[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 1, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5470-5471]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02020]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XB730]


Advisory Committee Open Session on Management Strategy Evaluation 
for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

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

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is holding a public meeting via webinar for the Advisory 
Committee to the U.S. Section to the International Commission for the 
Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and all interested stakeholders 
to receive an update and provide input on the development of the 
management strategy evaluation for Atlantic bluefin tuna.

DATES: A virtual meeting that is open to the public will be held on 
February 25, 2022, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST.

ADDRESSES: Please register to attend the meeting at: https://forms.gle/f8L6jxsmstXRC2b47. Registration will close on February 24, 2022, at 5 
p.m. EST. Instructions for accessing the virtual meeting will be 
emailed to registered participants.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bryan Keller, Office of International 
Affairs and Seafood Inspection, (301) 427-7725 or at 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7537070c141b5b3e1019191007351b1a14145b121a03"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1a5868637b7434517f76767f685a74757b7b347d756c">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Management strategy evaluation (MSE) is a 
process that allows fishery managers and stakeholders (e.g., industry, 
scientists, and non-governmental organizations) to assess how well 
different strategies achieve specified management objectives for a 
fishery. After several years of work, ICCAT expects to finalize its 
bluefin tuna MSE in 2022 and anticipates adopting a management 
procedure in November 2022 to set Total Allowable Catch (TACs) for 2023 
and future years for both the western Atlantic and eastern Atlantic and 
Mediterranean stocks of bluefin tuna. NMFS and the United States more 
broadly participate in this MSE development process and have been 
engaging stakeholders and considering their input throughout the 
process through various means, including consultation with the Advisory 
Committee to the U.S. Section to ICCAT. The United States also 
participates in the development of the bluefin tuna MSE through active 
engagement by U.S. scientists in ICCAT's Standing Committee on Research 
and Statistics (SCRS).
    The February 25 meeting is intended to update stakeholders and 
solicit their input on the MSE approach being developed by ICCAT. This 
includes SCRS progress in developing initial candidate management 
procedures (CMPs) illustrating potential management tradeoffs and the 
related process by ICCAT to refine management objectives to assist the 
SCRS in further refining and narrowing those CMPs. This open session 
Advisory Committee meeting is primarily informational in nature and 
intended to increase the opportunity for stakeholder awareness and 
input on the bluefin tuna MSE process. Discussions at the meeting will 
help to inform U.S. scientists who are participating in work of the 
SCRS. In addition, while no binding decisions or formal, consensus-
based

[[Page 5471]]

recommendations will be made, input provided during the meeting will be 
considered by the United States to assist its preparations for a March 
2022 meeting of ICCAT's Panel 2 and other ICCAT bluefin tuna MSE 
meetings planned for 2022.
    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.; 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: January 27, 2022.
Alexa Cole,
Director, Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-02020 Filed 1-31-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P


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