The Council is accepting nominations for its Scientific and Statistical Committee, Advisory Panel, and BSAI Halibut ABM Stakeholder Committee.
Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) nominees should have areas of expertise in biology/stock assessment, marine mammals, statistics, fisheries/resource economics, sociology/anthropology, or other relevant disciplines and be federal employees, state employees, academicians, or independent experts not employed by advocacy or interest groups. SSC members serve one-year terms but may be reappointed. The SSC advises the Council on all aspects of the decision-making process, including stock assessments and annual specifications, protected species interactions, and adequacy of analyses supporting various management actions. Nominations, letters of interest, and a resume should be submitted to the Executive Director by November 30th at 12pm Alaska time.
The Advisory Panel (AP) is composed of representatives of the fishing industry and others interested in the management of the North Pacific fisheries, and provides advice from those perspectives. AP members serve for three-year terms, and may be reappointed for up to two subsequent consecutive terms. Members of the panel are expected to attend up to five meetings, four to five days in length, each year. Note that no seats on the Advisory Panel are designated to a particular stakeholder group or geographical area, and the Council encourages all interested stakeholders to apply. There are eight seats available for appointment on the AP. Of these, seven are held by existing AP members who are eligible to serve another term, and have indicated interest in doing so: Dan Donich, Angel Drobnica, John Gruver, Craig Lowenberg, Joel Peterson, Ben Stevens, and Samantha Weinstein. The remaining open seat, previously held by Shannon Carroll, who resigned in July, will be appointed by the Council for the remaining two years of the three-year term. Nominations, letters of interest, and a resume should be submitted to the Executive Director by November 30th at 12pm Alaska time. Please note that the names of those who submit a nomination will be made public.
The Council is also accepting nominations for a Halibut Stakeholder Committee, which will provide recommendations for the scenarios to be analyzed in the upcoming halibut abundance-based management PSC limit analysis. The Committee will also provide recommendations on measurable objectives and associated performance metrics to be considered by analysts in evaluating trade-offs among alternatives. The committee will meet to draft these scenarios prior to the February 2019 Council meeting, with an initial update on Committee progress to be provided to the Council in December. The committee is intended to include a range of interested stakeholders from both the directed BSAI groundfish and directed Area 4 halibut fisheries. Interested members of the public should submit a letter of interest and brief resume to the Council chairman and Executive Director by close of business on October 30th.
The Council is seeking nominations to the Pacific Northwest Crab Industry Advisory Committee, PNCIAC. PNCIAC’s function is to provide the Alaska Board of Fisheries and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council with advice and recommendations regarding appropriate measures for the conservation and management of the BSAI king and Tanner crab fisheries. There are up to 15 seats available, and each member serves a two-year term. Nominations close December 1. Please send a letter of interest to staff contact Sarah Marrinan.