2022-21641. New England Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY:

The New England Fishery Management Council's is convening its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) via webinar 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, October 26, 2022, and Thursday, October 27, 2022, beginning at 9 a.m., both days.

ADDRESSES:

Meeting address: The meeting will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 100 Boardman Street, Boston, MA 02128; telephone: [phone]. Webinar registration information: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/​register/​5522208515876543248. Call in information: [phone] Access Code: 557-716-863.

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 Scientific and Statistical Committee will meet to review information provided by the Council's Groundfish Plan Development Team (PDT), results of the recent management track stock assessments and peer review. Using the Council's acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rules, recommend the overfishing levels (OFL) and the ABCs for each stock for fishing years 2023, 2024 and 2025 for the following stocks: Georges Bank (GB) haddock, Gulf of Maine (GOM) haddock, Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder, Cape Cod/GOM yellowtail flounder, GB winter flounder, GOM winter flounder, American plaice, white hake, pollock, and Atlantic halibut, and receive an update on the development of ABC control rule alternatives under consideration for the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan. Also on the agenda is to review the information provided by the Council's Monkfish PDT, results of the recent management track stock assessment, and peer review, and recommend the overfishing levels (OFL) and the acceptable biological catches for the northern and southern monkfish management areas for fishing years 2023-2025 and recommend an approach for setting the discard deduction from the annual catch target for setting specifications for the monkfish fishery for fishing years 2023-2025. They will consider other business as necessary.

Although non-emergency issues not contained on the agenda may come before this 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 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. The public also should be aware that the meeting will be recorded. Consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1852, a copy of the recording is available upon request.

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.

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

Dated: September 30, 2022.

Rey Israel Marquez,

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