October 30, 2023 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council began planning its work priorities for the year ahead when it met in Plymouth, Massachusetts September 25-28, 2023. It also covered a series of other important topics ranging from East Coast climate change, fishery independent surveys, whiting, skates, strategies for avoiding conflicts with on-demand fishing gear, and much more. Here’s a brief rundown of what took place.
2024 COUNCIL PRIORITIES: The Council annually goes through a detailed, two-step exercise to establish work priorities for the following year. First, the Council engages in an initial discussion on priorities, which occurs in September. Second, the Council takes final action on work priorities during its December meeting. Priorities are divided into three categories: (1) required actions for which the Council has no discretion over and must do; (2) accepted actions the Council previously approved but need continued work; and (3) new proposals. Given the limitations on staff time and Council resources, the Council needs to carefully review the list of new proposals to identify its top priorities for future actions. The Council discussed the initial list of potential 2024 priorities as outlined in this document, and it added a few additional items. Council members currently are in the process of ranking new proposals in order of importance. The Executive Committee will review the results of the rankings and develop recommendations on final 2024 priorities for full Council consideration in December. Here is the audio of the September discussion.
CLIMATE CHANGE COORDINATION: The Council has been working with its East Coast partners since 2020 on climate change scenario planning. The planning phase culminated with a February 2023 summit. The Core Team working on the project then developed a Potential Action Menu to steer the implementation of actions to help fishing communities prepare for an era of climate change. The two groups leading these next steps are:
• The East Coast Climate Coordination Group, which is a leadership-level body made up of New England, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic Council executive directors, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) executive director, and NOAA Fisheries leaders from the regional offices and science centers. This group will oversee implementation of climate change actions. And,
• The East Coast Climate Core Team, which is a staff-level group with representation from the East Coast fishery management councils, ASMFC, and the NOAA Fisheries regional and headquarters offices and science centers. This group will provide relevant information and suggestions to help guide the coordination group’s work.
The New England Council received a progress report on next steps during its September meeting and engaged in a productive discussion. The East Coast Climate Coordination Group will hold its first meeting on November 7, 2023 in Gloucester. The New England Council will receive a report on this meeting in December. The history of the East Coast Climate Change Scenario Planning Initiative is documented here. A Scenario Planning Toolkit also is available to assist other organizations with climate change planning effort