Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 19 / Thursday, January 29, 2015 / Notices 4885 

Dated: January 23, 2015. 

Basil Brown, 

Acting Director, Office of Management and 

Budget, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–01724 Filed 1–28–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Western 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 Eight Regional Fishery 

Management Councils (RFMCs) will 

convene a meeting of representatives of 

their respective Scientific and Statistical 

Committee (SSC) in Honolulu, HI. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

February 23, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. to 

5:30 p.m., February 24, 2015, from 8:30 

a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and February 25, 

2015, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Ala Moana Hotel Garden Lanai, 410 

Atkinson Drive, Honolulu, HI 96814. 

Host Council: Western Pacific Regional 

Fishery Management Council, 1164 

Bishop Street, Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 

96813. For specific times and agendas, 

see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kitty M. Simonds, Executive Director, 

Western Pacific Regional Fishery 

Management Council; telephone: (808) 

522–8220. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation 

and Management Act (MSA) requires 

that each Council maintain and utilize 

its SSCs to assist in the development, 

collection, evaluation, and peer review 

of information relevant to the 

development and amendment of fishery 

management plans (FMPs). In addition, 

the MSA mandates that each SSC shall 

provide its Council ongoing scientific 

advice for fishery management 

decisions, including recommendations 

for acceptable biological catch (ABC), 

preventing overfishing, maximum 

sustainable yield, and achieving 

rebuilding targets, and reports on stock 

status and health, bycatch, habitat 

status, social and economic impacts of 

management measures, and 

sustainability of fishing practices. The 

MSA also requires the Council to 

consider the ecosystem in managing the 

stocks in the FMPs. 

At its May 2014 meeting, the Council 

Coordination Committee (CCC; a group 

consisting of the leadership from the 

eight Regional Fishery Management 

Councils), recommended that a fifth 

National SSC Workshop be convened to 

address uncertainties, data-limited 

situations, and ecosystem 

considerations in the fishery 

management process and Ecosystems 

Based Fishery Management (EBFM). 

Therefore, the purpose of this meeting is 

to examine the approaches being taken 

around the United States by the Council 

SSCs in addressing biological and 

management uncertainties, data-limited 

stocks, habitat and ecological 

variabilities in EBFM with 

considerations of a changing climate. 

8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Monday, February 

23, 2015 

1. Welcome Remarks 

2. Introductions 

3. SUBTHEME 1.a: ABC Specification 

for Data-Limited and Model-Resistant 

Stocks 

A. Keynote Presentation: Managing 

data-poor fisheries down under 

B. Keynote Presentation: Progress and 

roadblocks in the estimation of 

stock status and catch limits for 

global fisheries 

C. Round Robin Session: Setting ABCs 

for data-limited/model-resistant 

stocks 

D. Preliminary Q&A to the presenters 

E. Plenary Discussion: ABC 

specification for data-limited and 

model-resistant stocks 

4. SUBTHEME 1.b: Implementation of 

National Standard 2 in the Face of 

Uncertainty 

A. Keynote Presentation: National 

Standard 2 in determining best 

scientific information available 

B. Plenary Discussion: 

Implementation of National 

Standard 2 in the face of 

uncertainties 

5. Develop Specific Recommendation to 

the CCC on Subtheme 1 

8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Tuesday, February 

24, 2015 

6. SUBTHEME 2: Evaluating Existing 

ABC Control Rules: Issues, Challenges 

and Solutions 

A. Keynote Presentation: Addressing 

uncertainties in stock assessment in 

a variable environment 

B. Keynote Presentation: Use of 

Management Strategy Evaluation to 

assess performance of harvest 

control rules 

C. Keynote Presentation: Comparing 

performance among alternative ABC 

control rules 

D. Round Robin Session: Evaluation 

of the current ABC control rules 

(with emphasis on how each 

council monitors the performance 

of the control rules, issues, 

challenges, and solutions) 

E. Preliminary Q&A to the presenters 

F. Plenary Discussion: Evaluating 

existing ABC control rules: Issues, 

challenges and solutions 

7. Develop Specific Recommendation to 

the CCC for Subtheme 2 

8. SUBTHEME 3.a: Incorporating 

Ecological, Environmental, and 

Climate Variability in Stock 

Assessment and Ecosystem Based 

Fishery Management 

A. Keynote Presentation: 

Incorporating ecological, 

environmental, and climate 

considerations in stock assessments 

and ecosystem-based fishery 

management 

B. Plenary Discussion: Incorporating 

ecological, environmental, and 

climate variability in stock 

assessment and ecosystem based 

fishery management 

8:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Wednesday, February 

25, 2015 

C. Keynote presentation: Projecting 

climate change impacts on fish and 

fisheries 

D. Keynote presentation: Shifting 

species distribution with climate 

change 

E. Plenary Discussion: Incorporating 

ecological, environmental, and 

climatic variability in stock 

assessments and ecosystem based 

fishery management 

9. Develop Specific Recommendation to 

the CCC for Subtheme 3.a 

10. SUBTHEME 3.b: Building Habitat 

Condition in the Stock Assessment 

Process and Fishery Management 

Strategies 

A. Keynote Presentation: The Habitat 

Assessment Improvement Plan: 

