analysis done by contract. For other plans, the New England 

 council anticipates descriptive biological and socio-economic 

 information, and staff preparation of additional analysis and 

 alternative management strategies. 



Draft plan development : The councils identify the need 

 for plans and define the fishery stock. They may act on their 

 own initiative or in response to requests for development of 

 a plan. Councils adopt the management objectives for a plan 

 by majority vote. Once objectives are established, the actual 

 drafting of an FMP may be done by council staff, by a plan 

 development team, or wholly or partially by contract. A 

 council may contract for data collection if necessary. A lead 

 agency may be designated to coordinate plan development. State 

 and federal officials are usually involved to some extent in 

 plan drafting. There is always liaison with council staff as 

 well as input from SSCs and advisory panels during the draft- 

 ing process. There may be public hearings on various aspects 

 of the draft. A majority vote is required for adoption of 

 a draft FMP by a Council. Plan adoption usually follows identi- 

 fication of the need for the plan by a year or more . 



Plan approval and implementation process . After adop- 

 tion by the council , a draft plan must undergo review re- 

 quirements established by the FCMA, requirements for an en- 

 vironmental impact statement (EIS) under the NEPA and sub- 

 sequent CEQ regulations , and requirements for a regulatory 

 analysis concerning its impact on the economy as required 

 under Executive Order 12044 of 1979. The approval process 

 under ideal conditions is diagrammed in Figure 2. 



A draft FMP must be accompanied by a draft EIS as well 

 as a draft regulatory analysis. The draft EIS and draft 

 regulatory analysis are usually prepared by the council, 

 but may be prepared by the Plan Review Division of NMFS 

 which oversees the implementation process . 



In response to comments from the various reviews , re- 

 visions may be required in the draft plan. Allowing for 

 time required to revise and transmit the draft plan to the 

 various agencies, a plan without major revisions may take 

 nine months from adoption of the draft by the Council to 

 effective implementing regulations. With major revisions, 

 the approval and implementation process could take up to 

 two years , or more . 



After regulations are in force, a mangement plan may 

 still undergo annual updating or major revisions as new in- 

 formation becomes available , with regulations revised ac- 

 cordingly . 



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