[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 88 (Monday, May 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 37179]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09765]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XD924]


Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; public meeting.

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SUMMARY: A sub-panel of the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery 
Management Councils' Scientific and Statistical Committees (SSC) and 
the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Assessment 
Science Committee will hold a meeting.

DATES: The meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, starting at 
9:30 a.m. and continue through 12:30 p.m. on Friday, May 24, 2024. See 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for agenda details.

ADDRESSES: This will be an in-person meeting with a virtual option. 
Participants and members of the public will have the option to 
participate in person at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center 
Narragansett Lab, 28 Tarzwell Drive, Narragansett, RI, or virtually via 
webinar. Webinar connection instructions and briefing materials will be 
available at: www.mafmc.org.
    Council address: Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, 800 N 
State Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901; telephone: (302) 674-2331; 
website: www.mafmc.org.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher M. Moore, Ph.D., Executive 
Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, telephone: (302) 
526-5255.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The joint sub-panel, consisting of Mid-
Atlantic and New England SSC members and ASMFC Assessment Science 
Committee members, will meet to review and provide input on the 
Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) draft survey mitigation 
plans relative to offshore wind development. NOAA Fisheries and the 
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) developed the Federal Survey 
Mitigation Strategy (Strategy) which describes the impacts of wind 
energy development on fisheries-independent surveys and outlines the 
goals, objectives, and actions to guide the development and 
implementation of a program to mitigate the impacts on fisheries-
independent surveys. To address the actions outlined in the Strategy, 
the NEFSC developed the Northeast Survey Mitigation Program and survey-
specific mitigation plans to ensure NEFSC can continue to provide equal 
or higher quality science for each of the long-term, recurring surveys 
conducted by NEFSC that will be impacted by offshore wind development. 
The survey mitigation plans include descriptions of the impacted 
survey, specific stakeholders for the data collected, impacts of 
offshore wind development, and planned mitigation measures to address 
the impacts of wind energy development on scientific surveys.
    To ensure the survey mitigation plans represent the best science 
available, the joint sub-panel will peer review the draft survey 
mitigation plans prepared by the NEFSC for eight existing fishery-
independent surveys and three new supplemental surveys. The sub-panel 
will evaluate the detail and scientific soundness of the mitigation 
approaches described in each plan, following a set of Terms of 
Reference. The NEFSC will consider the feedback received from the sub-
panel and will address and/or incorporate into revised survey 
mitigation plans as appropriate.
    A detailed agenda and background documents will be made available 
on the Council's website (www.mafmc.org) prior to the meeting.

Special Accommodations

    These meetings are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aid should be directed to Shelley Spedden, (302) 526-5251, at 
least 5 days prior to the meeting date.
    Authority: 16 U.S.C 1801 et seq.

    Dated: May 1, 2024.
Rey Israel Marquez,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-09765 Filed 5-3-24; 8:45 am]
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