November 1, 2019 — The New England Fishery Management Council continues to fashion the amendment that will set future monitoring coverage levels for the Northeast groundfish fleet and now expects the measure won’t go out for public comment or hearings until early spring of 2020.
Janice Plante, spokeswoman for the council, said Thursday that the council’s various groundfish committees and panels continue work on the measure, known as Amendment 23, pouring over the full range of alternatives now expected to be presented to the council for a vote at its Jan. 28-30 meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Those alternatives, along with the draft environmental impact statement that includes the analyses for the respective alternatives, then will go out for public comment and hearings in advance of final action by the council next summer.