At this meeting, the SSC reviewed the Groundfish and Crab Economic SAFE reports as presented by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Economic and Social Science Research Division. The SSC appreciated these presentations.
The Groundfish Economic SAFE has continued to evolve over the last several years and is a useful reference on the economic status of fisheries, becoming more useful, organized, and accessible to the public over time. The SSC was especially appreciative of the continued development of the data webtool as well as other new initiatives such as the in-season nowcast and the new graphical displays of the Amendment 80 Economic Data Report (EDR) data. The decomposition of first-wholesale revenues into their respective price and quantity effects was also appreciated. The SSC was grateful for the report card in the Groundfish Economic SAFE, and believes it provides an excellent overview of general trends in the groundfish fisheries. Unfortunately, due to time limitations in the remote-meeting format, the SSC did not receive a presentation of the report card metrics and thus will be presented during the February 2022 meeting.
Specific to the Crab Economic SAFE, the SSC appreciated the Groundfish and Crab Economic SAFE Review tracking of quota lease rates to identify who is benefitting from the fishery. The SSC continues to look forward to completion of the quota ownership decomposition effort, which will allow better tracking of what communities are capturing the ownership benefits of the crab fishery. The SSC recommended the development of a report card for the Crab Economic SAFE, similar to the Groundfish Economic SAFE. The SSC also noted that the rationalized crab fisheries offer a unique opportunity to track the economic health of the fisheries thanks to the comprehensive economic data collected under the crab EDR program.
Finally, due to time limitations at this meeting, the previously scheduled presentation of the new Annual Community Engagement and Participation Overview (ACEPO) was postponed to the April 2021 meeting.
Staff contact is Jon McCracken.
