Important Herring Committee Meetings 9/30-10/1

September 20, 2008

Important Meeting Notice

There will be two days worth of Herring Committee meetings at the end of the month in Portland, ME. There are important meetings as they will play a big role in setting the source for Herring Amendment 4. Please come out to the meetings and speak your mind so that we can get an amendment that is effective!

When:

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Time:

9:30 a.m. on Tuesday
9:00 a.m. on Wednesday

Where:

Eastland Park Hotel
157 High Street
Portland, Maine (ME) 04101
Phone: (207) 775-5411

Agenda:

• Continue discussion and development of management alternatives related to catch monitoring, which may include: monitoring and reporting requirements for herring vessels and processors, observer coverage and at-sea monitoring, shoreside monitoring and sampling, vessel monitoring system (VMS) requirements, and other measures suggested during the scoping process;
• Review preliminary analyses of river herring bycatch in the Atlantic herring fishery and comparison of portside and observer bycatch information from the herring fishery during 2005-2007;
• Review additional information related to observer coverage, which may include industry-funded observer programs, applications for electronic monitoring, observer programs in other regions, and observer cost comparisons;
• Review proposed management measures to address herring bycatch concerns in the Atlantic mackerel fishery and develop related recommendations;
• Develop Committee recommendations for Council consideration in October regarding the specific management measures to be considered further in Amendment 4 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP);
• Address other issues related to Amendment 4, which may include discussion of annual catch limits (ACLs), accountability measures (AMs), and quota allocation programs (individual and group);

• Develop Committee recommendations regarding cooperative research priorities for the 2010 research set-aside (RSA) program.