[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50328-50330]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19485]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XB408]


New England 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 New England Fishery Management Council (Council, NEFMC) 
will hold a three-day meeting to consider actions affecting New England 
fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Due to ongoing public 
safety considerations related to COVID-19, this meeting will be 
conducted entirely by webinar.

DATES: The webinar meeting will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and 
Thursday, September 28, 29, and 30, 2021, beginning at 9 a.m. each day.

ADDRESSES: All meeting participants and interested parties can register 
to join the webinar at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6852048029928028172.
    Council address: New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water 
Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950; telephone (978) 465-0492; 
www.nefmc.org.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, 
New England Fishery Management Council; telephone: (978) 465-0492, ext. 
113.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Agenda

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

    After introductions and brief announcements, NMFS's Regional 
Administrator for the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office 
(GARFO) will swear in new and reappointed Council members. The Council 
then will conduct its 2021-22 election of officers.

[[Page 50329]]

Reports on recent activities will be next. The Council will hear from 
its Chairman and Executive Director, GARFO's Regional Administrator, 
the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Director, the NOAA 
Office of General Counsel, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council 
liaison, staff from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 
(ASMFC), and representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, NOAA's Office 
of Law Enforcement, the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and 
NMFS's Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel. Next, the Council will 
receive an overview of H.R 4690, ``Sustaining America's Fisheries for 
the Future Act of 2021,'' which is a bill to reauthorize the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The Council will 
discuss the bill and approve comments.
    Following the lunch break, the Council will receive a presentation 
from GARFO on two actions under the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction 
Plan. These will cover: (1) The Phase 1 final rule for Northeast 
lobster and Jonah crab trap/pot fisheries; and (2) Phase 2 scoping on 
potential measures for U.S. gillnet and other trap/pot fisheries to 
reduce entanglements of North Atlantic right whales, humpback whales, 
and fin whales with commercial fishing gear. The Council will discuss 
Phase 2 and provide input on scoping comments. Next, the Council will 
discuss and take final action on Framework Adjustment 9 to the Atlantic 
Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This framework includes a 
rebuilding plan to address the overfished status of Atlantic herring, 
and it contains adjustments to herring accountability measures. As the 
final order of business for the day, the Council will receive an 
overview of NMFS's National Standard 1 Draft Technical Guidance Memo on 
managing with annual catch limits (ACLs) for data-limited stocks in 
federal fishery management plans. Following discussion, the Council 
will approve comments on the draft memo.

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

    The Council will start off the day with a report on the 43rd annual 
meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO). Then, 
the Council will receive a presentation from the Scientific and 
Statistical Committee's (SSC) Social Science Subpanel on its review of 
socioeconomic information in Groundfish Framework Adjustment 59 and 
Scallop Framework Adjustment 32. The Council will discuss the results 
of this review. The Scallop Committee Report will be next. The Council 
will receive a summary of 2021 scallop survey results and a progress 
report on Framework Adjustment 34 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP, 
which includes 2022 fishery specifications, 2023 default 
specifications, and measures that will be made available soon under 
Amendment 21 to the FMP. Additionally, the Council will receive: (1) A 
progress report on work being done to evaluate the scallop fishery's 
rotational area management program; and (2) an update on the Scallop 
Survey Working Group's activities. The Council then will transition 
into groundfish issues, beginning with a report from the Transboundary 
Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC) on the TRAC's 2021 assessment 
results and updates for shared U.S./Canada resources, which include 
Eastern Georges Bank cod, Eastern Georges Bank haddock, and Georges 
Bank yellowtail flounder. The Council then will hear the SSC's 
recommendations on overfishing limits (OFLs) and acceptable biological 
catches (ABCs) for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder for fishing years 
2022 and 2023. This will be followed by the Transboundary Management 
Guidance Committee's recommendations for 2022 total allowable catches 
(TACs) for shared U.S./Canada resources on Georges Bank. The Council 
will review and approve the recommendations.
    Following the lunch break, the Council will receive the Groundfish 
Committee Report, which will cover two items. The first will be a 
progress report on Framework Adjustment 63 to the Northeast 
Multispecies (Groundfish) FMP, which includes (1) 2022 TACs for U.S./
Canada shared resources on Georges Bank; (2) 2022-23 specifications for 
Georges Bank yellowtail flounder; (3) 2022-24 specifications for 
Georges Bank cod and Gulf of Maine cod; (4) possible adjustment of 2022 
specifications for Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine haddock; (5) 
adjustment of 2022 specifications for white hake based on a rebuilding 
plan; (6) additional measures to promote stock rebuilding; and (7) 
alternatives for setting groundfish default specifications. The second 
groundfish item pertains to the recent series of Atlantic Cod Stock 
Structure Workshops. The Council will consider measures that can be 
adopted regardless of outcomes from the next stock assessments for 
Atlantic cod. Then, the Council will receive the Skate Committee 
Report, starting with the SSC's overfishing limit and acceptable 
biological catch recommendations for the 2022-23 fishing years. The 
Council will take final action on 2022-23 skate specifications. 
Following this discussion, the Council will receive an update on recent 
meetings of the Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel (NTAP). The Council will 
review and approve a revised NTAP charter. After that, the Council will 
adjourn for the day.

Thursday, September 30, 2021

    The Council will begin the third day of its meeting with a report 
from its Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management (EBFM) Committee, which 
will include updates on: (1) EBFM public information workshops; (2) 
National Standard 1 issues related to potentially managing catches by 
stock complex rather than as individual stocks; and (3) a potential 
committee recommendation for an example EBFM Management Strategy 
Evaluation exercise. The Habitat Committee Report will follow. The 
Council will receive updates on: (1) Recent Council comments to federal 
agencies on offshore wind projects and other issues; (2) upcoming 
comment opportunities; and (3) other habitat-related work. The Monkfish 
Committee then will report on its discussion of analyses of discard 
estimation methods and potential next steps resulting from this work. 
Next, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center will provide a 
presentation on the peer review of the June 2021 Management Track Stock 
Assessments for black sea bass, scup, Atlantic mackerel, and golden 
tilefish. This will be followed by the Whiting Committee Report, which 
will include an overview of the committee's discussion on the 2020 
Annual Monitoring Report and follow-up on whether management 
adjustments are needed.
    After the lunch break, members of the public will have the 
opportunity to speak during an open comment period on issues that 
relate to Council business but are not included on the published agenda 
for this meeting. The Council asks the public to limit remarks to 3-5 
minutes. These comments will be received through the webinar. A guide 
for how to publicly comment through the webinar is available on the 
Council website at https://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/NEFMC-meeting-remote-participation_generic.pdf. Following the public comment period, 
the Council will begin its initial discussion on 2022 Council 
Priorities for all fishery management plans and other Council 
responsibilities. Final action on 2022 priorities will take place 
during the Council's December 2021 meeting. After this discussion, the 
Council will close out the meeting with other business.

[[Page 50330]]

    Although non-emergency issues not contained on this agenda may come 
before the Council for discussion, those issues may not be the subject 
of formal action during this meeting. Council action will be restricted 
to those issues specifically listed 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 Council's 
intent to take final action to address the emergency. The public also 
should be aware that the meeting will be recorded. Consistent with 16 
U.S.C. 1852, a copy of the recording is available upon request.

Special Accommodations

    This meeting is being conducted entirely by webinar. Requests for 
auxiliary aids should be directed to Thomas A. Nies (see ADDRESSES) at 
least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

    Dated: September 3, 2021.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-19485 Filed 9-7-21; 8:45 am]
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