80694 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 222 / Monday, November 20, 2023 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XD541] 

Pacific Island Fisheries; Western 

Pacific Stock Assessment Review; 

Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Western Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council) and 

NMFS will convene a Western Pacific 

Stock Assessment Review (WPSAR) of a 

benchmark stock assessment for the 

main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) Deep 7 

Bottomfish Complex. 

DATES: The WPSAR meeting will be 

held between December 11 and 

December 15, 2023. See SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION for meeting dates and times 

and the daily agenda. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be open to 

the public and held in-person the NMFS 

Honolulu Service Center at Pier 38, 

1129 N. Nimitz Hwy., Suite 220, 

Honolulu, HI 96817. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: T. 

Todd Jones, Director, Pacific Islands 

Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) 

Fisheries Research and Monitoring 

Division (FRMD), telephone: (808) 725– 

5713, or todd.jones@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Scientists 

from the NMFS PIFSC conducted a 

benchmark stock assessment of the MHI 

Deep 7 bottomfish complex. This 

benchmark assessment built on previous 

assessments that incorporated 

knowledge from the fishing community 

for filtering commercial catch and effort 

data and incorporated a fisheryindependent index of relative 

abundance. A surplus production model 

that explicitly accounted for both 

process and observation errors, and 

directly estimated maximum sustainable 

yield (MSY)-based reference points as 

well as trajectories and projections of 

biomass and harvest rate was used to 

determine stock status of Deep7 

complex. New modeling software was 

used to run the production model and 

estimate the trajectory and status of the 

Deep 7 complex. In addition to updated 

modeling software, a number of 

improvements relative to the 2018 

benchmark stock assessment and 2021 

update assessment were made for the 

current benchmark stock assessment. 

These changes include re-evaluating the 

contribution of non-commercial catch to 

the total catch, refining the data filtering 

and index development procedures, and 

more fully incorporating information on 

Deep 7 bottomfish species life-history 

characteristics into the assessment 

model. 

Meeting Agenda for WPSAR Review 

The meeting schedule and agenda are 

as follows: 

Monday, December 11, 2023, 8:30 a.m.– 

4 p.m. 

1. Welcome and Introductions 

2. Background information 

a. Objectives and Terms of Reference 

b. Fishery Management 

3. History of stock assessments and 

reviews 

4. Stock assessment input data 

a. State of Hawaii Fisher and Dealer 

Reporting Systems 

b. Non-commercial catch 

c. Life history information 

d. Fishery-independent survey 

5. Public Comment (3:30 p.m.) 

Tuesday, December 12, 2023, 8:30 a.m.– 

4 p.m. 

1. Presentation and review of stock 

assessment 

2. Public comment (3:30 p.m.) 

Wednesday, December 13, 2023, 8:30 

a.m.–4 p.m. 

1. Continue review of stock assessment 

Thursday, December 14, 2023, 8:30 

a.m.–4 p.m. 

1. Continue review of stock assessment 

(morning) 

2. Public comment (11 a.m.) 

3. WPSAR Review Panel discussions 

(afternoon, closed to the public) 

Friday, December 15, 2023 

1. Continue WPSAR panel discussions 

(morning, closed to the public) 

2. WPSAR Panel Report on Review 

Outcomes and Recommendations (1 

p.m.–4 p.m.) 

3. Adjourn 

The agenda order may change. The 

meeting will run as late as necessary to 

complete scheduled business. 

Special Accommodations 

This meeting is physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Please direct 

requests for sign language interpretation 

or other auxiliary aids to T. Todd Jones, 

Director, PIFSC FRMD, telephone: (808) 

725–5713, or todd.jones@noaa.gov at 

least 5 days prior to the meeting date. 

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

Dated: November 14, 2023. 

Rey Israel Marquez, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25535 Filed 11–17–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XD538] 

Marine Mammals; File No. 23188 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for 

a permit amendment. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the Institute of Marine Sciences, 

University of California at Santa Cruz, 

130 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 

95060 (Responsible Party: Daniel Costa, 

Ph.D.), has applied for an amendment to 

Scientific Research Permit No. 23188– 

03. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before December 20, 

2023. 

ADDRESSES: The application is available 

for review by selecting ‘‘Records Open 

for Public Comment’’ from the 

‘‘Features’’ box on the Applications and 

Permits for Protected Species (APPS) 

home page, https://apps.nmfs.noaa.gov, 

and then selecting File No. 23188 from 

the list of available applications. The 

application and related documents are 

also available upon written request via 

email to NMFS.Pr1Comments@

noaa.gov. 

Written comments on this application 

should be submitted via email to 

NMFS.Pr1Comments@noaa.gov. Please 

include File No. 23188 in the subject 

line of the email comment. 

Those individuals requesting a public 

hearing should submit a written request 

via email to NMFS.Pr1Comments@

noaa.gov. The request should set forth 

the specific reasons why a hearing on 

this application would be appropriate. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Shasta McClenahan, Ph.D., or Amy 

Sloan, (301) 427–8401. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

subject amendment to Permit No. 

23188–03 is requested under the 

authority of the Marine Mammal 

Protection Act of 1972, as amended (16 

U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), the regulations 

governing the taking and importing of 

marine mammals (50 CFR part 216). 


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