Council Meeting Agenda
September 26-29, 2011
CoCo Key Resort and Hotel
50 Ferncroft Road, Danvers, MA 01923
Tel: (978) 777-2500 | Fax: (978) 750-7959
Monday, September 26, 2011
9:00 a.m. Introductions and Announcements (Acting Council Chairman Rip Cunningham)
9:05 Swearing in of Reappointed Council Members and Election of 2011-2012 Council Officers
(Pat Kurkul, NOAA/NMFS Regional Administrator)
10:30 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,
NOAA Enforcement/VMS, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
12:00 Experimental Fishery Permit Applications (Chris Kellogg, NEFMC staff)
Review and approve any comments on pending experimental fishery permits received since the last meeting
12:10 Open Period for Public Comments
Opportunity for the public to provide comments on items relevant to Council business but not listed on the meeting agenda
12:30 p.m. Lunch Break
1:30 NOAA and Council Response to the Touchstone Fisheries Management Process Report
Pat Kurkul (NOAA/NMFS Regional Administrator) and Frank Almeida (NEFSC Acting Science and Research Director)
on Regional Office and Science Center initiatives; Patricia Fiorelli (Council staff) on improving communications with
stakeholders; and Rip Cunningham about the development of a shared vision and strategy to guide the fishery
management process
4:00 Initial Discussion of 2012 Council Management Priorities (Executive Director Paul J. Howard)
Preliminary review of management priorities for next year
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
8:00 a.m. Monkfish Committee Report (Council member Terry Stockwell)
Review and consider approval of goals and objectives for Amendment 6; the action was initiated to consider catch shares
management for this fishery
9:30 Skate Committee Report (Council member David Goethel)
Approve final 2012-2013 specifications for the skate complex; possible changes address annual catch limits, total allowable
landings for the wing and bait fisheries, skate wing and bait possession limits, and a monitoring adjustment to count
transfers-at-sea reported on Vessel Trip Reports against the skate bait total allowable landings
10:30 Summary of the June 2011 Stock Assessment Workshop/Stock Assessment Review Committee Meetings
(SAW/SARC 52) (NEFSC liaison Dr. Jim Weinberg)
Review of the benchmark assessments for three winter flounder stocks
11:15 Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) (Maureen Bornholdt, BOEMRE)
General update and a review of two BOEMRE proposals: 1) Call for Information and Nominations for Commercial Leasing
for Wind Power on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Offshore Rhode Island and Massachusetts; and 2) A Notice of Intent
to Prepare an Environmental Assessment for Commercial Wind Lease Issuance and Site Characterization Activities on the
Atlantic OCS Offshore Rhode Island and Massachusetts
12:15 p.m. Lunch Break
1:15 Scientific and Statistical Committee Report (Dr. Chris Legault, SSC Chairman)
Review the SSC’s recommendations concerning ABC’s for a number of groundfish stocks in the Northeast multispecies
complex and the whiting and hake stocks that are regulated under the Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP)
2:15 Scallop Committee Report (Council member Dr. David Pierce)
Approve final action on Framework Adjustment 23 to the Scallop FMP; the alternatives proposed relate to: 1) A requirement
for a turtle deflector dredge for scallop dredge vessels; 2) A revision to the yellowtail flounder accountability measures
proposed in Amendment 15; 3) A change how catch in state waters is accounted for in the limited access general category
management program for the Northern Gulf of Maine area; and 4) When a scallop vessel declares into the scallop fishery to
improve scallop fleet operations
Times listed next to the agenda items are estimates and are subject to change. The meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities.
Council member financial disclosure forms are available for examination at the meeting.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
8:00 a.m. Groundfish Oversight Committee Report (Rip Cunningham)
Issues to be discussed include: 1) Approval of a scoping document for an amendment to consider accumulation limits and
fleet diversity; 2) Update on the upcoming sector workshop scheduled for October; 3) Update on Framework Adjustment 47
to the Northeast Multispecies FMP, including recommendations that address accountability measures for ocean pout,
windowpane flounder, Atlantic halibut, and Atlantic wolffish, and alternative Georges Bank yellowtail flounder rebuilding
strategies and ABCs for fishing year 2012 -2014; 4) A report on the 2011 Transboundary Resources Assessment
Committee‘s review of the status of Eastern Georges Bank cod and haddock, and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder; and 5)
Consider and possibly approve the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee’s recommendations for fishing year
2012 quotas for Eastern Georges Bank cod and haddock, and Georges Bank yellowtail flounder
12:00 p.m. Lunch Break
1:00 Overview of the report At-sea and Dockside Monitoring Programs in the Northeast
(Marcus Hartley, Northern Economics)
1:45 Update to the NEFSC Report Performance of the Northeast Groundfish Fishery Interim Report for Fishing Year 2010
(May 2010 – January 2011) (Drew Kitts, NEFSC)
2:45 Whiting Committee Report (David Goethel)
Approve management alternatives for inclusion in a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Multispecies FMP
Amendment 19 (to address the small mesh fishery which includes stocks of red hake, silver hake, offshore hake);
alternatives may include annual catch limits (ex. allocations, buffers for management uncertainty, landings limits), as well as
accountability measures and possibly other mechanisms to regulate the fishery
Thursday, September 29, 2011
8:00 a.m. Herring Amendment 5 Draft EIS Review/Approval (Council member Doug Grout)
1) Review the Draft Terms of Reference for the upcoming benchmark stock assessment for herring scheduled for June
2012 and forward any recommendations to the Northeast Regional Coordinating Committee;
2) Review and approve a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Amendment 5 to the Atlantic Herring FMP for the
purpose of further review and comment at public hearings; during the discussion the Council intends to:
address any outstanding/unresolved issues regarding the management alternatives under consideration; review Herring
Advisory Panel comments regarding Amendment 5; and review/discuss Amendment 5 impact analyses; possibly
identify preferred alternatives for public hearings; Amendment 5 alternatives currently address adjustments to the
fishery management program and reporting requirements for vessels and dealers, measures to address trip notification
requirements, carrier vessels, and transfers of herring at-sea; also a catch monitoring program that could maximize
sampling and address net slippage, alternatives to allocate observer coverage on limited access herring vessels; river
herring bycatch and criteria for midwater trawl vessel access to year-round groundfish closed areas
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 Herring agenda items – continued
4:30 Other Business
Although other non-emergency issues not contained in this 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 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,
ext. 100 for copies or check the Council website at www.nefmc.org. Comments submitted to the council for consideration at this meeting, must be
received by 12 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Notice Issue, Friday, Sept 1, 2011.