Collecting the habitat data to 

enhance stock assessment 

B. Plenary Discussion: Building 

habitat condition in the stock 

assessment process and fishery 

management strategies 

C. Keynote Presentation: Aspects of 

Habitat of Particular Concern for 

fish population dynamics and 

fishery management 

D. Plenary Discussion: Building 

habitat condition in the stock 

assessment process and fishery 

management strategies 

11. Develop Specific Recommendation 

to the CCC for Subtheme 3.b 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained in this agenda may come 

before these groups for discussion, in 

accordance with the MSA, those issues 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

4886 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 19 / Thursday, January 29, 2015 / Notices 

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 MSA, 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 Kitty M. Simonds, 

(808) 522–8220 (voice) or (808) 522– 

8226 (fax), at least 5 days prior to the 

meeting date. 

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

Dated: January 26, 2015. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–01690 Filed 1–28–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XD705 

Fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico; 

Southeast Data, Assessment, and 

Review (SEDAR); Public Meetings 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of SEDAR 42 assessment 

webinars for Gulf of Mexico Red 

Grouper. 

SUMMARY: The SEDAR 42 assessment of 

Gulf of Mexico Red Grouper will consist 

of a series of webinars. This notice is for 

a webinar associated with the 

Assessment portion of the SEDAR 

process. See SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION. 

DATES: The assessment webinar for 

SEDAR 42 will be held on Thursday, 

February 19, 2015, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

eastern time. 

ADDRESSES:

Meeting Address: The meeting will be 

held via webinar. The webinar is open 

to the public. Those interested in 

participating should contact Julie A. 

Neer at SEDAR (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT below) to request 

an invitation providing webinar access 

information. Please request webinar 

invitations at least 24 hours in advance 

of each webinar. 

SEDAR Address: 4055 Faber Place 

Drive, Suite 201, N. Charleston, SC 

29405. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie 

A. Neer, SEDAR Coordinator; telephone: 

(843) 571–4366; email: julie.neer@

safmc.net. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Gulf 

of Mexico, South Atlantic, and 

Caribbean Fishery Management 

Councils, in conjunction with NOAA 

Fisheries and the Atlantic and Gulf 

States Marine Fisheries Commissions, 

have implemented the Southeast Data, 

Assessment and Review (SEDAR) 

process, a multi-step method for 

determining the status of fish stocks in 

the Southeast Region. SEDAR is a multistep process including: (1) Data 

Workshop; and (2) a series of 

assessment webinars; and (3) Review 

Workshop. The product of the Data 

Workshop is a report which compiles 

and evaluates potential datasets and 

recommends which datasets are 

appropriate for assessment analyses. 

The product of the Assessment Webinar 

Process is a report which compiles and 

evaluates potential datasets and 

recommends which datasets are 

appropriate for assessment analyses; 

and describes the fisheries, evaluates 

the status of the stock, estimates 

biological benchmarks, projects future 

population conditions, and recommends 

research and monitoring needs. The 

assessment is independently peer 

reviewed at the Review Workshop. The 

product of the Review Workshop is a 

Summary documenting panel opinions 

regarding the strengths and weaknesses 

of the stock assessment and input data. 

Participants for SEDAR Workshops are 

appointed by the Gulf of Mexico, South 

Atlantic, and Caribbean Fishery 

Management Councils and NOAA 

Fisheries Southeast Regional Office, 

Highly Migratory Species Management 

Division, and Southeast Fisheries 

Science Center. Participants include: 

data collectors and database managers; 

stock assessment scientists, biologists, 

and researchers; constituency 

representatives including fishermen, 

environmentalists, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); 

international experts; and staff of 

Councils, Commissions, and state and 

federal agencies. 

The items of discussion in the 

Assessment Process webinars are as 

follows: 

1. Using datasets and initial 

assessment analysis recommended from 

the Data Workshop, panelists will 

employ assessment models to evaluate 

stock status, estimate population 

benchmarks and management criteria, 

and project future conditions. 

2. Panelists will recommend the most 

appropriate methods and configurations 

for determining stock status and 

estimating population parameters. 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained in this agenda may come 

before this group for discussion, those 

issues may not be the subject of formal 

action during this meeting. Action 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 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act, provided the public has been 

notified of the 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 the Council office 

(see ADDRESSES) at least 10 business 

days prior to the meeting. 

Note: The times and sequence specified in 

this agenda are subject to change. 

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

Dated: January 26, 2015. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–01689 Filed 1–28–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XD512 

Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to 

Specified Activities; Low-Energy 

Marine Geophysical Survey in the 

Ross Sea, January to February 2015 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; issuance of an Incidental 

Harassment Authorization (IHA). 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Marine Mammal Protection Act 

(MMPA), notification is hereby given 

that NMFS has issued an IHA to the 

National Science Foundation (NSF) 

Division of Polar Programs, and 

Antarctic Support Contract (ASC) on 

behalf of Louisiana State University, to 

take marine mammals, by Level B 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES