43678 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 165 / Thursday, August 27, 2009 / Notices 

intent to take final action to address the 

emergency. 

Special Accommodations 

These meetings are physically 

accessible to people with disabilities. 

Requests for sign language 

interpretation or other auxiliary aids 

should be directed to Gail Bendixen, 

(907) 271–2809, at least 5 working days 

prior to the meeting date. 

Dated: August 24, 2009. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–20688 Filed 8–26–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XR19 

North Pacific Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meetings 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of public meetings. 

SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council) 

Observer Advisory Committee (OAC) 

will meet at the Alaska Fishery Science 

Center (AFSC), Traynor Conference 

Center. 

DATES: The meetings will be held 

September 21–22, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. 

to 5 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held at 

the Alaska Fishery Science Center, 7600 

Sand Point Way NE, Bldg 4, Traynor 

Conference Center, Seattle, WA 98115. 

Council address: North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council, 605 W. 

4th Ave., Suite 306, Anchorage, AK 

99501–2252. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Nicole Kimball, Council staff, 

telephone: (907) 271–2809. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

primary purpose of the committee 

meeting is to review a NMFS 

implementation plan to establish a new 

program for observer procurement and 

deployment in the North Pacific 

Observer Program, as well as review a 

timeline for implementation. The 

committee will discuss the plan, and 

provide feedback and/or 

recommendations to the North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council. 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained in this agenda may come 

before this group for discussion, in 

accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), those 

issues may not be the subject of formal 

action during these meetings. Actions 

will be restricted to those issues 

specifically identified 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 the 

public has been notified of the Council’s 

intent to take final action to address the 

emergency. 

Special Accommodations 

These meetings are physically 

accessible to people with disabilities. 

Requests for sign language 

interpretation or other auxiliary aids 

should be directed to Gail Bendixen at 

(907) 271–2809 at least 7 working days 

prior to the meeting date. 

Dated: August 24, 2009. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–20691 Filed 8–26–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XR01 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Chinook Salmon 

Bycatch Management Measures 

Workshop 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of public workshop. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces a workshop 

to solicit comments from owners and 

operators of trawl catcher/processors 

and motherships in the Bering Sea 

pollock fishery about proposed 

equipment and operational 

requirements to monitor salmon 

bycatch. The workshop is open to the 

public, but NMFS is particularly seeking 

participation by people who are 

knowledgeable about the operations of 

the catcher/processors and motherships 

and who can discuss with NMFS the 

potential operational impacts of 

proposed monitoring requirements. 

DATES: The public workshop will be 

held on Wednesday, September 23, 

2009, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific 

standard time. 

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held 

at the Swedish Cultural Center, 1920 

Dexter Avenue N., Seattle, WA 98109. 

Directions to the Swedish Cultural 

Center are on its website at http:// 

www.swedishculturalcenter.org/ 

contacts.htm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jennifer Watson, 907–586–7537 or Sally 

Bibb 907–586–7389. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The North 

Pacific Fishery Management Council 

has recommended revisions to the 

management of Chinook salmon bycatch 

in the Bering Sea pollock fishery under 

proposed Amendment 91 to the Fishery 

Management Plan for Groundfish of the 

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 

Management Area. NMFS is developing 

proposed revisions to equipment and 

operational requirements for catcher/ 

processors and motherships to support 

using a count or census as the basis for 

accounting for Chinook salmon bycatch 

under Amendment 91. A census is an 

alternative to estimating Chinook 

salmon bycatch based on species 

composition samples taken by observers 

onboard the catcher/processors and 

motherships. NMFS is considering 

proposed requirements related to the 

storage and handling of salmon sorted 

from the groundfish catch; video 

monitoring of areas where salmon are 

sorted from the catch and stored prior 

to being counted by the observer; and 

electronic logbooks to facilitate timely 

vessel reporting of the count of salmon 

bycatch by species for each haul. 

This workshop is open to the public, 

but NMFS is particularly seeking input 

and discussion with people who work 

on the catcher/processors and 

motherships, are familiar with the 

vessel operations, and have knowledge 

of the potential impact of changes in the 

handling, storage, and counting of 

salmon bycatch and procedures to 

ensure that salmon are not discarded 

from the vessel before they are counted 

by an observer. These proposed 

requirements will be included in the 

proposed rule for Amendment 91 that is 

expected to be published in late 2009. 

This workshop focuses only on catch 

monitoring requirements onboard 

catcher/processors and motherships and 

will not include discussion of proposed 

requirements for shoreside processing 

plants. Proposed revisions to monitoring 

requirements in the shoreside 

processing plants were included in the 

draft Environmental Impact Statement 

prepared for Amendment 91 which is 

available on the NMFS Alaska Region 

website at http:// 

www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/ 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES