[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 110 (Thursday, June 8, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37517-37518]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12276]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XD077]


New England Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

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

ACTION: Notice of a public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council, NEFMC) 
will hold a 3-day in-person meeting with an option for remote 
participation to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in 
the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Council continues to follow all 
public safety measures related to COVID-19 and intends to do so for 
this meeting.

DATES: The meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 through 
Thursday, June 29, 2023, beginning at 9 a.m. each day.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 5 Park 
Street, Freeport, ME 04032; telephone: (207) 865-1433; online at 
https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/pwmfdgi-hilton-garden-inn-freeport-downtown/. Join the webinar at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2165734872346457438.
    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: 

Agenda

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

    The Council will begin this meeting with brief announcements, 
followed by reports on recent activities from the Council's Chair and 
Executive Director, the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office 
(GARFO) Regional Administrator, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center 
(NEFSC) Director, the NOAA Office of General Counsel, the Mid-Atlantic 
Fishery Management Council liaison, staff from the Atlantic States 
Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), and representatives from the U.S. 
Coast Guard and NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement. Next, the Council 
will receive a presentation on the final report of the Council 
Coordination Committee's Subcommittee on Area-Based Management. The 
Skate Committee report will follow with two items: (1) a progress 
report on the development of 2024-2025 skate specifications and 
potential initiation of a framework adjustment to include measures to 
expand possession of smooth and barndoor skates; and (2) a presentation 
on and Council discussion of a final white paper containing potential 
approaches to support thorny skate rebuilding. Then, members of the 
public will have the opportunity 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. The Council asks the public to limit 
remarks to 3-5 minutes. These comments will be received both in person 
and through the webinar. A guide for how to publicly comment through 
the webinar is available on the Council website at https://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/NEFMC-meeting-remote-participation_generic.pdf.
    After the lunch break, the Council will take up the Atlantic 
Herring Committee report and approve a problem statement for action to 
revisit the inshore midwater trawl exclusion zone contained in Herring 
Amendment 8. The Council also will consider a potential change in 
priorities to identify time/area closure options to reduce bycatch of 
river herring and shad in midwater trawl and small-mesh bottom trawl 
fisheries. Next on the agenda is a presentation on a NOAA Fisheries 
comment opportunity under an advance notice of proposed rulemaking 
(ANPR) for updating National Standard Guidelines 4, 8, and 9. The 
Council will receive input on the draft guidelines from its Scientific 
and Statistical Committee (SSC) and staff before formulating its own 
comments. The Council then will receive a brief overview of NOAA's 
Technical Guidance for National Standard 1 Reference Points and Status 
Determinations. The Council will discuss which process it prefers to 
use to develop comments on the technical guidance. The Council then 
will adjourn for the day.

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

    The Council will begin the second day of its meeting with a 
presentation on the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office and 
Northeast Fisheries Science Center draft strategic plan. The Groundfish 
Committee report will come next. The Council will initiate Framework 
Adjustment 66, which may include: (1) 2024-26 specifications for 
redfish, northern windowpane flounder, and southern windowpane 
flounder, (2) 2024-25 specifications for white hake and U.S./Canada 
resources of Eastern Georges Bank cod, Eastern Georges Bank haddock, 
and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, (3) a revised white hake 
rebuilding plan, and (4) Atlantic halibut management measures. The 
Council also will consider a potential change in priorities to revise 
Gulf of Maine haddock specifications for 2024 and 2025 in Framework 66. 
The Council will initiate a separate framework adjustment to revise 
acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rules for groundfish and 
receive Scientific and Statistical Committee feedback on control rule 
options. Finally, the Council will receive an update on its Atlantic 
Cod Management Transition Plan. Next up will be the Monkfish Research 
Set-Aside (RSA) Program Working Group, which will provide a progress 
report on a Council work

[[Page 37518]]

priority to review and improve the Monkfish RSA program.
    After the lunch break, the Council will receive an update on a 
joint New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council action to 
reduce Atlantic sturgeon bycatch in large-mesh monkfish and dogfish 
gillnet fisheries. As part of this discussion, the Council will approve 
the range of alternatives for Monkfish Framework Adjustment 15, which 
will contain the proposed sturgeon measures. Next, the Council will 
receive a presentation from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation 
(NFWF) on its competitive grant funding programs, including the 
Electronic Monitoring and Reporting Program and the New England Gear 
Innovation Fund, which is a new program that seeks to address issues 
related to right whale fishing gear entanglements. The Council will 
close out the day with a discussion on the East Coast Climate Change 
Scenario Planning initiative. The Council will: (1) review findings 
from the February 2023 East Coast Climate Change Scenario Planning 
Summit; (2) receive Northeast Region Coordinating Council (NRCC) 
feedback on the summit findings; and (3) discuss the findings and next 
steps.

Thursday, June 29, 2023

    The Council will begin the third day of its meeting by hearing from 
the Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management (EBFM) Committee. The Council 
will receive: (1) the final report on the prototype management strategy 
evaluation (pMSE) for EBFM and the Georges Bank example Fishery 
Ecosystem Plan (eFEP); and (2) suggestions from a subpanel of the SSC 
intended to help improve the results of the pMSE's model scenarios. The 
Council also will receive an update on planning for upcoming deep-dive 
public information workshops on EBFM. The Scallop Committee then will 
present three items related to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Research Set-
Aside (RSA) Program for Council consideration: (1) approval of longer-
term RSA survey awards; (2) adoption of survey guiding principles; and 
(3) approval of 2024-2025 RSA priorities. The Council also will 
initiate action for fishing year 2024 specifications, 2025 defaults, 
and other measures. Another important scallop-related item will be 
covered under the next agenda item, the Habitat Committee report.
    After the lunch break, the first item under the Habitat Committee 
report will focus on the Northern Edge of Georges Bank. The discussion 
will include an update and proposed timeline for action to potentially 
authorize scallop fishery access to the habitat management area at the 
top of Closed Area II on Georges Bank. The habitat report also will 
include a work plan update on the Essential Fish Habitat Review, 
followed by a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) update on the 
Gulf of Maine offshore wind call area and other wind developments. The 
Risk Policy Working Group will report next with an update on its 
efforts to address the terms of reference for revising the Council's 
Risk Policy. The Council then will receive a series of reports related 
to Atlantic Highly Migratory Species, which will cover: (1) the NOAA 
Fisheries HMS Management Division's presentation on (a) the proposed 
rule for Amendment 15 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS Fishery Management 
Plan; (b) the advance notice of proposed rulemaking on electronic 
reporting; and (c) scoping for Amendment 16 shark issues; (2) the HMS 
Advisory Panel report on the May 2023 meeting; and (3) the Advisory 
Committee to the U.S. Section to the International Commission on the 
Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) report on its April meeting. 
Finally, the Council will close out the meeting with other business.
    Although non-emergency issues not contained on this agenda may come 
before the 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 Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act, provided the public has been notified of the Council's 
intent to take final action to address the emergency. The public also 
should be aware that the meeting will be recorded. Consistent with 16 
U.S.C. 1852, a copy of the recording is available upon request.

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

    Dated: June 5, 2023.
Rey Israel Marquez,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-12276 Filed 6-7-23; 8:45 am]
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