Call For Nominations | Campbell Farewell | CGOA Rockfish Program | BSAI Small Vessel Access | BSAI Crab Specs | Snow Crab Rebuilding Plan | Trawl EM | Observer Issues | Salmon Reports | IFQ Committee Report | Staff Tasking | Council Considers Changes | Upcoming Meetings

Call For Nominations

SSC and Advisory Committee

As described here, the Council has moved up the timing for its AP/SSC nomination process, and will be accepting nominations for the SSC and AP from now through November 15, 2022. Details about how to apply will be distributed and posted on the Council website by the end of June. The Council also discussed including a Tribal representative seat on the Advisory Panel beginning this nomination cycle; the Council will finalize more specific language in October, so that interested persons may apply before the November 15^th deadline.

Community Engagement Committee

The Community Engagement Committee (CEC) was formed by the Council in June 2018 to identify and recommend strategies for the Council to provide effective community engagement with rural and Alaska Native communities. All members of the existing committee have chosen to remain on the committee, with one exception. The Council would like to continue to fill that seat with someone from the Norton Sound/Bering Strait region if possible. The Council is also interested in adding two other members from communities engaged in federal fisheries in the Alaska Peninsula or Aleutian Islands regions, for a total of three new members. The nomination period to fill this vacancy will be open until July 30, 2022. New members are not expected to begin attending CEC meetings no sooner than Fall 2022. Please submit a letter of interest describing your experience, background, and where you live and fish to Kate Haapala (Council staff) by close of business on July 30 (kate.haapala@noaa.gov; 907-271-2809).

Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee

The Council is soliciting nominations for an active observer representative for the Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee (FMAC). The FMAC convenes industry members, agency representatives, and observer providers to advise the Council on issues related to monitoring in the North Pacific halibut and groundfish fisheries. Please submit a letter of interest to Sara Cleaver (sara.cleaver@noaa.gov) by July 30.

Campbell Farewell

The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and other industry partners  held a seafood reception for members and attendees at the North Pacific Council meetings, and to honor Cora Campbell at her last meeting.  Campbell has been involved with the Council for many years, first serving on the Advisory Panel in 2004, then participating as a Council member as Commissioner of ADF&G in 2010.  Most recently, she has served as an appointed Council member since 2019.  Thank you, Cora, for your commitment to managing and sustaining fishery resources in the North Pacific.

The Council would like to thank all the businesses and organizations that donated seafood and resources for the reception and thanks to the city and people of Sitka for hosting our meetings.

CGOA Rockfish Program

The Council at this meeting selected a preferred alternative to revise the Central Gulf Alaska Rockfish Program after reviewing the public review draft, recommendations from the SSC and AP, and considering public testimony. The Council also requested staff address comments from the SSC in the Secretary of Commerce version to the extent practicable. The preferred alternative includes the following Alternative 2 options:

1) change the season start date from May 1 to April 1

2) eliminate the catcher vessel (CV) cooperative holding cap of 30 percent

3) increase the processing cap to 40 percent of the CV quota share pool for sablefish, Pacific cod, and primary rockfish, and

4) revise the vessel aggregated rockfish harvesting cap by capping only Pacific ocean perch (POP) at 8 percent of the CV quota share pool for this species.

The purpose of this action is to address changes in the fishery which would increase flexibility and efficiency, improve functionality, and better ensure the total allowable catch for the primary rockfish species is fully harvested and landed in Kodiak as intended. Unforeseen changes in the Central GOA rockfish fishery in recent years that include the continuing Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic conditions, impacts to the GOA flatfish market due to the continuing foreign trade tariffs, and the loss of several shorebased processing facilities in Kodiak have resulted in difficulties processing all the trawl CV rockfish quota, especially later in the season as processors approach their current processing caps or close for seasonal maintenance. In addition, dusky rockfish and northern rockfish CV quota are not fully harvested, so modifying the aggregate harvest cap for the primary rockfish species to apply only to POP could facilitate a greater percentage of dusky rockfish and northern rockfish quota being harvested.

Staff contact is Jon McCracken.

