On March 2, 2018, NOAA Fisheries published a Notice of Intent (83 FR 8969) with scoping meeting dates for upcoming rulemaking for pelagic longline bluefin tuna area-based and weak hook management. The notice announced a public process for determining the scope of issues to be addressed and for identifying the significant issues relating to the management of Atlantic HMS, with a focus on area-based management measures and weak hook management measures that were implemented to reduce dead discards of bluefin tuna in the pelagic longline fishery.
On March 5, 2018, NOAA Fisheries published a Notice of Intent (83 FR 9255) with scoping meeting dates for Amendment 11 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP. This notice announced consideration of potential new management measures for shortfin mako sharks to address overfishing and to implement measures adopted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT Recommendation 17-08) in response to the 2017 shortfin mako shark stock assessment.
Canceled
April 12, 2018
Manahawkin, NJ
Rescheduled
April 11, 2018 from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Little Egg Harbor Branch Public Library
290 Mathistown Road
Little Egg Harbor, NJ 08087
As a reminder, because the rulemakings overlap for some gear types, the public scoping meeting will address the issues from the scoping documents for both the for pelagic longline bluefin tuna area-based and weak hook management and Amendment 11 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS Fishery Management Plan. The shortfin mako shark management measure presentation will likely be given first unless polling of the audience indicates another approach is appropriate. After each presentation, public comment on that issue will be received. Meeting attendees interested in this issue are encouraged to show up at the beginning of the meeting to help determine the order of the presentations. The second presentation will not start any later than 6 pm.
Pelagic Longline Blue Tuna Rulemaking: Submit Comments by May 1, 2018
Written comments, identified by “NOAA-NMFS-2018-0035”, may be submitted electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal, or mail to the contact information included below. All comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted to Federal eRulemaking Portal without change. All Personal Identifying Information (for example, name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. NOAA Fisheries will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required fields, if you wish to remain anonymous). You may submit attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
Amendment 11: Submit Comments by May 7, 2018
Written comments, identified by “NOAA-NMFS-2018-0011”, may be submitted electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal, or mail to the contact information included below. All comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted to Federal eRulemaking Portal without change. All Personal Identifying Information (for example, name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. NOAA Fisheries will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required fields, if you wish to remain anonymous). You may submit attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
This notice is a courtesy to Atlantic HMS fishery participants to help keep you informed about the fisheries. For further information on these emergency measures, contact the HMS Management Division at (301) 427-8503 or visit the HMS website.
