2017-28289. 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 Research Steering 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, January 17, 2018 at 9 a.m.

ADDRESSES:

Meeting address: The meeting will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 100 Boardman Street, Boston, MA 02128; telephone: [phone].

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: [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Agenda

The Research Steering Committee will discuss Research priorities and data needs: Develop recommendations for potential improvements to the Council's research priority setting process. They will receive and update from the Northeast Cooperative Research Program and discuss the implementation of program review recommendations, integrating cooperative research across the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, the potential expansion of Study Fleet technologies for fishery reporting, and the longline survey and uses of its data. The Committee will review completed research projects on the topics of: A seasonal bycatch survey program for the scallop fishery, river herring bycatch avoidance in the herring fishery, and developing methods to assess the effects of fishing on herring aggregations. Address other business as necessary.

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 the 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 [phone], at least 5 days prior to the meeting date. This meeting will be recorded. Consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1852, a copy of the recording is available upon request.

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

Dated: December 27, 2017.

Tracey L. Thompson,

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.