restrict the possession of shell stock inshore of the days-at-sea 
demarcation line north of 42[deg]20' N.; (3) modifications to the 
process for setting scallop fishery annual catch limits; and (4) 
modifications to the Closed Area I Scallop Access Area boundary to be 
consistent with potential changes to habitat and groundfish mortality 
closed areas. More specifically, the 2017 specifications and 2018 
default measures include: (a) Setting ABCs, ACLs, days-at-sea, and 
access-area allocations for both limited access (LA) and limited access 
general category (LAGC) vessels; (b) determining the hard TAC for the 
Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area; (c) setting the target TAC for 
the LAGC incidental catch; and (d) specifying set-aside amounts for the 
scallop observer and research set-aside programs.
    Following a lunch break, the Scallop Committee discussion may 
resume to conclude any unfinished business before the Council begins 
its Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management (EBFM) session. Here, the 
Council will receive a draft report from the EBFM PDT on a Georges Bank 
operating model to support the development of an example Fishery 
Ecosystem Plan and Management Strategy Evaluation. The Council will 
provide further guidance to the PDT and the EBFM Committee for 
additional work. Next, the Council will develop comments for NMFS on 
its EBFM road map. Finally, the meeting will conclude with a discussion 
of items under ``other business.''
    Although 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

[[Page 60347]]

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: August 26, 2016.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-21019 Filed 8-31-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P