E9-31427. Pacific 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 Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Ad Hoc Salmon Amendment Committee (SAC) will hold a meeting to develop draft alternatives and plan analyses for an amendment to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to address the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) requirements for annual catch limits (ACL) and accountability measures (AM). This meeting of the SAC is open to the public.

DATES:

The meeting will be held Tuesday, January 26, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting will be held at the Pacific Council Office, Large Conference Room, 7700 NE Ambassador Place, Suite 101, Portland, OR 97220-1384; telephone: [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. Chuck Tracy, Salmon Management Staff Officer, Pacific Fishery Management Council; telephone: [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The reauthorized MSA established new requirements to end and prevent overfishing through the use of ACLs and AMs. Federal FMPs must establish mechanisms for ACLs and AMs by 2010 for stocks subject to overfishing and by 2011 for all others, with the exceptions of stocks managed under an international agreement or stocks with a life cycle of approximately one year.

On January 16, 2009, NMFS published amended guidelines for National Standard 1 (NS1) of the MSA to provide guidance on how to comply with new ACL and AM requirements. The NS1 guidelines include recommendations for establishing several related reference points to ensure scientific and management uncertainty are accounted for when management measures are established.

The purpose of this meeting is to develop alternatives to address those issues, and to plan analyses that will be used to evaluate those alternatives in a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis.

Although non-emergency issues not contained in the meeting agenda may come before the SAC 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 Fishery Conservation and Management Act, provided the public has been notified of the 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 Ms. Carolyn Porter at [phone] at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

Dated: December 31, 2009.

William D. Chappell,

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