The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Lobster Management Board has approved for public comment Draft Addendum XXIX. The Draft Addendum considers implementing electronic tracking requirements for federally permitted vessels in the American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries, with the objective of collecting high resolution spatial and temporal effort data.

Members of the commercial fishing industry and other stakeholders are encouraged to provide input either by participating in public hearings or providing written comment. Public comment will be accepted until 5 p.m. (EST) on Jan. 31 and written comments should be sent to Caitlin Starks, FMP Coordinator, at 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, Virginia 22201; 703.842.0741 (fax); or comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Lobster Draft Addendum XXIX). 

DMR will be hosting two virtual public hearings from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 18 and Wednesday, Jan. 19.

Hearings will be held via GoToWebinar, and you can join the webinar from your computer, tablet or smartphone. If you are new to GoToWebinar, you can download the software via the App store under GoToWebinar. We recommend you register for the hearing well in advance since GoToWebinar will provide you with a link to test your device’s compatibility with the webinar. If you find your device is not compatible, please contact the Commission at info@asmfc.org (subject line: GoToWebinar help) and we will try to get you connected. We also strongly encourage participants to use the computer voice over internet (VoIP) so you can ask questions and provide input at the hearing.

Those joining by phone only will be limited to listening to the presentation but will not be able to provide input during the hearing. In those cases, you can send your comments to staff via email, U.S. mail, or fax at any time during the public comment period. To attend the webinar in listen only mode, dial 1-877-309-2071 and enter access code 350-416-497.

The Commission will post a recording of the hearing presentation on the Commission’s YouTube page so that stakeholders may watch the presentation and submit comment at any time during the comment process.

For more information, contact Megan Ware at megan.ware@maine.gov or 207.446.0932.