Tuesday, April 26, 2011
9:00 a.m.   Introductions and Announcements (Council Chairman John Pappalardo)

9:05        Reports on Recent Activities
                Council Chairman, Executive Director, NMFS Regional Administrator, NOAA General Counsel,                 Northeast Fisheries Science Center and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council liaisons, and                 representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard, NMFS Enforcement/VMS, and the Atlantic States                 MarineFisheries Commission
                           
10:15      Review of Experimental Fishery Permit (EFP) Applications(Council Deputy Director Chris Kellogg)
                Review and approve any comments on pending experimental fishery permits as appropriate

10:30       Briefing on a Proposed NEFMC-Sponsored Catch Shares Workshop (George Lapointe)                  Presentation and discussion including approval of workshop goals and objectives; this issue was
                 identified as a 2011 priority by the Council

11:00      Address to the Council (Mr. Eric Schwaab, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries)
                 Summary of the agency’s management review of fisheries in the Northeast, with a focus on the                  relationships among the NEFMC, the Northeast Regional Office and the Northeast Fisheries                  Science Center, and factors that affect the effectiveness of the three entities to carry out their                  responsibilities under fisheries law

12:15 p.m. Lunch Break

1:15          Open Period for Public Comments (John Pappalardo)
                  Opportunity for the public to provide brief comments on items relevant to Council business but not
                  listed on the meeting agenda
               
1:30          Department of Interior Report (Ted Boling, Counselor to the Assistant Secretary, Land and                  Minerals Management) Summary of the Department of the Interior’s “Smart from the Start”                  offshore wind initiative, including the ME, MA, and RI Task Force efforts to date

3:00         Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) Report (Dr. Pat Sullivan)
                The following will be provided by the SSC:
                Committee review of the Massachusetts Fisheries Institute’s report Economic and Scientific                 Conditions in the Massachusetts Multispecies Groundfishery;
                Recommendations for FSV Bigelow survey calibration method(s) developed by the Skate Plan                 Development Team for determining skate ABCs and stock status; the method will be applied to                 the 2009-2011 Bigelow survey data to set the 2012-2013 skate specifications;
                Guidance to the Whiting Plan Development Team on options and methods for setting ABCs for                 silver, red and offshore hake; Report on the recent peer review of the swept area seabed                 impact (SASI) model

Wednesday, April 27, 2011
8:30 a.m. Research Steering Committee Report (David Goethel)
               Review of two most recent committee meetings, including the results of the committee’s                discussions about the “mini-eliminator trawl” final cooperative research report, among other                reports reviewed by the RSC

9:30       Monkfish Committee Report (Terry Stockwell)
               Discuss and provide guidance about further development of Amendment 6 to the Monkfish                Fishery Management Plan (FMP) based on scoping comments, advisory panel and committee                reports and recommendations; this action may include some type of catch shares program; the                committee also will report the use of trip limit exemptions in the monkfish cooperative research                program

11:00     Standard Bycatch Reporting Methodology (SBRM) Summary and Discussion (Dr. Paul Rago,                Northeast Fisheries Science Center) Review of the SBRM three-year summary report and                recommendations for observer sea-day allocations for 2011-2012

12:00 p.m Lunch Break

1:15     Herring Amendment 5 Update (Doug Grout)
             Update on the development of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Amendment 5 to              the Atlantic Herring FMP; the discussion will be limited to an option in the document that requires              federally-permitted herring dealers to accurately weigh all fish

2:30       SSC/NEFSC Report on EBFM (Dr. Michael Fogarty, NEFSC)
               Receipt of the third of three presentations on the SSC’s white paper on ecosystem-based                fisheries management, followed by a questions and answer period   

4:00       Habitat Committee Report (David Preble)
               Update on the most recent committee meeting, possibly including an overview of the NMFS                presentation on deep sea corals

4:30        Overview of the Impacts of the SASI Model Peer Review Conclusions on Habitat Plan  Development Team Activities(Chad Demarest, NMFS and the NEFMC Habitat Plan Development Team) Summary of the conclusions in             the SASI peer review report and their implications for the development of management alternatives in             Habitat Omnibus 2
               
Thursday, April 28, 2011
8:30 a.m. Management Area Coordination (Council Staff)
                 Overview of the relationships between current groundfish mortality closures, current and EFH                  closures, and access to fishery resources; discussion of a preliminary plan to evaluate                  the effectiveness of these areas and consider modifications

11:00     Groundfish Committee Report (Rip Cunningham)
              Review and final action on Framework Adjustment 46 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish)               FMP; the action considers modifications to the haddock catch cap that applies to the herring               fishery; the groundfish discussion also may include review and approval of Amendment 17 to               the Northeast Multispecies FMP, which creates a mechanism for the operation of NOAA-funded               state operated permit banks; a report on additional activities will include planning for a workshop               to review the past year of sector operations and a recommendation to delay further work on               an amendment to consider accumulation limits or caps in the groundfish fishery 

12:00 p.m.  Lunch Break

1:00        Groundfish Agenda Items – continued

4:00        Other Business

               Preliminary Catch and Landings Information for NEFMC FMPs

Times listed next to the agenda items are estimates and are subject to change.
This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities.
Council member financial disclosure forms are available for examination at the meeting.

Although other non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda may come before this Council for discussion, those issues may not be the subjects 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.

Documents pertaining to Council actions are available for review prior to a final vote by the Council. Please call (978) 465-0492 for copies. If you are submitting comments for Council consideration at this meeting they must be received at the Council office by 12 p.m. EST on Thursday, April 21, 2011.
Notice Issue: April 5, 2011.

Check back often for periodic updates of discussion documents