Washington, DC – The Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section will hold a meeting and public hearing via conference call on Friday, April 30, 2010 at 9:30 AM. The purpose of the call is to review preliminary northern shrimp landings data and determine whether action is needed to prevent significant landings overages that might occur if the fishery continues through May 29.
The Northern Shrimp Section set the 2009/2010 fishing season at 180 days with the intention that landings would not exceed 4900 metric tons. Preliminary landings data indicate that the harvest is now 4953 metric tons. If the Section decides to take emergency action, the Commission process requires four public hearings to be held within 30 days of the action. The April 30th call would serve as the first public hearing.
Interested stakeholders may listen-in on the conference call at 1-888-481-5653 (conference ID#: 8742). Procedures for soliciting public comment during the call will be detailed at the beginning on the conference call. If you know in advance that you would like to submit public comment, please email Braddock Spear at bspear@asmfc.org. For more information, please contact Braddock Spear, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator for Policy, at (202 289-6400).