Dan Hull, Chairman
Chris Oliver, Executive Director
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Executive Director's Report (including ROA, allocation policy directive, legislative update; 40th Anniversary celebration update; Halibut Management Framework update)
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Southern guests
I would like to recognize two staff members from the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council - Charlotte Schiaffo and Claire Roberts - who are here to visit our Council process in action, particularly to observe our EFH related agenda items, as they are engaged in a similar process in their region. So please extend them a warm welcome and visit with them if you have the chance during the week.
Regional Operating Agreement
Back in 2013 the Inspector General issued its report for streamlining the fisheries regulatory process, which included a recommendation for each NMFS Region to develop Regional Operating Agreements (ROAs) with the relevant Council(s) in each region. The primary purpose is to provide a clear understanding of roles, responsibilities, and obligations between the Councils and each NMFS Regional Office. We signed such a ROA in February 2014. Since that time the agency, in consultation with the Council Coordination Committee (CCC), has revised the Operational Guidelines for the MSA fishery management process (September 30, 2015). The Guidelines contain seven guiding principles, and we have been asked to revise our ROAs to better document how these seven guiding principles are applied in each regional process.
In August, myself, David Witherell, and Glenn Merrill developed a revised ROA (attached), which contains the same essential language relating to roles, responsibilities, timing, and process; however, we have revised it to reflect how each of the seven guiding principles are addressed within the ROA. We believe this revised ROA reflects the essential elements of our fisheries regulatory process and wish to share it with the Council for any input you may have, prior to Dan Hull and I, and Jim Bal...
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