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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Informational Workshop on<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Comprehensive Summer Flounder Amendment Process<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission are in the early stages of developing a comprehensive amendment to the summer flounder portion of the joint MAFMC-ASMFC Fishery Management Plan for
Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass. The process began with public scoping in the fall of 2014, and is about to move forward with the development of options and alternatives that address a range of issues associated with the fishery – commercial, recreational,
and for-hire. That next step is slated for later this summer (2016), or soon thereafter. No specific proposals have been advanced to date.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With a view to ensuring that the Rhode Island marine fishing community is well-informed on the nature of the process and the issues slated for consideration, RIDEM will host an informational summer flounder workshop on
<b><i>Thursday, June 16, 2016 at 6 pm at the Corless Auditorium, URI Bay Campus, Narragansett, RI.</i></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The sole focus of the workshop will be to convey information on the nature and timeline associated with the comprehensive summer flounder amendment process. No proposals will be offered, and no decisions will be made. Rather, the meeting
will serve to set the stage for the extensive evaluation of the management of one of Rhode Island’s most important fisheries, scheduled to occur over the next 18 months.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At the workshop, particular attention will be given to the issue of
<i>commercial landings flexibility</i> – namely, the types of options that might best address the interests of the RI commercial fishing industry regarding that issue.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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