BSAI Small Vessel Access

The Council evaluated the initial review draft of the Bering Sea Aleutian Island (BSAI) small vessel access analysis and selected a preliminary preferred alternative. After receiving the presentation on the analysis, public comment, and recommendations from the Science and Statistical Committee and the Advisory Panel, the Council revised the purpose and need statement to align the action more closely with the identified problem. Increased participation in the less than 60’ hook-and-line (H&L) or pot catcher vessel (CV) sector and decreasing BSAI Pacific cod TACs resulting in lesser reallocations from other sectors have resulted in shortened seasons for the sector.

At this meeting, the Council also selected a preliminary preferred alternative to redefine the BSAI Pacific cod jig sector to include H&L or pot CVs less than or equal to 55’ length overall and to keep the jig sector’s B-season as a jig-only fishery. The proposed action could provide stability and additional opportunities for fishery participants with smaller H&L or pot CVs operating in the BSAI Pacific cod less than 60’ H&L or pot CV sector by redefining the jig sector to include them.

Staff contact is Kate Haapala.

BSAI Crab Specifications – Aleutian Islands Golden King Crab

The Council specified OFLs and ABCs for Aleutian Islands golden king crab (AIGKC) and accepted the updated BSAI Crab SAFE chapter. For AIGKC, the Council adopted an OFL of 3,761 mt and ABC of 2,821 mt for the 2022/23 fishing year. Based on the updated stock assessment, AIGKC is not overfished. The AIGKC 2022 catch data are still preliminary, thus a determination of stock status with respect to overfishing will not be provided until the final 2022 BSAI Crab SAFE is approved by the SSC at the October 2022 Council meeting.The Council also reviewed model scenarios for Pribilof Islands blue king crab, Eastern Bering Sea snow crab, Bristol Bay red king crab, and Eastern Bering Sea Tanner crab and several other issues from the May 2022 Crab Plan Team Report.Staff contact for the BSAI Crab Plan Team is Sarah Rheinsmith.

Snow Crab Rebuilding Plan

At this meeting, the Council adopted draft alternatives for an analysis to establish a rebuilding plan for Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) snow crab, and requested public comment on ways to reduce fishing-related mortality of snow crab. On October 19, 2021, NMFS notified the Council that the Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) snow crab status has been changed to overfished. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) requires that a rebuilding plan be developed and implemented within two years of the stock being declared overfished. The Council recognized that developing alternatives for rebuilding proves difficult without an SSC recommendation for the projected minimum time to rebuild the EBS snow crab stock without an established fishing mortality, as required per the rebuilding plan guidelines. In October 2022, the SSC will review several recommended model scenarios to aid in establishing model parameters and the selection of T_min and T_max, which establish the minimum and maximum time limits for rebuilding the snow crab stock under the rebuilding plan. The Council motion included the following draft alternatives:

Alternative 1: No Action

Alternative 2: Adopt a rebuilding plan and specify a target rebuilding time not to exceed T_MAX, as recommended by the SSC. The stock will be considered “rebuilt” once it reaches B_MSY.

Option 1: No directed fishing until the stock is rebuilt, allow bycatch removals only

Option 2: Allow bycatch removals and a directed snow crab fishery under the current State of Alaska harvest strategy

The motion also included a request to staff to provide additional information about the extent to which specific bycatch management measures might affect the rebuilding timeline. This information will be included in the initial review analysis, currently scheduled for December 2022.

Additionally, the Council requests public comment at the October 2022 meeting on ways to reduce fishing-related mortality of snow crab. Comments from fishery participants and the public on the following issues would be particularly useful:

1. Voluntary measures for implementation in 2023 and beyond to avoid EBS snow crab and reduce crab mortality in the non-directed fisheries.
2. Measures in the directed crab fishery to reduce discard mortality of EBS snow crab.
3. Description of research that would inform the development of more flexible and effective spatial management measures, gear modifications to reduce impacts on the EBS snow crab stock, or to evaluate unobserved mortality in the trawl sector.

Staff contact for snow crab rebuilding is Jon McCracken and Sarah Rheinsmith.

