[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 106 (Thursday, June 2, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33472-33473]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-11797]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XC085]


East Coast Fisheries of the United States; Public Meeting

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

ACTION: Notice; public meeting.

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SUMMARY: Several fishery management bodies on the East Coast of the 
United States are convening a public workshop to continue work on an 
initiative called East Coast Climate Change Scenario Planning. This is 
a joint effort of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the 
New England Fishery Management Council, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery 
Management Council, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and 
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
for agenda details.

DATES: The meeting will be held Tuesday, June 21, 2022 through 
Thursday, June 23, 2022.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel 
Crystal City, 300 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, VA 22202; telephone: 
(703) 416-4100. The meeting will be partially streamed by webinar for 
portions of the agenda that are held in plenary. Connection information 
will be posted to the calendar prior to the meeting at www.mafmc.org.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher M. Moore, Ph.D., Executive 
Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, telephone: (302) 
526-5255.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Climate change is a growing threat for 
marine fisheries worldwide. On the East coast of the United States, 
some species have already experienced considerable climate-related 
changes in distribution, abundance, and/or productivity. These changes 
have the potential to strain fisheries management and governance 
systems. Through the East Coast Climate Change Scenario Planning 
Initiative, fishery scientists and managers are working collaboratively 
and engaging diverse fishery stakeholders to explore jurisdictional and 
governance issues related to climate change.
    The next phase of this initiative will be a 2.5-day Scenario 
Creation Workshop, to be held in Arlington, VA, from June 21-23, 2022. 
Through a series of conversations and exercises, participants will 
create a set of scenarios that describe how climate change might affect 
East Coast fisheries in the next 20 years. Each scenario will describe 
a different way in which changing oceanographic, biological, and 
social/economic conditions could combine to create future challenges 
and opportunities for East Coast fisheries.
    Day 1 of the workshop will be spent reviewing the work to date 
(i.e., what is likely to shape East Coast fisheries in the next 20 
years, and how confident are we about predictions) and then numerous 
small groups will each create their own ``mini-scenarios'' (quick-fire 
stories about what might happen in the next 20 years). This will result 
in a large number of possible scenario stories. Day 2 will start by 
focusing on the range of mini-scenarios and discussing any patterns. 
Through facilitated conversations and suggestions, the full group will 
emerge with a scenario framework (or small number of scenarios) to 
explore in more detail. The rest of the day will be spent with small 
groups working on devising the details of a particular scenario, and 
also reviewing the ideas emerging from other groups. At the end of Day 
2, we will have a candidate scenario framework and basic stories. Day 3 
will be spent in plenary, with participants working to ensure that each 
scenario story is plausible, challenging, relevant, memorable and 
divergent--and that the Core Team has a clear idea of what additional 
work is needed to further develop the scenarios.
    Approximately 75 workshop participants have been selected in 
advance to represent a broad range of stakeholder groups and East Coast 
regions. Others attending the meeting in person are invited to observe 
the plenary discussions and to provide comments during designated 
public comment opportunities. Plenary sessions only will be broadcast 
by webinar. Participants on the webinar will be able to provide input 
through a chat function and these comments will be summarized and 
reported out to workshop participants to the extent practicable. 
Additional details about the workshop will be posted to this page once 
available: https://www.mafmc.org/climate-change-scenario-planning.
    The draft scenarios resulting from this workshop will be further 
refined later this summer and will feed into the Applications Phase of 
the initiative. During the Applications Phase, participating 
organizations will generate ideas and offer solutions to the challenges 
highlighted in the initiative, exploring what the different scenarios 
mean for future fishery management and

[[Page 33473]]

governance and reaching conclusions about any recommendations for 
changes.

Special Accommodations

    These meetings are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aid should be directed to Shelley Spedden, (302) 526-5251, at 
least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

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

    Dated: May 26, 2022.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-11797 Filed 6-1-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P