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 meeting of its Scallop Advisory Panel via webinar 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 Wednesday, November 29, 2023, at 8:30 a.m.

ADDRESSES:

Webinar URL information: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8294085035285445472.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cate O'Keefe, Ph.D., Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council; telephone: (978) 465–0492.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Agenda

The Advisory Panel will review Framework 38 (FW38): review specifications alternatives in FW38 and select final preferred alternatives. FW38 will set specifications including the overfishing limit (OFL), acceptable biological catch/annual catch limit (ABC/ACLs), days-at-sea (DAS), access area allocations for Limited Access (LA) vessels, quota and access area trip allocation to the Limited Access General Category (LAGC) Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) component, Total Allowable Landings (TAL) for Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) management area, a target-TAC for LAGC incidental catch and set-asides for the observer and research programs for fishing year 2024, and default specifications for fishing year 2025. This action also considers increasing VMS ping rates for scallop vessels to improve enforcement in the scallop fishery. Other business will be discussed, if necessary.

Although non-emergency issues not contained on the 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. The public also should be aware that the meeting will be recorded. Consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1852, a copy of the recording is available upon request.

Special Accommodations

This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Cate O'Keefe, Ph.D., Executive Director, at (978) 465–0492, at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

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