[Federal Register: April 19, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 75)]
[Notices]
[Page 19701-19702]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19ap07-25]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 110306B]
Small Coastal Shark 2007 Stock Assessment Workshop
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the date, time, and location for the small
coastal shark (SCS) Assessment Workshop, the second of three stock
evaluation workshops for the SCS stock assessment to be conducted in
2007. Any potential changes to existing management measures for SCS
will be based, in large part, on the results of this 2007 stock
assessment. The workshop is open to the public.
DATES: The Assessment Workshop will start at 1 p.m. on Monday, May 7,
2007, and will conclude at 1 p.m. on Friday, May 11, 2007.
ADDRESSES: The Assessment Workshop will be held at the Bay Point
Marriott Resort, 4200 Marriott Drive, Panama City Beach, FL 32408.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie Neer at (850) 234-6541; or Karyl
Brewster-Geisz at (301) 713-2347, fax (301) 713-1917.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Atlantic shark fisheries are managed
under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act. The Consolidated Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery
Management Plan (FMP) (October 2, 2006; 71 FR 58058) is implemented by
regulations at 50 CFR part 635.
Stock assessments are periodically conducted to determine stock
status relative to current management criteria. Collection of the best
available scientific data and conducting stock assessments are critical
to determine appropriate management measures for managing stocks. Based
on the last SCS stock assessment in 2002, NMFS determined that the SCS
complex and three of the species in that complex are not overfished
with no overfishing occurring. The only exception was for finetooth
sharks, where fishing mortality in some years was above the mortality
level associated with producing maximum sustainable yield (MSY). Any
potential changes to existing management measures for SCS will be
based, in large part, on the results of this 2007 stock assessment.
This assessment will be conducted in a manner similar to the
Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) process. SEDAR is a
cooperative process initiated in 2002 to improve the quality and
reliability of fishery stock assessments in the South Atlantic, Gulf of
Mexico, and U.S. Caribbean. SEDAR emphasizes constituent and
stakeholder participation in assessment development, transparency in
the assessment process, and a rigorous and independent scientific
review of completed stock assessments. SEDAR is organized around three
workshops. The first is a Data Workshop where datasets are documented,
analyzed, and reviewed, and data for conducting assessment analyses are
compiled. The second workshop is an Assessment Workshop where
quantitative population analyses are developed and refined and
population parameters are estimated. The third and final workshop is a
Review Workshop where a panel of independent experts review the data
and assessment and recommend the most appropriate values of critical
population and management quantities. All workshops are open to the
public. More information on the SEDAR process can be found at http://www.sefsc.noaa.gov/sedar/.
The 2005/2006 large coastal shark stock
assessment also followed this process.
NMFS announces the Assessment Workshop, the second of three
workshops for the SCS 2007 stock assessment. The Assessment Workshop
will be held from May 7 - 11, 2007, at the Bay Point Marriott Resort in
Panama City Beach, FL (see DATES and ADDRESSES). Prospective
participants and observers will be contacted with the data workshop
details. This workshop is
[[Page 19702]]
open to the public. Persons interested in participating or observing
the SCS Assessment Workshop should contact Julie Neer (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT). Tentative dates for the Review Workshop are
August 6 - 10, 2007. The times and locations of these workshops will be
announced in a future Federal Register notice.
Special Accommodations
These meetings are physically accessible to people with
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other
auxiliary aids should be directed to Julie Neer at (850) 234-6541, at
least 7 business days prior to the Assessment Workshop.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.
Dated: April 13, 2007.
Alan D. Risenhoover
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. E7-7469 Filed 4-18-07; 8:45 am]
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