The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a three-day meeting on June 19-21, 2012 to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The meeting will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, June 19-21, starting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, and at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.
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.
Council address: New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950; telephone (978) 465-0492.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council; telephone: (978) 465-0492.
Agenda
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Following introductions and any announcements, brief reports will
be provided by the NEFMC Chairman and Executive Director, the Acting
NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator (Northeast Region), the Northeast
Fisheries Science Center and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council
liaisons, NOAA General Counsel, representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard
and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and staff from the
regional Vessel Monitoring Systems Operations and Law Enforcement
offices. The Council will then receive an update from NOAA Fisheries
Northeast Regional Office staff about the development of a new
amendment to address Standard Bycatch Reporting Methodology in all
NEFMC fishery management plans (FMPs).
Following a lunch break, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center
(NEFSC) will present a briefing on their new social science data
collection efforts. Following this report, the Council's Habitat
Committee will provide an overview of the discretionary provisions of
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act that
relate to deep sea corals. Its members may ask the Council to consider
removing the coral alternatives from the Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat
Amendment currently under development and address them in a separate
action. There also will be an NEFSC presentation summarizing the most
recent scientific information about climate change and its impact on
fisheries in the Northeast. NOAA Fisheries staff will then address
scoping for Amendment 7 to the Consolidated Highly Migratory Species
Fishery Management Plan. This will include the scope and significance
of issues to be analyzed in a draft environmental impact statement on
management measures that address Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT)
management. Through the scoping process, NMFS will determine if
existing measures are the best means of achieving certain management
objectives for BFT and provide flexibility for future management. NMFS
also will hold a scoping hearing on Monday evening, June 18 at the same
location as the Council meeting for interested stakeholders and the
public. Attendees are encouraged to check www.nero.noaa.gov or
www.nefmc.org for the time. The day will conclude with a public
listening session during which the Council will hold an informal
question and answer session for stakeholders and the public. There also
will be an opportunity for anyone to briefly comment on items relevant
to Council business that is not otherwise listed on the agenda.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The Council will use the entire day on Wednesday to review and
approve final measures to be included in Amendment 5 to the Atlantic
Herring FMP. Amendment 5 proposes to establish a catch monitoring
program for the herring fishery and address bycatch. It may include:
adjustments to the fishery management program; measures to address
carrier vessels and transfers at-sea; trip notification and permitting,
and reporting requirements. If approved, other measures may address
interactions with the Atlantic mackerel fishery, allocate observer
coverage on limited access herring vessels, maximize sampling and
address net slippage, address river herring bycatch and establish
criteria for midwater trawl vessel access to groundfish closed areas.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
The third and final day of the NEFMC meeting will begin with
reports from the Monkfish and Whiting Committees. The Monkfish
Committee will ask the Council to consider a motion deferred from the
April Council meeting that would remove Individually Transferrable
Quotas from the range of alternatives under development in Amendment 6
to the Monkfish FMP. The Whiting Committee will ask for final approval
of Amendment 19 draft management measures including alternatives to
increase the whiting possession limit from 30,000 up to 40,000 pounds
for vessels using trawls with 3-inch or larger mesh, in all or part of
the Southern New England and Mid-Atlantic Exemption Areas. The rest of
the day will be spent on issues that relate to the Northeast
multispecies stock complex. The Council will discuss and possibly
propose action to mitigate the impact of the low catch limits recently
set for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder. It also will: receive a
summary of the scoping comments submitted for proposed Amendment 18 to
the Northeast Multispecies FMP; approve initial action on a framework
adjustment to modify sector measures (including monitoring
requirements), as well as set acceptable biological catches for fishing
year 2013-15; and adjust annual catch limits and accountability
measures.
Although other non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda
may come before this Council for discussion, those issues may not be
the subjects 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.