[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 224 (Monday, November 20, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69736-69737]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-29637]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 111300D]


Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

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

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene a 
public meeting of the Reef Fish Stock Assessment Panel (RFSAP).

DATES: The meeting will begin on Monday, December 4, 2000, at 9 a.m. 
through Friday, December 8, 2000, concluding at 12 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the National Marine Fisheries 
Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC), 75 Virginia Beach 
Drive, Miami, Florida.
    Council address: Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, 3018 
U.S. Highway 301 North, Suite 1000, Tampa, FL 33619; telephone 813-228-
2815.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Atran, Population Dynamics 
Statistician, Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, telephone: 
813-228-2815.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The RFSAP is composed of biologists who are 
trained in the specialized field of population dynamics. They advise 
the Council on the status of stocks and, when necessary, recommend a 
level of allowable biological catch (ABC) needed to prevent 
overfishing, or to effect a recovery of an overfished stock. They may 
also recommend catch restrictions needed to attain management goals.
    The RFSAP will convene to review sensitivity analyses of the 1999 
red grouper stock assessment which was conducted by the NMFS at the 
request of the RFSAP, and recommend a range of ABC for 2001. The 
analyses were requested by the RFSAP at its previous meeting in August 
2000 to examine the sensitivity of stock assessment results to the 
inclusion or exclusion of older, and possibly questionable, landings 
data provided by Cuba for years prior to 1976; the assumed level of 
release mortality of undersized fish; and the shape of the red grouper 
stock-recruitment relationship. NMFS has completed the analyses and 
declared the Gulf of Mexico stock of red grouper to be overfished, 
based on the 1999 stock assessment, and the results of the additional 
analyses. However, a peer review of the analyses has not yet been 
conducted by the RFSAP. The severity of the overfished condition, and 
the ABC range needed to effect a recovery also have yet to be 
determined.
    Pending completion by NMFS of additional analyses requested by the 
RFSAP of the 1998 vermilion snapper assessment and 2000 assessment 
update, the RFSAP will review these analyses and may recommend a range 
of ABC for 2001 to stop overfishing from occurring in the vermilion 
snapper fishery. Some model scenarios from the 1998 stock assessment 
suggested that the stock was being fished at a rate that could result 
in it becoming overfished. It was, therefore, classified by NMFS as not 
overfished butapproaching an overfished condition. The analyses 
requested by the RFSAP were to examine the robustness and relationship 
of the vermilion snapper assessment tuning indices to changes in the 
directed fishery for red snapper.
    The RFSAP may also review the results of additional red snapper 
recovery projections conducted by NMFS at the request of the Council.

[[Page 69737]]

 These additional projections are based on assumptions of juvenile red 
snapper shrimp trawl bycatch mortality and natural mortality suggested 
by an outside biologist which differ from the assumptions used by NMFS. 
The outside biologist has proposed that the shrimp trawl bycatch 
mortality is lower, and the natural mortality is higher, than those 
used in the NMFS red snapper stock assessments. The results of these 
analyses will initially be presented by NMFS at the November 13-17, 
2000, Council meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi, and may subsequently be 
reviewed by the RFSAP if requested by the Council. The analyses must be 
peer reviewed by the RFSAP before they can be used as a basis for 
changing the red snapper total allowable catch.
    Although non-emergency issues not on the agendas may come before 
the RFSAP 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 of the RFSAP will be restricted to those issues specifically 
identified in theagendas 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 action to address the emergency.

Special Accommodations

    This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. 
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to Anne Alford (see ADDRESSES) at least 5 days prior 
to the meeting dates.

    Dated: November 14, 2000.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 00-29637 Filed 11-17-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S