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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 146 / Tuesday, August 3, 2021 / Notices
conclude before that time. Persons wishing to give public testimony inperson must register at the registration kiosk in the meeting room.
Thursday, August 26, 2021; 8:30 a.m.
5 p.m.
The Council will receive committee reports from Administrative/Budget, Shrimp, Mackerel, Habitat Protection and Restoration, Sustainable Fisheries, Data Collection, Law Enforcement, and Reef Fish Management Committees, and report on the Closed Session. The Council will receive updates from the following supporting agencies: South Atlantic Fishery Management Council;
Texas Law Enforcement Efforts; NOAA
Office of Law Enforcement OLE; Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission;
U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Department of State.
The Council will discuss any Other Business items; and, hold an Election for Chair and Vice-Chair.
Meeting Adjourns The meeting will be an in-person meeting only. You may register for the webinar to listen-in only by visiting www.gulfcouncil.org and click on the Council meeting on the calendar.
The timing and order in which agenda items are addressed may change as required to effectively address the issue, and the latest version along with other meeting materials will be posted on the website as they become available.
Although other non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda may come before this group for discussion, in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Magnuson-Stevens Act, those issues may not be the subject of formal action during these meeting. Actions will be restricted to those issues specifically listed in this notice and any issues arising after publication of this notice that require emergency action under Section 305c of the MagnusonStevens Act, provided that the public has been notified of the Councils intent to take final action to address the emergency.

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Special Accommodations These meetings are physically accessible to people with disabilities.
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aid should be directed to Kathy Pereira, 813 3481630, at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

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Dated: July 28, 2021.
Tracey L. Thompson, Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
FR Doc. 202116465 Filed 8221; 8:45 am BILLING CODE 351022P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RTID 0648XB271

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions;
General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits National Marine Fisheries Service NMFS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
AGENCY:

The Gulf of Maine Research Institute has requested a change to a previously issued exempted fishing permit which would result in new regulatory exemptions for participating vessels. The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has determined that this request is outside the scope of the initially approved exempted fishing permit. As a result, regulations under the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to the exempted fishing permit previously issued to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 18, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by the following method:
Email: nmfs.gar.efp@noaa.gov.
Include in the subject line Modification to GMRI MREM EFP.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Spencer Talmage, Fishery Policy Analyst, 9782819232.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July 31, 2020, NMFS issued an exempted fishing permit EFP to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute GMRI in support of the development of maximized retention electronic monitoring MREM for the Northeast multispecies fishery. The EFP requires six participating vessels to retain all catch of undersized, allocated groundfish, with electronic monitoring EM used to verify compliance. The EFP currently exempts vessels from the requirement to adhere to their sectors SUMMARY:

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monitoring program at 50 CFR
648.87b1vB; minimum fish size requirements at 648.83a and 648.14a7; minimum mesh size requirements at 648.80; and Closed Area II Closure Area at 648.81a5
from April 16 through January 31.
Additionally, the EFP as originally issued allowed vessels to use a 4.5-inch 11.43 cm mesh codend rather than a 5.5-inch 13.97 cm mesh codend normally required while participating in the redfish sector exemption, provided that all other exemption area requirements were complied with. This provision was written into the terms and conditions of the EFP, and was not implemented through a regulatory exemption. Prior to the publication of Framework Adjustment 61 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan 86 FR 40353, July 28, 2021, the redfish sector exemption was administered through sector operations plans which are approved each year, and was not defined in the regulations.
When Framework 61 was approved and implemented, the redfish exemption was added to the list of universal sector exemptions, and a sector redfish exemption program, corresponding to the universal exemption, was described in the regulations. These new regulations define terms of the program, including vessel eligibility, area, gear, monitoring thresholds, and other administrative elements of the exemption program.
Because the new regulations defining the sector redfish exemption program did not exist when the EFP was issued to GMRI, the EFP does not currently exempt participating vessels from any of them. Because Framework 61 is now effective, vessels participating in this EFP are no longer be able to participate in the sector redfish exemption program using 4.5-inch 11.43 cm mesh as was intended.
On June 25, 2021, GMRI requested a modification to the EFP which would add an exemption to the minimum codend mesh size requirement for vessels fishing in the sector redfish exemption program, at 648.85e1viiA. Additionally, the modification would revise the conditions and requirements of the EFP
that address the sector redfish exemption program to account for the additional exemption issued to vessels participating in the EFP. These modifications allow the participating vessels to continue fishing under the provisions of the sector redfish exemption program with 4.5-inch 11.43
cm codend mesh, as they have since the original issuance of the EFP.

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