Draft Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Assessment for NEFSC Research Now Available for Comment

NOAA Fisheries is inviting public comments on a Draft Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Assessment (SPEA) for fisheries research conducted and funded by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC).

The purpose of this draft SPEA is to evaluate potential direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of unforeseen changes in research that were not analyzed in the 2016 NEFSC Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), or new research activities along the U.S. East Coast, from North Carolina to Nova Scotia, Canada. Where necessary, updates to certain information on species, stock status or other components of the affected environment that may result in different conclusions from the 2016 PEA are presented in this analysis.

Public Comments

Comments on the Draft SPEA should be addressed to Victor A. Nordahl Jr., Environmental Compliance Specialist, 166 Water St. Woods Hole, MA 02543. The mailbox address for providing email comments is: nmfs.nefsc.spea@noaa.gov. NOAA Fisheries is not responsible for email comments sent to addresses other than the one provided here. Comments sent via email, including all attachments, must not exceed a 10-megabyte file size. Comments must be received by October 19, 2020.