The Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council will be meeting from Monday, June 13 through Thursday, June 16 at the University of Delaware in Clayton Hall, 100 David Hollowell Drive, Newark, DE 19716 (302-831-2998).
One of the key items of interest to many offshore anglers will be a 3 p.m. discussion on Wednesday regarding 2017 blueline tilefish specifications and potential alternatives to what was discussed at the last meeting (see the June edition of The Fisherman Magazine’s New Jersey, Delaware Bay edition for more.)
Monday, June 13th
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Ecosystem and Ocean Planning Committee
• Fishing activities that impact habitat – draft policy document
• Review input from Advisory Panel
• Provide comments/revisions to draft document
• Other Committee updates
Tuesday, June 14th
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Mackerel, Squid, Butterfish Specifications, Meeting as a Committee of the Whole
• Review fishery performance and 2017 specifications
• Review butterfish cap operation
• Review butterfish/longfin squid mesh information
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. River Herring/Shad, Meeting as a Committee of the Whole
• Review cap operation and management progress
• Review “Stock in the Fishery” white paper outline
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Squid Capacity Amendment
• Review Action Plan
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Climate Change and Mid-Atlantic Fisheries
Jon Hare – NOAA Fisheries
Malin Pinsky – Rutgers University
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. BOEM’s Renewable Energy Activities
Brian Hooker – BOEM
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Mid Atlantic Ocean Data Portal Presentation
Jay Odell – Nature Conservancy
4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. eVTR Framework – Meeting 1
Andy Loftus – Loftus Consulting
Wednesday, June 15th
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Industry-Funded Monitoring Amendment
• Review draft EA and select preferred mackerel alternatives for public hearings
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Law Enforcement Report
• NOAA Office of Law Enforcement
• U.S. Coast Guard
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Surfclam and Ocean Quahog Specifications
• Develop recommendations for 2017 – 2018 specifications
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Blueline Tilefish 2017 Recreational Specifications/Possible Reconsideration
• Consider alternatives to proposed blueline tilefish recreational specifications
Thursday, June 16th
9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Business Session
• Organization Reports
• NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional Office
• NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center
• NOAA Office of General Counsel
• Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
• Liaison Reports
o New England Council
o South Atlantic Council
• Regional Planning Body
• Executive Director’s Report, Chris Moore
• Science Report, Rich Seagraves
• Committee Reports
• Ecosystem and Ocean Planning Committee
• SSC
• Continuing and New Business
The above agenda items may not be taken in the order in which they appear and are subject to change as necessary. Other items may be added, but the Council cannot take action on such items even if the item requires emergency action without additional public notice. Non-emergency matters not contained in this agenda may come before the Council and / or its Committees for discussion, but these matters may not be the subject of formal Council or Committee action during this meeting. Council and Committee actions will be restricted to the issues specifically listed in this agenda.
Any issues requiring emergency action under section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act that arise after publication of the Federal Register Notice for this meeting may be acted upon provided that the public has been notified of the Council’s intent to take final action to address the emergency. The meeting may be closed to discuss employment or other internal administrative matters.
For online access to the meeting, enter as a guest at: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/june2016/
For more information including all briefing materials for the meeting, go to www.mafmc.org.
