From: Julie Speegle - NOAA Federal <julie.speegle@noaa.

gov> Date: Tue, Jan 8, 2013 at 12:18 PM Subject: IPHC New Call for Nominations To:

The following message sent on behalf of Dr. James Balsiger, Regional Administrator, Alaska Region NMFS Dear 2012 IPHC Nominee: Thank you for your interest in one of the two open commissioner seats representing the United States on the International Pacific Halibut Commission. I wanted to follow up my phone call to you this morning with a few more details on NOAA Fisheries re-initiation of the public nomination process to fill those two seats. As you know, when NOAA Fisheries publicly solicited nominations for two presidential appointments to serve as U.S. Commissioners to the IPHC early in 2012, it was the first time ever that nominees for IPHC commissioner seats were sought through an open, public nomination process. While the initial nomination list included many strong candidates such as you, the combination of a number of factors resulted in the decision to re-initiate this public nomination process. These factors include heightened interest by diverse user groups, the lapse of time since original nominees expressed interest in an appointment, and considerations of balanced representation on the Commission. We appreciate your interest and encourage you to re-nominate during this re-solicitation period. The Notice of New Call for Nominations is expected to be published in the Federal Register next week. Upon publication of the notice, nominations will be received for 30 days. Nominations may be submitted by one of the following methods: Email: IPHC2013nominations@noaa.gov; Mail: Mr. Patrick Moran, Office of International Affairs, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910; FAX: 301-713-2313 The nomination period closes 30 days after the new call for nominations is published in the Federal Register; 31 days after the new call for nominations is published in the Federal Register, the names of all nominees will be posted on the Alaska Regional website: http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/ . At that time, the public comment period will be open for 30 days, and will close 61 days after the new call for nominations is published in the Federal Register. All public comments must be sent to: IPHC2013comments@noaa.gov . Again, thank you for your interest in one of the IPHC Commissioner seats. We hope to see your re-

nomination soon. Sincerely, Jim

-Julie Speegle Public Affairs Officer NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Region P.O. Box 21668 709 West 9th Street Juneau, AK 99802-1668