Council Program Review Recommendations – Tracking Sheet - November 14, 2022

Council Program Review Final Report

Council Program Review Appendices

Council Program Review Meeting, March 13-16, 2018

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The New England Fishery Management Council is undergoing an independent review to: (1) assess past performance; (2) gather feedback on strengths and weaknesses of the Council process and operations; and (3) identify potential areas for improvements.

Stakeholder input is critical to this review. The Council is encouraging commercial and recreational fishermen, industry leaders, fishery managers, members of non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders to participate in the effort.

REVIEW PANEL: The review will be conducted by an independent six-member panel of fishery managers and scientists from other regions. Each member has a strong understanding of U.S. federal fisheries management but no recent affiliation with the New England Council. Some also have international experience.

EXTERNAL REVIEW MEETING DATES AND LOCATION: The review panel will meet Tuesday, March 13 through Friday, March 16 to discuss Council operations and conduct its work. The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, Boston Logan Airport.

WEBINAR: The review panel meeting also will be broadcast via webinar. Register here.

AGENDA AND MEETING DOCUMENTS: Download the agenda here. All documents for this meeting are available at May 13-16, 2018 Council Program Review Schedule With Meeting Materials.

PANEL MEMBERS: Three fishery managers and three scientists have been selected to serve on the panel. They are:

  • Robert Beal, Executive Director, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission – Mr. Beal brings a unique, Maine-to-Florida state-waters perspective to the table. He also is familiar with the operations of three different fishery management councils that are responsible for federal waters management of many of the same species ASMFC oversees in state waters.
  • Dan Hull, Chairman, North Pacific Fishery Management Council – Mr. Hull is one of Alaska’s representatives on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and has served as Chairman of that Council for the last four years. He has been fishing for over 30 years out of Cordova, Alaska – gillnetting for salmon and now longlining for halibut and sablefish. He owns and operates the 37’ F/V Gretchen S. Over the course of his career, Mr. Hull has served in a variety of positions within fishing industry, research, and management organizations in Alaska.
  • Dr. Pamela Mace, Principal Adviser Fisheries Science, Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand – Dr. Mace was Chief Scientist for the former New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries, which merged with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, resulting in her current title. She has extensive scientific experience involving Canadian, U.S., and New Zealand fisheries. Her work most recently has focused on precautionary approaches and harvest control rules, primarily for fishery management uses in the U.S. and New Zealand, as well as on developing and implementing national standards for overfishing definitions and rebuilding plans in both countries, among other initiatives.
  • Dr. Bonnie McCay, Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor (Retired), Rutgers University – Dr. McCay, an anthropologist, worked in the Department of Human Ecology within the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers. Her research and teaching focused on challenges and policies for managing common pool resources such as fish and shellfish, with particular attention to intersections of ecology, community, and social institutions of science, law, and property. She was a member of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee for many years and received the American Fisheries Society’s Award of Excellence in 2013.
  • Dr. Kenny Rose, France-Merrick Professor in Sustainable Ecosystem Restoration, Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science – Dr. Rose’s research centers on using mathematical and computer simulation modeling to predict and better understand fish population and food web dynamics in estuaries, lakes, reservoirs, and oceans. He has served on several advisory committees for the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Evaluating the Effectiveness of Stock Rebuilding Plans. He recently was presented with the American Fisheries Society’s Award of Excellence.

STAKEHOLDER INPUT: The Council enlisted the help of two contractors to support this process as follows:

Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum – The Fisheries Forum gathered input from fishery managers and stakeholders throughout the greater New England region via 14 port meetings, one webinar meeting, an online survey, and one-on-one interviews. The resulting feedback is being provided to the review panel.

Tidal Bay Consulting – Tidal Bay compiled background documents for the review panel and is providing support for the review meeting itself. Tidal Bay also is preparing the panel’s final report.

Stakeholder input was confidential. Specific statements, ideas, and perspectives were not attributed to individuals. The Fisheries Forum summarized input based on themes, fishery, and/or geography as appropriate and prepared two reports for the review panel.

FINAL SUMMARY—STAKEHOLDER INPUT: View the summary at “What people said.”

FINAL SUMMARY – MANAGEMENT AND SCIENCE COMMUNITY: View the summary at “What managers and scientists said.”

ONLINE SURVEY: Stakeholder feedback about Council communications and the ability to participate in the Council process was solicited from November 2, 2017 through January 19, 2018 via a 15-to-20-minute online survey.

PRINTABLE SURVEY: A copy of the 10-page survey and accompanying cover letter can be viewed and downloaded HERE.

PORT MEETINGS: The Fisheries Forum held informal port meetings from Maine to New Jersey where stakeholders had an in-depth opportunity to provide insights, comments, and suggestions about the Council process. IMPORTANT – These meetings, as well as the online survey, were meant to focus on Council operations, not current management actions. The complete list of port meetings is available for downloading at Council Program Review Port Meetings. Here are the individual dates, locations, and start times:

  • Monday, November 13, Ellsworth, ME – Ellsworth High School, 24 Lejok Street, 5 p.m.
  • Tuesday, November 14, South Portland, ME – DoubleTree by Hilton, Monhegan Room, 363 Maine Mall Road, 8:30 a.m.
  • Tuesday, November 14, Rockport, ME – Samoset Resort, 220 Warrenton Street, 5 p.m.
  • Wednesday, November 15, Portland, ME – Casco Bay Ferry Terminal, 56 Commercial Street, Maine State Pier, 5 p.m.
  • Thursday, November 16, Portsmouth, NH – Best Western, 580 U.S. Highway 1 traffic circle, 5 p.m.
  • Friday, November 17, Narragansett, RI – Superior Trawl, 55 State Street, 3 p.m.
  • Tuesday, November 28, Webinar – Register at Council Program Review Webinar or call in at +1 (213) 929-4212 and supply access code 839-533-461, 1 p.m.
  • Tuesday, November 28, Gloucester, MA – Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Annisquam River Station, 30 Emerson Ave., 5 p.m.
  • Wednesday, November 29, Scituate, MA – Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Office, 175 Edward Foster Road, 5 p.m.
  • Thursday, November 30, New Bedford, MA – UMass Dartmouth SMAST-East, Room 101, 836 South Rodney French Boulevard, 5 p.m.
  • Friday, December 1, Chatham, MA – Chatham Community Center, 702 Main Street, 5 p.m.
  • Saturday, December 2, Plymouth, MA – Hotel 1620 Plymouth Harbor Amphitheater, 180 Water Street, 3 p.m.
  • Monday, December 4, Stonington, CT – La Grua Center, 32 Water Street, 5 p.m.
  • Monday, January 8, Montauk, NY – Montauk Playhouse Community Center, 240 Edgemere Street, 5 p.m.
  • Tuesday, January 9, Cape May, NJ – Rutgers University, 1636 Delaware Ave., 5 p.m.

MATERIALS: Several additional documents related to the Council Program Review are available

QUESTIONS: Contact Fisheries Forum Co-Director Kim Gordon at (831) 641-7906, kim.gordon@duke.edu or Council Public Affairs Officer Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817, jplante@nefmc.org.