Trawl Electronic Monitoring

The Council conducted an initial review of a draft analysis to integrate Electronic Monitoring (EM) on Pollock Catcher Vessels using Pelagic Trawl Gear and Tender Vessels in the North Pacific Observer Program and recommended releasing the analysis for final action. The Council selected Alternative 2 as the preliminary preferred alternative which would implement EM on pelagic trawl pollock catcher vessels and tenders delivering to shoreside processors in the Bering Sea (BS) and Gulf of Alaska (GOA). After receiving the Trawl EM Committee report from its review of the analysis in May, the Council supported the Committee recommendations and specifically recommended additional information on four issues be included in the analysis to help guide final policy decisions for the program. This information is in addition to, not in place of the existing information in the document and does not signal specific policy direction.

• Using the partial coverage 1.65% fee to pay for EM equipment, service, and maintenance costs for vessels that do not participate in other trawl catch share programs with an EM option. This would apply to vessels that only participate in the GOA fishery and would be consistent with the funding mechanism of the fixed gear EM program.
• Use of the partial coverage 1.65% fee to pay for housing and food for shoreside observers during deployments at processors to monitor partial coverage directed pelagic pollock deliveries from vessels using EM. The analysis currently describes these costs as the responsibility of the plants because that is how it has been structured under the exempted fishing permit (EFP), but that may change under a regulated program.
• A threshold approach where vessels that opt into the EM program would be required to participate in the EM program for the range of 25% to 100% of all pollock fishing trips in the GOA during a calendar year. All other trips would be in the observer trip selection pool. This represents a compromise that would allow vessels more flexibility than an annual opt-in requirement and more predictability for the agency than a trip-by-trip opt-in structure.
• The structure for incentive plans that provide incentives to meet specific goals to avoid exceeding maximum retainable amounts and GOA pollock trip limits. These industry-run plans would function similarly to the vessel performance standards that have been utilized in the EFP. Under this model, the Council could set up goals for the incentive plan, receive an annual report and reevaluate every three years.The Council directed staff to consider and address comments from the SSC to the extent practicable and supported maintaining the current timeline for final action in October 2022.The Council also passed a motion under the B items to draft a letter of support for National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) EM funding proposals to sustain the final year of the pelagic trawl electronic monitoring EFP as it moves towards a regulated program and to advance new efforts in electronic technologies and monitoring, including:

• A proposal from United Catcher Boats for the Final Year of Pre-Implementation of a Regulated EM Program for Compliance Monitoring in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska Pelagic Trawl Pollock Catcher Vessel Fisheries
• A proposal from Aleutians East Borough for Improving Data Quality through ET Implementation in the Western Gulf of Alaska
• A proposal from Alaska Groundfish Databank for Testing Electronic Monitoring on Trawl Catcher Vessels Participating in the Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program
• A proposal from Real Time Data for real time electronic logbook data collection and reporting in Alaska’s groundfish and halibut fisheries

Staff contact is Anna Henry.

Observer Issues

The Council received a presentation from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on the Draft 2021 Observer Program Annual Report and provided recommendations for the development of the 2023 Annual Deployment Plan (ADP). The Annual Report provides a scientific evaluation of the deployment of observers in 2021 to evaluate if deployment expectations were met that year. The report also includes information describing the program, enforcement trends, outreach efforts, and agency recommendations for the 2023 Draft ADP. This year’s report is abbreviated in response to previous Council direction due to the complications in deployment plans because of COVID-19, and the Council has also recognized that an abbreviated report conserves staff time for work on the Partial Observer Coverage Cost Efficiencies Integrated Analysis (Cost Efficiencies Analysis) for the Draft 2024 Annual Deployment Plan.

The Council also received a report from the Partial Coverage Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee (PCFMAC) on ongoing analytical work for cost efficiencies in the partial coverage observer program, and a report from the Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee (FMAC) on the Annual Report and the Trawl Electronic Monitoring (EM) Analysis, as well as several other topics.

