2016-31325. 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, January 11, 2017 at 9 a.m.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting will be held at the Four Points by Sheraton, 1 Audubon Road, Wakefield, MA 01880; 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 Herring Committee will review alternatives and analyses prepared for Framework Adjustment 5 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP), an action considering modification of accountability measures (AMs) that trigger if the sub-ACL of Georges Bank haddock is exceeded by the midwater trawl herring fishery. The committee may recommend preferred alternatives for the Council to consider for final action. The committee will review preliminary outcomes from the recent workshop held in December on Management Strategy Evaluation of Atlantic Herring Acceptable Biological Catch control rules being considered in Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring FMP. The committee may recommend a range of alternatives for the Committee to consider including in Amendment 8 related to harvest control rule alternatives. The committee will also review public comments on the herring related measures being considered in the Omnibus Industry Funded Monitoring (IFM) Amendment. The committee may recommend preferred alternatives for the Committee to consider as well as address other business, 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 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 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.

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

Dated: December 22, 2016.

Tracey L. Thompson,

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