All fishery management plans include a description and identification of essential fish habitat (EFH), a description of adverse impacts, and actions to conserve and enhance habitat. Maps of essential fish habitat areas are useful for understanding potential effects of proposed development and other activities.
The Council currently is in the process of amending the fishery management plans to more specifically identify essential fish habitat, and identify possible, additional measures to protect habitat and a specific process to further identify HAPC, which would allow for a more focused application of protection measures to the most sensitive habitat areas. Staff contact is Steve MacLean: 907-271-3235.
Documents and Council Motions
- HAPC Skate Egg Sites 3/12; HAPC Skate EA 6/12
- AK Coral and Sponge Initiative 2/12; Deep Sea Coral & Sponge presentation 2/12
HAPC Skate Sites Initial Review 2/12; HAPC Designation for ares of Skate Egg Concentration Motion 2/12
HAPC with EFH Process Document September 2010 - HAPC: Skate Nurseries Proposal Package, Proposal Form; Deadline, August 31, 2010
- Evaluation criteria for HAPC proposals – 3/10
- HAPC EA/RIR – 4/06
- Council HAPC/EFH motion and maps – 2/05
- HAPCs and EFH motion 6/04
- HAPC Alternatives and Maps for the June 2004 Meeting in Portland
- April 2004 Council motion on HAPC
- Report of the NPFMC Joint Plan Teams’ review of proposals for Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC) – 3/04
- Draft HAPC process, drafted by the EFH Committee – 5/3
Important Links
- USGS – Bering and Chukchi Sea Databases: http://agdc.usgs.gov/data/projects/anwr/metadata/nosbath.html, Bathymetry for Bering and Chukchi
- Alaska DNR Public Access Geographic Data: http://www.asgdc.state.ak.us/, Coastlines, etc.
- Alaska Geospatial Data Clearinghouse: agdc.usgs.gov/data/, Good Alaska GIS links, many listed here
- NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts: chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov/mcd/enc
- Cook Inlet Keeper: www.inletkeeper.org/
- InfoRain Pacific: www.inforain.org/dataresources/
- NOAA shoreline data explorer: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/NSDE/
- Marine Conservation Biology Institute: www.mcbi.org/B2Bcd/CD_info.htm, Physical, biological, and social data – $25
- ArcExplorer 2 GIS program to look at data: www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/aedownload.html
- Catch-per-Unit-Effort, Length, and Depth Distributions of Major Groundfish and Bycatch Species in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska Regions Based on Groundfish Fishery Observer Data Lowell W. Fritz, Angie Greig, Rebecca Reuter March 1998″ www.afsc.noaa.gov/refm/docs/pubs/efh/techmemo.htm
