54790 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 185 / Tuesday, September 23, 2008 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XK64 

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) will 

hold a three-day Council meeting, on 

October 7–9, 2008, to consider actions 

affecting New England fisheries in the 

exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Tuesday, October 7 beginning at 9 a.m., 

and Wednesday and Thursday, October 

8 and 9, beginning at 8:30 a.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Hilton Hotel, 20 Coogan Boulevard, 

Mystic, CT 06355; telephone: (860) 572– 

0731. 

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: 

Tuesday, October 7, 2008 

Following introductions and any 

announcements, the Council will 

receive a series of brief reports from the 

Council Chairman and Executive 

Director, the NOAA Fisheries Northeast 

Regional Administrator, Northeast 

Fisheries Science Center and MidAtlantic Fishery Management Council 

liaisons, NOAA General Counsel, 

NOAA Enforcement and representatives 

of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Atlantic 

States Marine Fisheries Commission. 

Following these reports, there will be an 

open comment period during which any 

interested party may address the 

Council about fishery management 

related issues that are otherwise not 

listed on the agenda. NMFS staff from 

Silver Spring, MD will hold a scoping 

session on Amendment 3 to the 

Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory 

Species Fishery Management Plan, an 

action that will focus on small coastal 

shark issues. Prior to a lunch break the 

Council will discuss the most recent 

International Commission for the 

Conservation of Atlantic Tunas 

Advisory Panel meeting and consider 

recommendations for bluefin tuna 

management. The Council’s Scientific 

and Statistical Committee will review 

its priority and workload issues, discuss 

its comments on the scientific basis for 

Amendment 3 to the Skate Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP), provide 

comments on the new scallop 

overfishing definition under 

consideration for use in Framework 

Adjustment 15 to the Scallop FMP and 

provide feedback on the utility of a 

report on NEFMC documents used in 

sea scallop management. As the final 

agenda item of the day, the Sea Scallop 

Committee will review its discussions 

about updated biomass estimates 

provided by the Scallop Plan 

Development Team for the Elephant 

Trunk and Delmarva access areas. It is 

not necessary for the Council to take 

action at the meeting, however, given 

that if biomass estimates fall below 

defined thresholds, NMFS already has 

the authority to reduce the number of 

allowed trips in the areas. That 

authority was provided by the Council 

in Framework Adjustment 19 to the 

Scallop FMP. If appropriate, the Council 

also may discuss and approve a 

response to the most recent NMFS 

Biological Opinion for the Scallop FMP. 

The agency is requesting that the 

Council further develop one of several 

management measures outlined in the 

Opinion to minimize the impacts of sea 

turtle incidental takes in the fishery and 

include the action in an upcoming 

adjustment to the Scallop FMP. 

Wednesday, October 8, 2008 

The Council will review the progress 

of its Herring Committee to develop 

management alternatives for 

Amendment 4 to the Herring FMP. 

Committee recommendations include 

but are not limited to a catch monitoring 

program for the fishery, management 

measures to address herring bycatch 

concerns in the Atlantic mackerel 

fishery, annual catch limits, 

accountability measures and individual 

as well as group quota allocation 

programs. The Council also will 

approve recommendations for 

cooperative research priorities for the 

2010 herring research set-aside program. 

Following a lunch break the NEFMC 

will take initial action on Framework 

Adjustment 2 to the Spiny Dogfish FMP. 

The action will allow consideration of 

alternatives to adjust stock status 

determination criteria. The Council also 

will briefly review any experimental 

fishery permits requests published since 

the last Council meeting and possibly 

offer comments. 

NMFS will then review the final 

Marine Protected Area Framework and 

proposed nomination process. This item 

will be followed by discussion and 

approval of Council comments on the 

August 26, 2008 Advanced Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking concerning 

consultations pursuant to the National 

Marine Sanctuary Act. As the last item 

of the day, the Transboundary 

Management Guidance Committee will 

ask the Council to review and approve 

its recommendations for total allowable 

catches for eastern Georges Bank cod 

and haddock and Georges Bank 

yellowtail flounder for the 2009 fishing 

year. 

Thursday, October 9, 2008 

The Council will continue 

development of Northeast Multispecies 

FMP Amendment 16 measures, receive 

reports from its Groundfish and 

Recreational Advisory Panels, review 

projections for newly overfished stocks, 

identify rebuilding strategies and 

approve a revised timeline for 

development of the amendment. This 

agenda item will be discussed until the 

Council addresses any other outstanding 

business and adjourns. 

Although other non-emergency issues 

not contained in this agenda may come 

before this Council for discussion, those 

issues may not be the subjects 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 MagnusonStevens Act, provided that 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 (see ADDRESSES) at least 5 

days prior to the meeting date. 

Dated: September 18, 2008. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–22163 Filed 9–22–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XK65 

Pacific Fishery Management Council; 

Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 


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