New England Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice; public meeting.

SUMMARY:

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Herring Committee 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 Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at 9 a.m.

ADDRESSES:

Meeting address: The meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn, 300 Woodbury Avenue, Portsmouth, NH 03801; phone: (603) 431-8000; fax: (603) 431-2065.

Council address: New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council; telephone: (978) 465-0492.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Agenda

The Committee plans to discuss the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan in regards to plans for a public workshop on the Management Strategy Evaluation of Atlantic Herring Acceptable Biological Catch control rules, Plan Development Team (PDT) analyses related to localized depletion in inshore waters and potentially develop a definition of localized depletion, a problem statement and related measures, and/or task PDT with additional analyses. The Committee also plans to discuss Georges Bank haddock catch cap accountability measures (AMs), specifically, plans to potentially develop a framework adjustment in 2016 to consider revising the AMs. Other business will be discussed as necessary.

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 these meetings. 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 Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, at (978) 465-0492, at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

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