Aleutian Islands Fishery Ecosystem Plan

The Council has developed an Aleutian Islands Fishery Ecosystem Plan (AI FEP). The AI FEP is a strategic policy and planning document, to guide the Council in its management actions relating to the Aleutian Islands. The Aleutian Island ecosystem is complex, and is the least predictable of the ecosystems in which the Council manages. The FEP is intended to be an educational tool and resource that can provide the Council with an ecosystem context for fishery management decisions affecting the Aleutian Islands area. Staff contact is Diana Evans: 907-271-2815.

The FEP identified ecosystem interactions, indicator status, research priorities, and data gaps for the Aleutian Islands. The ecosystem indicators have been further developed into an Aleutian Islands ecosystem assessment, and are tracked on an annual basis as part of the Council’s Ecosystem Considerations appendix to the Groundfish Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report. The annual reports can be found on the Alaska Fisheries Science Center webpage.

Boundary of the AI FEP

For the purposes of this Fishery Ecosystem Plan, the Aleutian Islands ecosystem is defined as the portion of the archipelago ranging from Samalga Pass (at 169ºW) to the western boundary of the exclusive economic zone, at 170ºE. Samalga Pass represents a known ecological boundary with the neighboring eastern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska ecosystems. This boundary is also approximately similar to an important management boundary for the Federal groundfish fishery.
Boundary of the AI FEP