53196 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 179 / Monday, September 15, 2008 / Notices 

Participants for SEDAR Workshops are 

appointed by the Gulf of Mexico, South 

Atlantic, and Caribbean Fishery 

Management Councils and NOAA 

Fisheries Southeast Regional Office 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 (NGO’s); 

International experts; and staff of 

Councils, Commissions, and state and 

federal agencies. 

Each SEDAR workshop panel is asked 

to provide research and monitoring 

recommendations to improve future 

assessments and feedback on the 

process to help improve SEDAR itself. 

Over time, certain key topics emerge 

that reveal a research need or 

procedural suggestion that is common to 

multiple assessments. The SEDAR 

Steering Committee endorses procedural 

workshops such as that noticed here to 

address those issues that affect multiple 

assessments and require more time and 

resources to resolve than are typically 

available during the normal assessment 

development process. The goal of these 

workshops is to develop guidelines and 

practices that will increase the 

efficiency of subsequent SEDAR 

assessments. 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained in this agenda may come 

before these groups 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 

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 Act, 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 the Council office 

(see ADDRESSES) at least 10 business 

days prior to each workshop. 

Dated: September 10, 2008. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–21470 Filed 9–12–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XK52 

Fisheries of the South Atlantic and 

Gulf of Mexico; SEDAR; Public 

Meetings 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of Southeastern Data, 

Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) 

Procedural workshop - Caribbean Data 

Evaluation. 

SUMMARY: The Council-Federal 

cooperative SEDAR process provides 

stock assessments for fisheries resources 

of the Southeast Region. Assessment 

priorities are typically established by 

management need or perceptions of 

management or population problems, 

and often do not consider data 

availability. As a result, despite several 

attempts by SEDAR, no acceptable 

quantitative assessments have been 

developed for Caribbean stocks because 

data to support traditional stock 

assessment methods simply do not 

exist. It is clear that alternative methods 

need to be developed that will allow 

assessing Caribbean fisheries resources 

in a manner that will withstand 

independent peer review. Identifying 

and evaluating available data sources 

across all managed species is a strong 

first step that is consistent with peer 

review and assessment report 

recommendations. 

SEDAR will convene a workshop 

including representatives from Federal 

agencies, territorial governments, nongovernmental organizations, Council 

technical and constituent advisors, and 

university researchers. Participants will 

catalog and evaluate basic data, address 

alternative assessment methods that will 

accommodate the available data, and 

recommend assessment priorities that 

are consistent with available data and 

methods. 

DATES: The SEDAR Caribbean Data 

Evaluation Workshop will take place 

January 26–29, 2009; SEDAR 

Catchability Procedural Workshop 

Schedule: January 26, 2009: 1 p.m. - 8 

p.m.; January 27–28, 2009: 8 a.m. - 8 

p.m.; January 29, 2009: 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The SEDAR Caribbean Data 

Evaluation Workshop will be held at the 

Hotel El Convento, 100 Cristo Street, 

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901; 

telephone: (787) 723–9036. 

Council address: South Atlantic 

Fishery Management Council, 4055 

Faber Place Drive, Suite 201, North 

Charleston, SC 29405. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie 

Neer, SEDAR Coordinator, 4055 Faber 

Place Drive, Suite 201, North 

Charleston, SC 29405; telephone: (843) 

571–4366. 

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 SEDAR process, 

a multi-step method for determining the 

status of fish stocks in the Southeast 

Region. SEDAR includes three 

workshops: (1) Data Workshop, (2) 

Stock Assessment Workshop and (3) 

Review Workshop. The product of the 

Data Workshop is a data report which 

compiles and evaluates potential 

datasets and recommends which 

datasets are appropriate for assessment 

analyses. The product of the Stock 

Assessment Workshop is a stock 

assessment report which 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 Consensus 

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 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 (NGO’s); 

International experts; and staff of 

Councils, Commissions, and state and 

federal agencies. 

Each SEDAR workshop panel is asked 

to provide research and monitoring 

recommendations to improve future 

assessments and feedback on the 

process to help improve SEDAR itself. 

Over time, certain key topics emerge 

that reveal a research need or 

procedural suggestion that is common to 

multiple assessments. The SEDAR 

Steering Committee endorses procedural 

workshops such as that noticed here to 

address those issues that affect multiple 

assessments and require more time and 

resources to resolve than are typically 

available during the normal assessment 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 179 / Monday, September 15, 2008 / Notices 53197 

development process. The goal of these 

workshops is to develop guidelines and 

practices that will increase the 

efficiency of subsequent SEDAR 

assessments. 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained in this agenda may come 

before these groups 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 

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 Act, 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 the Council office 

(see ADDRESSES) at least 10 business 

days prior to each workshop. 

Dated: September 10, 2008. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–21471 Filed 9–12–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XK47 

New England Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of a public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The New England Fishery 

Management Council (Council) is 

scheduling a public meeting of its 

Habitat/MPA/Ecosystem Committee, in 

October, 2008, to consider actions 

affecting New England fisheries in the 

exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 

Recommendations from this group will 

be brought to the full Council for formal 

consideration and action, if appropriate. 

DATES: This meeting will be held on 

Thursday, October 2, 2008, at 9:30 a.m. 

ADDRESSES: This meeting will be held at 

the Radisson Hotel, 180 Water Street, 

Plymouth, MA 02360; telephone: (508) 

747–4900; fax: (508) 747–8937. 

Council address: New England 

Fishery Management Council, 50 Water 

Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul 

J. Howard, Executive Director, New 

England Fishery Management Council; 

telephone: (978) 465–0492. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Committee will continue development 

of analytical aspects of Phase II of the 

Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2. The 

Committee will also review preliminary 

vulnerability assessment for 

determining adverse effects on essential 

fish habitat caused by fishing and 

develop Committee recommendations 

for Magnuson Stevens Act required fiveyear update of Council research 

priorities. The Committee may also 

consider other topics at their discretion. 

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 

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 

Act, provided the public has been 

notified of the Council’s intent to take 

final 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 Paul 

J. Howard, Executive Director, at (978) 

465–0492, at least 5 days prior to the 

meeting date. 

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

Dated: September 10, 2008. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–21402 Filed 9–12–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XK46 

North Pacific Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of a public committee 

meeting. 

SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council’s (Council) Crab 

Socioeconomic Data Collection 

Committee will meet in Anchorage, AK. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

September 30, 2008, at 6 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held in 

the Howard Rock A Ballroom, at the 

Sheraton,401 East 6th Avenue, 

Anchorage, AK. 

Council address: North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council, 605 W. 

4th Ave., Suite 306, Anchorage, AK 

99501–2252. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mark Fina, North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council; telephone: (907) 

271–2809. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

committee will discuss the collection of 

social and economic fisheries data, and 

potential analytical uses of those data. 

These data include revenue, cost, crew, 

labor, and community information, 

which may be collected from vessels 

and processing plants participating in 

the fisheries, as well as data from other 

sources. 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained in this agenda may come 

before this group 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 this meeting. 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 Magnuson-Stevens 

Act, provided the public has been 

notified of the Council’s intent to take 

final 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 Gail 

Bendixen, (907) 271–2809, at least 5 

working days prior to the meeting date. 

Dated: September 10, 2008. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–21401 Filed 9–12–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES