Mark Your Calendar – Upcoming Meetings for Federal Fisheries Issues

Fishermen and others interested in following and participating in the federal fishery management process mark your calendars now! During April and May, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold meetings of its advisory panels, Scientific and Statistical Committee, Socio-Economic Panel, and a webinar focusing on scientific studies.

In addition, the SAFMC Citizen Science Program will be featured next week as part of the NOAA Central Library Seminar series. Tune in at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 30th (see details below).

All of the meetings are open to the public. In-person meetings held by the Council will also be available via webinar as they occur. Webinar registration and other specific meeting information is available from the links below.

Tune in next Thursday at 1 p.m. to learn more about the Council’s Citizen Science Program and how it supports fisheries management. The NOAA Central Library Seminar series will focus on the “CitSci” program with Program Manager Julia Byrd, Project Coordinator Meg Withers, and Dr. Chip Collier, the Council’s Deputy Director for Science as guests. The seminar will focus on the development of the program to fill data gaps and address management needs, as well as current projects and application of their data. Register now

Artificial reefs have been used in the South Atlantic region to increase fishing and diving opportunities. The Council will host a presentation from NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science highlighting findings from multiple studies on artificial reefs, including the artificial and natural reef area in the South Atlantic region, ecological principles for siting artificial reefs, and analyses of relative fish abundance during their Science Seminar Series in April.

A question and answer session will follow. The webinar presentations are for informational purposes only and no management actions are taken. Learn more about the Council’s seminar series and register now to attend.