New England Fishery Management Council Meeting
Hilton Hotel, 20 Coogan Blvd., Mystic, CT 06355
Phone: 860-572-0731; Fax: 860-572-0328
April 23-25, 2013

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

9:00 a.m. Closed Session to Discuss Scientific and Statistical Committee Membership and Nominees Qualifications, no public participation (Council Chairman Rip Cunningham)

10:00 Introductions and Announcements (Chairman Rip Cunningham)

10:10   Reports on Recent Activities

Council Chairman, Executive Director (report to include further details about the ABC Control Rule Working Group), 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, NOAA Enforcement/VMS, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Northeast Regional Ocean Council

11:45  Open Period for Public Comments (Rip Cunningham)

Opportunity for the public to provide brief comments on items relevant to Council business but not listed on the agenda

12:15 p.m.      Lunch Break

1:15     Summary of the Recent Stock Assessment Workshop/Stock Assessment Review Committee (SAW/SARC 56) Meetings (Dr. James Weinberg, Northeast Fisheries Science Center)

Overview of the 2013 surf clam and white hake assessments reviewed at SAW/SARC 56, with an emphasis on white hake

2:00   Transboundary Management Guidance Committee Report (Rip Cunningham)

Briefing on the February intersessional meeting held to discuss quota trading, assessment timing, alternative management strategies and the U.S./Canada Resource Sharing Understanding

2:30   Groundfish Committee Report (Terry Stockwell)

Update on the development of Amendment 18 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan (FMP); a Northeast Fisheries Science Center Social Sciences Branch overview of its fishing year 2011 Groundfish Report; and a discussion about Eastern Georges Bank cod catch reporting

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

8:30 a.m. Habitat Committee Report (David Preble)

Brief update on recent recommendations concerning habitat management areas, dedicated habitat research areas, and the inclusion of gear modification measures in the Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2

9:15    Groundfish Committee Report - continued from the previous day

• Discuss recent correspondence requesting a review of the impacts of climate change on status determination criteria and catch advice and consider any appropriate follow-up action
• Consider Groundfish Committee recommendations for new alternatives in Omnibus Habitat Amendment 2, intended to improve conservation of juvenile groundfish habitat and concentrations of large spawning groundfish; the area alternatives could replace some or all of the status quo year-round groundfish closed areas and rolling closures; after the April Council meeting, the groundfish management alternatives will be consolidated and possibly combined with the existing habitat and dedicated habitat research areas that have been proposed by the Habitat Committee

12:00 p.m.      Lunch Break

1:00    Groundfish Committee Report (continued until adjournment at the end of the day)

Thursday, April 25, 2013

8:30 a.m.  Monkfish Committee Report (Tom Dempsey)

Briefing on the development of Amendment 6 to the Monkfish FMP, to include an overview of the April 2013 update assessment and the time-line for the 2014-2016 specifications process; the Council may discuss the ability of NOAA Fisheries to provide data that adequately supports a monkfish sector or ITQ program

9:30   Scallop Committee Report (Mary Beth Tooley) 

Initiate Framework Adjustment 25 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP (specifications for fishing year 2014 and default measures for 2015); the action will also include accountability measures for Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic windowpane flounder, among other issues; approve priorities for inclusion in the upcoming scallop research set-aside program announcement that will detail future funding opportunities for sea scallop-related research

11:00   Enforcement Committee Report (Frank Blount)

Review and possibly approve committee recommendations concerning sector managers and joint liability of sectors; gear marking requirements across all FMPs; the use of small, seasonal closed areas; and allowing vessels to carry nets with different mesh sizes for different fisheries in the regulated mesh areas

11:30   NOAA Fisheries Standard Bycatch Methodology Report (Douglas Potts, NERO)

 

12:15 p.m.      Lunch Break

1:15    Summary of the NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator’s Listening Session Meetings, August 2012 – February 2013 (John Bullard, NOAA/NMFS Regional Administrator)

2:15    Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Reauthorization (Rip Cunningham

Initial discussion to outline Council reauthorization priorities for further development and use as guidance at the upcoming Council Coordination Committee meeting in May 2013

3:15   Other Business