The public is invited to attend the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's April 2017 meeting to be held April 11-13, 2017 in Avalon, New Jersey. The meeting will be held at the Icona Golden Inn, 7849 Dune Dr., Avalon, NJ, Telephone 609-368-5155.
Meeting Materials: Briefing documents will be posted at http://ww.mafmc.org/briefing/april-2017 as they become available.
Public Comments: Written comments must be received by Wednesday, March 29, 2017 to be included in the Council meeting briefing book. Comments received after this deadline but before close of business on Thursday, April 6, 2017 will be posted as “supplemental materials” on the Council meeting web page. After that date, all comments must be submitted using an online comment form. Comments submitted via the online form will be automatically posted to the website and available for Council consideration. A link to this form will be available at http://www.mafmc.org/public-comment.
Webinar: For online access to the meeting, enter as a guest at: http://mafmc.adobeconnect.com/april2017.
Agenda
Tuesday, April 11th
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. River Herring & Shad Committee
- Review draft metrics for river herring and shad conservation
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Council Convenes
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. State of the Ecosystem and EAFM
- Report on the state of the Mid-Atlantic portion of the Northeast Large Marine Ecosystem, Dr. Sarah Gaichas - Ecosystem Dynamic and Assessment Branch, NEFSC
- Continue discussion and development of EAFM Risk Matrix
- Discuss next steps in EAFM development/implementation
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Law Enforcement Reports
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Chub Mackerel Amendment
- Review amendment development and scoping plans
Wednesday, April 12th
9:00 a.m. Council Convenes
9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Ricks E Savage Award
9:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Golden Tilefish Specifications
- Review SSC, Monitoring Committee, Advisory Panel, and staff recommendations regarding 2018 – 2020 specifications
- Adopt recommendations for 2018 - 2020
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Blueline Tilefish Specifications
- Review SSC, Monitoring Committee, Advisory Panel, and staff recommendations regarding 2018 – 2019 specifications
- Adopt recommendations for 2018 - 2019
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. A Review of Potential Approaches for Managing Marine Fisheries in a Changing Climate – Presentation, NMFS SF representative
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Hudson Canyon Sanctuary Proposal
- Presentation, discussion and comment
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Update on Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology, Jon Hare - NEFSC
- Challenges faced in 2016-2017 and plans for 2017-2018
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Industry Funded Monitoring (IFM) Amendment
- Consider previous action on IFM Amendment
- Possible adoption of IFM Amendment
Thursday, April 13th
9:00 a.m. Council Convenes
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Business Session
- Committee Reports
- River Herring & Shad
- Ecosystem & Ocean Planning
- Highly Migratory Species/Law Enforcement
- Adopt recommendations for HMS permit/reporting issues
- Executive Director’s Report, Chris Moore
- Science Report, Rich Seagraves
- Organization Reports
- NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional Office
- NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center
- NOAA Office of General Counsel
- Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
- Liaison Reports
- New England Council
- South Atlantic Council
- Regional Planning Body
- Continuing and New Business