The Council’s administrative guidelines provide information on the policies, procedures, and logistical practices that support Council meetings and public participation. These guidelines cover topics including standards of conduct, public comment, meeting logistics, Council records and recordings, and other administrative procedures.
Code of Conduct
Participants in the Council process are expected to participate in a manner that is professional and respectful of Council members, staff, advisors, committee members, and the public. Harassment will not be tolerated. All Council participants are responsible for holding each other accountable to the following ground rules:
- Treat everyone with respect.
- Listen and seek to understand differing views or opinions.
- Represent information honestly and openly.
- Refrain from using offensive, disrespectful, or derogatory language.
- Personal or organizational attacks or insults will not be tolerated.
Reports of inappropriate behavior will be taken seriously and followed through to resolution per the Council’s Statement of Organization, Practices, and Procedures, which also includes the NPFMC policy on addressing allegations of harassment.
Public Comment Policy
There are two ways to provide comments: submit a written comment before the meeting or testify in person at the meeting. Public comments for the current Council meeting can be submitted online at meetings.npfmc.org before the meeting. You can sign up to testify at a meeting before the end of the agenda item by signing up at meetings.npfmc.org. You may also submit documentation to support your testimony by uploading the attachment to the eAgenda at the time of signup. In order to allow everyone the opportunity to speak, in-person public comment testimony is limited to 3 minutes for individuals or companies, and 6 minutes for associations/organizations. For more information, review our Public Comment Policy.
Please email support@npfmc.org if you have questions.
How to Navigate the eAgenda
The Council’s eAgenda is available at https://meetings.npfmc.org/. Use the eAgenda to view upcoming and past meetings, access agenda items and supporting documents, review public comments, and find other meeting materials. Select a meeting to open its agenda, then choose an individual agenda item to view the documents and information associated with that item.
Components of the Council Report
The Council documents attendance, topics discussed, conclusions reached, and any statements submitted for each meeting—excluding closed sessions. The Council’s eAgenda, detailed newsletter, meeting summary and annotated time log report (showing attendance, amendments, and vote tallies), and audio/video recordings collectively fulfill the meeting minutes requirements outlined in Section 302(i)(2)(E) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
The Council Chair is responsible for verifying the accuracy of each meeting report, and Council staff ensures that a copy is available to the Secretary of Commerce. The report and recordings are also available to any court with appropriate jurisdiction.
In accordance with Section 402(b) of the Act, the complete administrative record—including minutes and any documents prepared for or by the Council, its committees, or panels—are available for public inspection at the Council’s staff office.
Meeting Recordings Storage and Retention Schedule
All Council meetings are recorded, and the recordings are stored and made available to the public, in accordance with NOAA Records retention requirements. Audio recordings of Council meetings are part of the official meeting record and are stored permanently and available for download via BOX.NET. Video recordings are available from October 2020 to the present, and can be viewed on the NPFMC YouTube Channel as an alternative to downloading the audio recording. Please note that captions that may appear on the YouTube recordings should not be considered a faithful transcription, as they are generated by speech-to-text AI and include inaccuracies. Refer to the audio for exact statements.
Additionally, both the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) and Advisory Panel (AP) meetings are broadcast live on YouTube to provide public access for the duration of the Council meeting when discussions occur concurrently in separate rooms. For these groups, and all other Council advisory bodies, it is only the written report that constitutes the official record of the meeting. The YouTube recordings of AP meetings are only stored temporarily and are deleted after the meeting concludes. Since October 2024, the Council has elected to retain the YouTube recordings of its SSC meetings to provide additional context to stock assessment authors and other staff when addressing SSC recommendations.
In general, all virtual and hybrid Council-hosted meetings are conducted via Zoom. The Zoom meeting for Council Plan Team and Committee meetings may often be temporarily recorded, to assist staff in preparing the meeting reports. Meeting recordings are deleted once the report has been completed, and the Council does not share Zoom recordings of Council advisory body meetings with the public. For more information about Zoom’s privacy practices, please review their Privacy Statement .
Photo/Video Permissions
Please be advised that photographs and/or videos may be taken at NPFMC meetings for use in promotional and informational materials, including, but not limited to, websites, social media, press releases, and other publications.
By attending this event, you consent to your image and likeness being used in such materials without compensation or further notice. If you prefer not to be photographed or recorded, please notify NPFMC staff upon arrival.
Please note that all statements made during Council meetings, including during public testimony, are audio recorded and accessible to the public.
Logistical Requirements for Hosting a Council Meeting
General Criteria for Selecting Locations for NPFMC Meetings
Council meetings are held in locations representative of the fisheries it regulates. Typically, there are 5 meetings a year; three are in the city of Anchorage, Alaska, one in an Alaskan community, and one either in Washington or Oregon. The Executive Director and Chair of the Council determine the meeting locations.
Because attendance and involvement at these meetings are important, the Council has moved to fully hybrid meetings (both in-person and online), allowing remote testimony and participation that had not previously been available. It is also the priority of the Council to meet in areas where the fisheries operate but there may be practical limitations, such as limited air service, limited restaurants, and limited meeting and sleeping spaces. While these limitations might prevent holding a full Council meeting, smaller outreach and committee meetings do not have the same requirements and can still consider meeting in remote, rural locations within Alaska.
In order to host a full Council meeting, the Council and the community should consider the following:
Transportation/Public Access
The community must have road access, or air service in and out of community on a daily basis accommodating at least 100 passengers daily.
Lodging and Accommodations
- Hotel/Motel/B&B or similar lodging with at least 140 total rooms available
- Hotel and Restaurant options capable of accommodating/catering meeting participants
Preferably, these businesses should be within 10 minutes of walking or within 10 miles of the meeting venue. If not walkable, transportation options should be available.
Physical Meeting Space
Regular Council meetings need at least 2 large rooms of at least 2000 sq feet, and two smaller rooms for extra meetings. These rooms can be in auditoriums, ballrooms, meeting halls, multi-purpose rooms, or community centers or any other location that meets these criteria. Additionally, the two large meeting rooms do not have to be in the same building, but staff and attendees should be able to get between the two easily. Council staff have diagrams of a typical Council meeting room setup with more specifics and include information on table set up, screens, audience seating, equipment and technical set up details.
Internet/Broadband
Council meetings require high speed internet with large bandwidth. Meetings require wireless internet connections of at least 25mbs capable of serving both the meeting participants and the public in all the meeting rooms, with no limits on connections, and two hard-wired ethernet connections of at least 100/100 mbs for the two large meetings. NPFMC staff can work with the community’s internet service provider to facilitate these connections.
A printable version is available here.
Please email support@npfmc.org if you have questions.
Last updated April 2023