97-32646. Shrimp Virus Workshop

[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 240 (Monday, December 15, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 65693]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-32646]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5935-1]


Shrimp Virus Workshop

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

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SUMMARY: This document announces a workshop sponsored by the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in cooperation with the Joint 
Subcommittee on Aquaculture (JSA; Office of Science and Technology 
Policy). The JSA includes representatives from Federal organizations 
including the National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency. The purpose of the workshop is to develop a 
qualitative ecological risk assessment of the potential impacts of 
shrimp viruses on cultured shrimp and on wild shrimp populations in the 
Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S. Atlantic coastal waters. The 
workshop will also develop recommendations for conducting a future, 
more comprehensive risk assessment.

DATES: The workshop will begin on Wednesday, January 7, 1998, at 8:30 
a.m. and end on Thursday, January 8, 1998, at 5 p.m. Members of the 
public may attend as observers.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott 
Hotel, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA. To make hotel 
reservations, please call the hotel directly at 703-920-3230 by 
December 29, 1997. Reference the EPA shrimp virus workshop to receive 
the group rate. Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), an EPA contractor, 
is providing logistical support for the workshop. To attend the 
workshop as an observer, register by calling the ERG conference 
registration line at [phone] by December 31, 1997, and reference 
the shrimp virus workshop. There is no charge for attending the 
workshop; however, seating is limited.
    Background information provided to workshop panelists includes a 
document containing a report on the shrimp virus problem and the 
minutes of several public meetings at which the report was reviewed. 
Printed copies will available on or about January 31, 1998. To obtain a 
single copy of this document, interested parties should contact the 
Center for Environmental Research Information, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, OH 
45268, Tel: [phone], FAX: [phone]. Please provide your 
name and mailing address, and request the document by the EPA number 
(EPA/600/R-97/136) and title, Minutes of the Stakeholder Meetings on 
the Report of the JSA Shrimp Virus Work Group. In addition, portions of 
this report are available on the internet, at http://www.epa.gov/ncea/
svra.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical information, contact Dr. 
Thomas McIlwain, Chairperson of the JSA Shrimp Virus Work Group, 
National Marine Fisheries Service, 3209 Frederick Street, Pascagoula, 
MS 39567, [phone]. For workshop information, contact Dr. Bill 
van der Schalie, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (8623), 401 M 
Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460, Telephone [phone]; FAX: 202-
260-6370; e-mail: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Evidence suggests that exotic shrimp viruses 
may be inadvertently introduced into U.S. coastal regions. If 
established, these introduced viruses have the potential to infect both 
wild shrimp stocks and shrimp in aquaculture. To address this problem 
the JSA has been developing an ecological risk assessment. In support 
of information exchange and education, and to determine any necessary 
course of action to avert the introduction of pathogenic viruses, the 
JSA tasked a Federal interagency work group (Shrimp Virus Work Group; 
SVWG) with preparing a report that summarizes readily-available risk-
relevant information on shrimp viruses (see 62 FR 31790-31791 (June 11, 
1997)). This SVWG report was approved by the JSA and was reviewed at 
several stakeholder meetings in July 1997. The minutes of these 
meetings, the SVWG report, and additional stakeholder comments received 
in conjunction with the release of the report and the stakeholder 
meetings are the starting points for a peer-review workshop being 
conducted under contract to the EPA's National Center for Environmental 
Assessment, in cooperation with the JSA. The goals of this workshop are 
to develop a qualitative ecological risk assessment of the potential 
impacts of shrimp viruses on cultured shrimp and on wild shrimp 
populations in the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S. Atlantic 
coastal waters and to develop recommendations for conducting a future, 
more comprehensive risk assessment. Workshop results will provide one 
source of information for a proposed JSA-sponsored risk management 
workshop on the shrimp virus problem and may be useful in supporting 
environmental decisionmaking.

    Dated: December 9, 1997.
William H. Farland,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 97-32646 Filed 12-12-97; 8:45 am]
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