[Federal Register: November 28, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 229)]
[Notices]
[Page 66821-66822]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28no03-51]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 112403B]
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
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SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will
convene a joint public meeting via conference call of the Standing and
Special Reef Fish Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC).
DATES: The meeting will be via conference call on December 12, 2003
beginning at 10 a.m. EDT.
ADDRESSES: Listening stations will be available at the following
locations:
NMFS Southeast Regional Office, 9721 Executive Center Drive, North,
St. Petersburg, FL 33702; Contact: Peter Hood at 727-570-5305;
NMFS Panama City Laboratory, 3500 Delwood Beach Road, Panama City,
FL; Contact: Gary Fitzhugh at 850-234-6541, extension 214.
Council address: Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, 3018
U.S. Highway 301 North, Suite 1000, Tampa, FL 33619.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Atran, Population Dynamics
Statistician, Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; telephone:
813-228-2815.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SSC will be convened to evaluate the
socioeconomic information contained in Reef Fish Secretarial Amendment
1, red grouper rebuilding plan and deep-water grouper quotas. The SSC
will be asked specifically to provide the Council with guidance on the
economic impacts of trip limits vs. closed seasons.
Red grouper were declared overfished by NMFS in October 2000.
Following additional analyses and a subsequent stock assessment in
2002, the Council, in May 2003, submitted Reef Fish Secretarial
Amendment 1 to NMFS. This amendment contained a rebuilding plan that
called for approximately a 10 percent reduction in harvest, to be
achieved through a reduction in the commercial shallow-water grouper
quota, replacing the February 15 to March 15 commercial closed season
on gag, red and black grouper with a shallow-water grouper trip limit,
and a recreational bag limit of no more than
[[Page 66822]]
two red grouper (out of the 5 aggregate grouper bag limit). The
rebuilding plan also proposed a reduction in the deep-water grouper
quota and setting of a tilefish quota in order to discourage effort
shifting to those stocks. Because more than one year had passed since
the designation of red grouper as overfished, the amendment was
submitted as a Secretarial Amendment rather than as a Council Plan
Amendment.
NMFS reviewed the plan as submitted by the Gulf Council and made
revisions to it. The revisions included retaining the February 15-March
15 commercial closed season, implementing a hard quota on red grouper
so that the commercial shallow-water grouper fishery will close when
either the red grouper or shallow-water grouper quota is met, whichever
comes first, and not implementing a trip limit.
A draft of the revised Secretarial Amendment was reviewed by the
SSC at a meeting held October 28-29, 2003. However, the NMFS revisions
were not provided to the SSC until just prior to the meeting, and the
SSC was unable to review the socioeconomic information contained in the
amendment's regulatory impact review section. At the November 9-12,
2003 Council meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi, Council members debated
whether it would be less economically disruptive to the commercial
shallow-water grouper fishery to have a potential quota closure or a
shallow-water grouper trip limit set low enough to prevent a quota
closure. Since the Council will have another opportunity to review and
comment on Secretarial Amendment 1 at its January 12-16, 2004 meeting
in Austin, TX, the Council decided to ask the SSC to reconvene by
conference call to evaluate the socioeconomic information in the
amendment, with particular emphasis on the economic impacts of trip
limits vs. closed seasons.
To obtain a copy of Reef Fish Secretarial Amendment 1, contact Phil
Steele, NMFS Southeast Regional Office, 9721 Executive Center Drive,
North, St. Petersburg, FL 33702; telephone: 727-570-5305, fax: 727-570-5583, e-mail: Phil.Steele@noaa.gov
A copy of the agenda can be obtained by contacting the Council (see
addresses above).
Although non-emergency issues not contained in the agenda may come
before the AP/SSC for discussion, in accordance with the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA), those issues
may not be the subject of formal action during this meeting. Action
will be restricted to those issues specifically identified in this
notice and any issues arising after publication of this notice that
require emergency action under section 305(c) of the MSFCMA, provided
the public has been notified of the Council's intent to take final
action to address the emergency.
The listening stations are physically accessible to people with
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other
auxiliary aids should be directed to Anne Alford at the Council (see
ADDRESSES) by December 5, 2003.
Dated: November 24, 2003.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-29737 Filed 11-26-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S