The Council appointed 12 people to a Council Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan Team, to begin developing the Council’s Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP). The Team’s primary responsibilities are to develop the core FEP document, to discuss potential and ongoing FEP action modules, make recommendations to the Ecosystem Committee and the Council about future steps, and to help communicate results to the Council. While the team is a scientific and technical team, the focus is also to ensure that FEP action modules interface with the Council’s management needs, and can be integrated into the Council’s decision making and management process. The intent has been to include a diversity of expertise and representatives from various agencies on the team, which will function as a Council plan team. To that end, the Council has also requested that membership be expanded to include social science, crab/shellfish, and oceanography expertise, and potentially a member from the Coast Guard. The first meeting of the Team will be scheduled for early 2017.
Staff contact is Diana Evans.