April 19, 2023 — The following was released by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Spring Meeting will be May 1-3, 2023 at The Westin Crystal City, located at 1800 Richmond Highway, Arlington, VA. The room block is now closed; if you need assistance reserving a room, please contact Cindy Robertson atcrobertson@asmfc.org. This will be a hybrid meeting to allow for remote participation by Commissioners and interested stakeholders in all meetings.
The final agenda and meeting materials for the Spring Meeting are now available athttp://www.asmfc.org/home/
Webinar Information
Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning Monday, May 1 at 12:45 p.m. and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 3:00 p.m.) on Wednesday, May 3. To register for the webinar, please go to:https://attendee.
If you are joining the webinar but will not be using voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), you can may also call in at 914.614.3221, access code 140-893-572. A PIN will be provided to you after joining the webinar; see webinar instructions for details on how to receive the PIN
Meeting Process
In terms of meeting process, Board chairs will ask both in-person and virtual Board members if they wish to speak. In-person members can simply raise their hands at the meeting without logging on to the webinar, while virtual members will raise their hands on the webinar. The Chair will work with staff to compile the list of speakers, balancing the flow of questions/comments between in-person and virtual attendees. The same process will be used for public comment. Depending upon the number of commenters, the Board Chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.
Each day, the webinar will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of the first meeting so that people can troubleshoot any connectivity or audio issues they may encounter. If you are having issues with the webinar (connecting to or audio-related issues), please contact Chris Jacobs at 703.842.0790.
Public Comment Guidelines
To provide a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings:
For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunity to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.
For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic. Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comment will not provide additional insight to the board.
For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.
In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action).
1. Comments received three weeks prior to the start of a meeting week (April 10) have been included in the briefing materials.
2. Comments received by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, April 25 will be included in supplemental materials.
3. Comments received by 10:00 AM on Friday, April 28 will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting.
The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution. As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail and email.
We look forward to seeing you at the Spring Meeting.