The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a three-day meeting on November 13-15, 2012 to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The meeting will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, November 13-15, starting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, and at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.
The meeting will be held at the Newport Marriott Hotel, 25 America's Cup Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island 02840; telephone: (401) 849-1000; fax: (401) 849-3422.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council; telephone: (978) 465-0492.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Following introductions and any announcements, brief reports will
be provided by the NEFMC Chairman and Executive Director, 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
Vessel Monitoring Systems Operations and Law Enforcement offices, as
well as the Northeast Regional Ocean Council. These reports will be
followed by a review of information concerning Council member recusals
and lobbying, a discussion that will be led by NOAA General Counsel.
Following a lunch break, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center's
(NEFSC) Science and Research Director will present an overview of the
NEFSC draft Strategic Plan. A question and answer period is scheduled
to accompany the presentation. The Council's Herring Committee will report
on its efforts to further develop the 2013-15 Atlantic herring fishery
specifications. This action could include additional alternatives for
acceptable biological catch (ABC) and the ABC control rule as well as a
range of alternatives to modify accountability measures (AMs) in the
Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP). A public listening session, to
include issues that are not otherwise listed on the agenda, will be
held before the Council meeting adjourns for the day.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
On Wednesday morning, the Council will discuss the issue of jointly
managing the scup fishery with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management
Council (MAFMC), possibly approve final action on the proposed
specifications for the 2013-15 spiny dogfish fishery, and receive an
update on the development of Amendment 6 to the Monkfish Fishery
Management Plan. Consideration of Northeast Multispecies FMP issues,
specifically possible approval of Framework Adjustment 48 measures,
will be addressed during the remainder of the day. Decisions may
include: specifications for the 2013-2015 fishing years; modifying sub-
annual catch limits for the scallop fishery; adjusting sector
monitoring measures, modifying accountability measures (AMs), including
the possible adoption of AMs for other fisheries that catch Southern
New England/Mid-Atlantic windowpane flounder, modifying recreational
fishing measures; modifying measures to allow sectors to request access
to areas within the groundfish closed areas; and likely changes to
other less significant measures.
Alternatively, the Council may delay final action on this action
until a later meeting, but could take final action on the allocations
of groundfish stocks to the scallop fishery--the sub-annual catch
limits for Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic and Georges Bank
yellowtail flounder and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic windowpane
flounder. This is an option for the Council even if final action is not
taken on Framework Adjustment 48 at its November meeting.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
The third and final day of the NEFMC meeting will begin with
consideration of Framework Adjustment 24/49 to the Scallop and
Groundfish Fishery Management Plans, respectively. The Council intent
is to approve scallop fishery specifications for fishing years 2013 and
potentially for 2014 and 2015 as well. Other measures in the action
include: (1) Possible modification of the Georges Bank access area
opening dates; (2) measures to address a yellowtail flounder sub-annual
catch limit for the limited access general category fishery; (3) a
change to the effective date of the accountability measures for the
yellowtail flounder sub-annual catch limit; (4) measures to promote
flexibility in the IFQ fishery by allowing leasing after the start of
the fishing year and also once a vessel has started to fish its IFQ;
and (5) expanding the observer set-aside program to include limited
access general category open area trips. The Council will approve its
management priorities for 2013 once the scallop items have been
addressed. The meeting will be adjourned at that time unless any other
outstanding business is identified.
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.