The Council appreciates the 2021 Observer Program Annual Report and recommends NMFS update the total 2021 fixed gear EM seadays reviewed by PSMFC and costs for the final report. The Council also supported NMFS’ recommendations for the 2023 Draft ADP (from Section 5.1 of the Annual Report):

• Maintaining the three gear-based deployment strata (hook-and-line, pot, and trawl) and maintaining the allocation strategy from the 2022 ADP in 2023.
• Adding fixed gear EM vessels (30% coverage) in the EM pool in 2023 (up to 200 total vessels) provided they opt-in prior to November 1, 2022, additional funding for EM equipment is secured, and they meet the criteria in the ADP.
• Continuation of the pelagic trawl EM project with 100% at-sea monitoring in addition to shoreside observer coverage

The Council continues to strongly support NMFS’ work on the comprehensive partial coverage cost efficiencies analysis to support cost savings and higher coverage rates under a schedule which allows:

• Implementation in the 2024 ADP
• Results to inform the next federal observer contract
• The PCFMAC to convene to review the draft sampling elements (likely early fall)
• The PCFMAC to convene prior to the analytical team incorporating elements into a sampling design (likely early 2023)

Additionally, the Council does not support evaluation of port-based deployment that requires vessels to travel to select ports to pick up an observer in the cost efficiencies analysis.

Lastly, the Council expressed its support for the four EM-focused NFWF proposals highlighted in the Council’s B reports.

Staff contact is Sara Cleaver.

Salmon Reports

The Council received a range of reports related to western Alaskan salmon and salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, and took several actions. A series of scientific reports were presented on state and federal efforts on Western Alaska Chinook and chum stock status; salmon research; salmon bycatch genetics for both chum and Chinook; and updated information on the impacts of bycatch on Chinook and chum salmon returns to western Alaska rivers, including a Bering Sea Chinook Adult Equivalency (AEQ) and impact rate report and staff suggestions on assessing the impacts of chum bycatch on western Alaska chum salmon returns. The Council also received industry reports on the efforts to reduce both chum and Chinook salmon bycatch under the sector-level incentives plans, a final report on the multi-year salmon excluder project and an overview of SeaShare’s hunger relief efforts to distribute donated salmon (and halibut) to food banks.

The Council received considerable public testimony from stakeholders in western Alaska noting the dire state of salmon stocks and the impacts on their health, livelihood and culture as well as feedback from the pollock industry on their efforts to reduce their bycatch of both chum and Chinook salmon.  The Council acknowledges the western Alaska salmon crisis and the impact it is having on culture and food security throughout western Alaska. Science indicates climate as the primary driver of poor salmon returns in western Alaska.  Nevertheless, the Council is committed to continued improvements in bycatch management with a goal of minimizing bycatch at all levels of salmon and pollock abundance.

With that, the Council took several actions related to bycatch and research. The Council requested the pollock industry to institute immediate measures to reduce chum bycatch during the summer fishery and report back to the Council on those efforts following the end of the B season.

The Council requested a discussion paper on chum salmon bycatch building upon the previous analysis in 2012.  Additional items to be included are an updated chum salmon bycatch and genetic stock composition data, a description of the Council’s rationale for establishing the current Bering Sea chum salmon bycatch management program; a discussion of tradeoffs in the Bering Sea pollock fishery associated with avoiding different PSC species (e.g., chum salmon, Chinook salmon, herring); and a summary of conditions that have changed since the 2012 analysis (e.g., increased Asian hatchery releases and western Alaska chum salmon stock status). The Council also indicated strong support towards prioritizing further research on Bering Sea salmon.

The Council initiated a Salmon Bycatch Committee comprised of Tribal members, scientists, industry representatives, and other experts, which will provide recommendations on: 1) the discussion paper on chum salmon bycatch; 2) the findings and recommendations from the State of Alaska’s Bycatch Task Force and the work of the Western Alaska salmon subcommittee; and 3) current information, including Local, Traditional, and Subsistence knowledge, and needed research to determine what is driving western Alaska salmon declines.  A nomination process for the committee will be posted to the Council’s website at the beginning of August with appointments to be made at the October Council meeting.  The State of Alaska’s Bycatch Task Force recommendations will be available in November.  The Committee will meet prior to the December Council meeting and provide its recommendations to the Council in conjunction with the review of the discussion paper and Task Force recommendations.

