03-13158. Pacific 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 Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Ad Hoc Allocation Committee (Committee) will hold a working meeting, which is open to the public.

DATES:

The Committee meeting will be held Tuesday, June 10, 2003 from 8 a.m. until business for the day is completed. The Committee meeting will reconvene on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 from 8 a.m. until business is completed.

ADDRESSES:

The Committee meeting will be held at the Embassy Suites Portland Airport, The Firs I-II, 7900 NE 82nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97220; telephone: [phone].

Council address: Pacific Fishery Management Council, 7700 NE Ambassador Place, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97220-1384.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. John DeVore, Groundfish Fishery Management Coordinator; telephone: [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The purpose of the Committee meeting is to develop options for allocations and other management measures for the 2004 Pacific Coast groundfish fishery. In addition, the Committee will evaluate current catch levels of overfished groundfish species and may propose inseason adjustments. The Committee will discuss the types of provisions that may be necessary to prevent further overfishing, to reduce bycatch of overfished species in the various groundfish fisheries, and to reduce bycatch in nongroundfish fisheries. The Committee will also review new stock assessments and rebuilding analyses for groundfish species. No management actions will be decided by the Committee. The Committee's role will be development of recommendations for consideration by the Pacific Fishery Management Council at its June meeting in Foster City, CA.

Although nonemergency issues not contained in the meeting agenda may come before the Committee for discussion, those issues may not be the subject of formal Committee action during this meeting. Committee 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 Committee'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 Ms. Carolyn Porter at [phone] at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

Dated: May 21, 2003.

Richard W. Surdi,

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