02-11170. New England Fishery Management Council; Public Meetings

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 (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scientific and Statistical Committee in May, 2002. Recommendations from the committee will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.

DATES:

The meeting will held on Monday, May 20, 2002, at 10 a.m.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn, 31 Hampshire Street, Mansfield, MA 02048; telephone: [phone].

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The committee will review and provide the Council guidance on the Final Report of the Working Group on the Re-evaluation of Biological Reference Points for New England Groundfish. They will also provide guidance to the Monkfish Plan Development Team and the Council on monkfish management reference points. Also on the agenda will be to provide guidance to the Scallop Plan Development Team and the Council on scallop management reference points if it has not been done prior to the May 14-15, 2002 Scallop Committee meeting.

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 (see ADDRESSES) at least 5 days prior to the meeting dates.

Dated: May 1, 2002.

Richard W. Surdi,

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