Staff contact is Diana Stram.

IFQ Committee Report

The Council received a report on the IFQ Committee’s May 2022 meeting. The IFQ Committee made three recommendations to the Council, which were supported: (1) initiate an analysis of modified halibut vessel use caps in IPHC Area 4; (2) schedule the next review of alternatives to allow the voluntary, careful release of small sablefish in the IFQ fishery; and (3) endorse the NMFS analysis of a rule to waive medical transfers that occurred during years impacted by COVID-19 (2020-2022).

The Council tasked an analysis with defined alternatives for modifying the Area 4 halibut vessel use cap. The status quo alternative would maintain the vessel use cap definition that no vessel may harvest IFQ in an amount greater than 0.5% of the “coastwide” catch limit (sum of Areas 2C, 3AB, and 4ABCD) over the course of a year, regardless of where fishing occurs. The action alternative would either create (Option 1) an Area 4 vessel use cap equal to 4%, 5%, or 6% of the sum of the Area 4ABCD combined catch limit, or (Option 2) an Area 4 vessel use cap equal to 150% of the vessel use cap as determined by the “coastwide” catch limit. The Council clarified that an Area 4 cap and the coastwide cap that would continue to exist in other areas are not additive. In other words, catch that a vessel makes outside of Area 4 accrues to higher Area 4 cap. The effect would be that vessels fishing in Area 4 are allowed to harvest additional pounds in that area.

The Council included suboptions that could be applied under either Option. The first suboption would specify that catch of halibut IFQ that is held by an Area 4B community quota entity (CQE) does not accrue to the Area 4 vessel use cap (note that the Area 4B CQE can only own Area 4B quota share). This would be analogous to community development quota (CDQ) halibut, which does not accrue to vessel use caps, and in contrast to an existing 50,000 lbs. limit on the amount of CQE-derived IFQ than a vessel can harvest annually. The purpose of this suboption is to allow the Area 4B CQE community some relief in harvesting their IFQ while working to rebuild local fleet and processing capacity. The second suboption specifies that any action taken should be reviewed either three years after implementation, five years after implementation, or as part of the next IFQ Program Review to occur after implementation.

Finally, given that an action taken on these alternatives would not be in effect in time for the 2023 IFQ season, the Council requested that NMFS evaluate options for extending the temporary rule that waives halibut vessel use caps in Area 4. Such a rule is in place for the 2022 season.

The Council also supported the IFQ Committee’s recommendation to schedule the next initial review of action to allow small sablefish release, although without setting a specific date. The Council Chairman and Executive Director will schedule that review as Council agenda time and NPFMC/NMFS/AFSC staff resources allow.

Staff contact is Sam Cunningham.

Staff Tasking

The Council discussed the relative priority and scheduling of previously-tasked projects, and identified new tasking. The revised 3 meeting outlook reflects this guidance.

Following review of the Council advisory groups, the Council took the following actions:

• Call for nominations for 2023 Advisory Panel and SSC members.
• Appointed 5 persons (Caitlin Allen Akselrud, Beth Matta, Andrew Seitz, Michael Smith, and Jane Sullivan) to the BSAI Groundfish Plan Team, and one person (Kristan Blackhart) to the GOA Groundfish Plan Team.
• Directed staff to solicit nominations for an active observer vacancy on the Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee (FMAC), and additional members for the Community Engagement Committee (CEC). The Chair intends to reconvene the CEC later this year.
• Under the salmon reports agenda item, established a call for nominations for a salmon committee to include Tribal members, scientists, industry representatives, and other experts, and to be chaired by a Council member (see discussion in the salmon newsletter article).

