The Council reviewed the EMWG and the OAC recommendations on draft Statement of Work for the EM and observer service provider contracts for partial coverage, on which the NMFS Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO) is currently soliciting input. In staff tasking, the Council requested that the OAC, EMWG, and Advisory Panel comments be compiled and submitted to the AGO during the public comment period.
The Council also reviewed the status of regulatory amendments and other analytical projects affecting the Observer Program, and OAC recommendations regarding their relative priority. There are several new electronic monitoring (EM) projects that have been proposed now that the Council is completing its implementation of EM for the fixed gear fleets. The Council requested staff to provide descriptions of propose EM projects for a future meeting, to help the Council prioritize projects and determine whether and when an EM Workgroup should be appointed to shepherd new projects. Staff contact is Diana Evans.
