June 21, 2o23 — The following was released by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Meeting will be August 1-3, 2023 at The Westin
Crystal City. This will be a hybrid meeting (both in-person and remote) to allow for participation by
Commissioners and interested stakeholders; the details of which will be provided two weeks prior to the
meeting. A brief, preliminary agenda and public comment guidelines are included with this memorandum.
Materials will be available July 19th on the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2023-
summer-meeting.
A block of rooms is being held at The Westin Crystal City, 1800 Richmond Highway, Arlington, VA 22202. Lisa
Carty will make Commissioner/Proxy reservations and will contact you regarding the details of your
accommodations. Please notify Lisa of any changes to your travel plans that will impact your hotel
reservations, otherwise you will incur no-show penalties. We greatly appreciate your cooperation.
For all other attendees, please reserve online via our group link at
Book your group rate for Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission July 31 – August 03, 2023 or call
Marriott directly at 888.236.2427 as soon as possible and mention the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission to obtain the group room rate of $172.00 plus tax single/dbl. Please be aware you must guarantee
your room reservation with a major credit card or one night’s advance payment. Hotel reservations must be
made by Wednesday, July 5, 2023. Room availability will not be guaranteed beyond this date. If you are
being reimbursed by ASMFC for your travel, please make your reservation directly with the hotel. Reservations
made through travel websites do not apply toward our minimum number of required reservations with the
hotel. Please note, cancellations at The Westin must be made by 4:00 p.m. two days prior to arrival to avoid
penalty and an early departure fee of $100 will apply when checking out prior to the confirmed date. If you
have any problems regarding accommodations, please contact Lisa Carty at 703.842.0713 or lcarty@asmfc.org.
We look forward to seeing you at the Summer Meeting. If the staff or I can provide any further assistance to
you, please call us at 703.842.0740.
Enclosed: Preliminary Agenda, Hotel Directions, TA 23-043, and Travel Reimbursement Guidelines
Page 2 of 4; M23-061
Public Comment Guidelines
To provide a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following
guidelines for use at management board meetings:
For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunity to the
public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board
chairs will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak.
Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available
time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.
For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide
limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic.
Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing
one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comment will not provide
additional insight to the board.
For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to
end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs
have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.
In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues
for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to
proposed management action).
1. Comments received three weeks prior to the start of a meeting week (July 10th) will be included in
the briefing materials.
2. Comments received by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, July 25th will be included in supplemental materials.
3. Comments received by 10:00 AM on Friday, July 28th will be distributed electronically to
Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting.
The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff
regarding distribution. As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail and email.