New England 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 New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Groundfish 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 Tuesday, June 14, 2022 at 9:30 a.m.

ADDRESSES:

This meeting will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 100 Boardman Street, Boston, MA 02128; telephone: (617) 567-6789.

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: (978) 465-0492.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Agenda

The Groundfish Committee will discuss development of draft specifications and measures: Status determination criteria, rebuilding plans for Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic (SNE/MA) winter flounder, FY2023-FY2024 US/CA total allowable catches, FY2023-FY2024 specifications: Georges Bank (GB) yellowtail flounder and GB cod (including a catch target for the recreational fishery), FY2023-FY2025 specifications for 14 stocks, additional measures to promote stock rebuilding for GOM cod and SNE/MA winter flounder, and revised acceptable biological catch control rules, in consultation with the Scientific and Statistical Committee. They will discuss Amendment 23 progress on development of metrics. The Committee will discuss a Council priority to develop a transition plan for Atlantic cod management from the current two management unit to up to five management units (multi-year priority). As a part of the transition plan, there will be a white paper on potential approaches to allocate “Georges Bank cod” to the recreational fishery delivered in 2022 to inform the 2023 priorities discussion. They will also review the current list of Council research priorities and suggest changes or additions to the list as well recommendations from the Recreational Advisory Panel, Groundfish Advisory Panel, and Groundfish Plan Development Team. Other business will be discussed if necessary.

Although non-emergency issues not contained on this agenda may come before this Council for discussion, those issues may not be the subject of formal action during this meeting. Council 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. This meeting will be recorded. Consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1852, a copy of the recording is available upon request. Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, at (978) 465-0492, at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

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