After the delivery of a report examining the costs for Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) to develop and implement BSAI crab electronic logbooks (eLogbooks), the Council chose to suspend agency consideration of developing a Crab Rationalization eLogbook while industry investigates more cost-effective options.
NMFS requires daily fishing logbooks for vessels 60 ft length overall or greater that participate in the Crab Rationalization Program fisheries in the BSAI. These are paper logbooks that are completed by hand. In April 2018 the Pacific Northwest Crab Industry Advisory Committee requested the Council and NMFS develop and authorize eLogbooks for the BSAI king, Tanner and snow crab fisheries in order to improve efficiency, timeliness and ease of reporting.
Stakeholders testified that Crab Rationalization Program participants have been pursuing third party options for development and implementation of an eLogbook program that they believe may be more cost-effective than the estimates provided by PSMFC. Moreover, an industry-led effort may allow for a reporting program with greater flexibility in design that could be tailored to the industry interests while still complying with Federal reporting requirements.
Staff contact is Sarah Marrinan.
