Comment from Terry Stockwell

November 6, 2009 Patricia A. Kurkul Regional Administrator NMFS, Northeast Regional Office 55 Great Republic Drive Gloucester, MA. 01930-2276 Dear Pat, I am writing to provide the Maine Department of Marine Resource’s (DMR) comments on NMFS’s proposed rule to allow the carryover of all unused monkfish Research Set Aside (RSA) days at sea (DAS). DMR is in favor of option #3 as outlined in the Federal Register Notice: Allow for projects to rollover all unused RSA DAS into the following fishing year for the following reasons: RSA DAS are a small percentage of the total DAS allocated to the fishery; their associated fishing mortality has already been accounted for, and; because monkfish is a data-poor stock, the benefits of the research projects that depend on these DAS outweigh the minimal biological impacts associated with their rollover. I appreciate the opportunity to comment and would be pleased to follow up with you as needed. Please contact me if you have any questions. Sincerely, Terry Stockwell Director of External Affairs