2011-4251. New England 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 New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Research Steering Committee (Committee), in March, 2011, 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:

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 9:30 a.m.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting will be held at the Crowne Plaza, 50 Ferncroft Road, Danvers, MA 01923; telephone: [phone]; fax: [phone].

Council address: New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council; telephone: [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The committee will review all funded cooperative research projects in the Northeast over the last several years, including those approved through NOAA Fisheries, the Council's research set-aside programs, and both the Northeast Consortium and the Southern New England Research Collaborative Initiative. Information about project topic, level of funding and results will be organized in a format that will allow a clearer understanding of regional accomplishments and information gaps. The Research Steering Committee will have the opportunity to make recommendations about how to make the information collected more relevant to management, how to use research results more effectively, and also to comment on future research priorities.

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 Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, at [phone], at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

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

Dated: February 22, 2011.

Tracey L. Thompson,

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