The Council directed staff to write the following letters:

• under the B reports agenda item, to NFWF in support of several monitoring projects that have been submitted for funding (see discussion in trawl EM article above).
• to NOAA Fisheries with comments on the three Draft Climate Science Regional Action Plans developed for the North Pacific.
• to NOAA Fisheries with comments on the Draft Equity and Environmental Justice Strategy.
• to NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program requesting more information on the process for moving a proposed area from the inventory to its designation as a sanctuary, and indicating the Council’s interest in providing input on that decision before it is noticed for general public comment.
• to MREP indicating the Council’s support for establishing an education program in the North Pacific.
• to NOAA Office of Law Enforcement and the US Coast Guard in support of their efforts with Operation North Pacific Guard, but also highlighting the Council’s interest that these efforts not come at the cost of Federal fishery management enforcement in the Council’s management areas.

The Council provided the following additional tasking and guidance:

• Tasking of an analysis to modify the Catcher Vessel Crew (CVC) QS and Catcher Processor Crew (CPC) QS recent participation requirements, as some crew members have not been able to comply with the participation requirement due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and unforeseen declines in the crab fisheries.
• Request for an emergency rule to suspend the recent participation requirements for CVC QS and CPC QS and suspend any revocation of and issue all IFQ for the CVC QS and CPC QS for this upcoming 2022/23 fishing season. The urgency for this action is the application deadline for 2022/23 which is June 15, 2022.
• Adoption of changes to the Council AP/SSC nomination and B reports process, guidance on remote testimony, and preparation for an October decision on harvest specifications timing and the Council’s annual meeting cycle (see below).
• Under the B reports agenda item, support for NOAA Fisheries’ regulatory amendment to waive medical transfers that were approved during the 2020-2022 IFQ fishing years as applying towards the medical transfer limit, as well as the proposed amendment to adjust BSAI pot catcher processor monitoring requirements.
• Interest in scheduling the small sablefish initial review in the first part of next year, and for the updated analysis to include recent data on recruitment, growth rates, and market conditions and revisit the discussion on assessment uncertainty. In keeping with the IFQ Committee recommendation, the Council noted that the discussion in the previous analysis about a minimum size limit for sablefish retention (which was not part of the alternative set) should not be considered in the revised analysis.

Staff contact is Diana Evans.

Council Considers Changes to Process and Meetings

The Council adopted or provided guidance on several Council process changes, including the Council AP/SSC nomination and B reports process, tradeoffs of meeting in remote communities, and consideration of harvest specifications timing and the Council’s annual meeting cycle. Staff had provided a discussion paper from February with reflections on the Council process and potential ideas for change, which the Council prioritized in April. At this meeting, staff provided a progress report on the April priorities.

Nomination process for AP and SSC members

The Council adopted a change to the nomination process for AP and SSC members to move the nomination period earlier in the year, to both provide an extended period to submit applications, and also to provide additional time for Council members to review applications, evaluate qualifications, and talk or meet with potential candidates. Allowing more time for these conversations should provide more opportunity for established shared expectations about realistic workload obligations as well as the role and responsibility of potential members. The Council also affirmed its intent that AP appointments would primarily be for 3-year terms, but that staff should clarify the call for nominations to note that the Council could appoint members for 1- or 2- year terms as necessary. The Council expressed its intent to include a Tribal representative seat on the AP, and will discuss specific language to that effect in October, in time to receive nominations for the 2023 appointments. The Council motion requested staff add language to the AP Handbook on AP member expectations, and provide additional support to new AP members through staff-led training opportunities. For the SSC, the Council will formalize dialogue between the SSC and Council about expertise needed and potential SSC member recruiting.

Agency B reports

The Council discussed its practice of receiving reports from agencies and partners, and determined for the future to ask for written reports from agencies, and allow oral briefings. Oral briefings are preferred when the Council or the agency identify an important issue for dialogue or engagement; written reports are sufficient when reporting on non-time sensitive or routine administration information.

Tradeoffs with remote access while in coastal communities

In April, the Council requested public input on how to assess tradeoffs with allowing the same level of remote accessibility, in terms of offering a meeting broadcast and opportunities for remote testimony, for the AP and SSC as well as the Council, when meeting in some of the coastal communities with limited internet bandwidth. At this meeting, the Council clarified its intent to provide an ongoing opportunity for remote public testimony to the extent possible during all regularly-scheduled meetings of the Council. The Council noted the importance and equity of providing an opportunity for persons to testify without having to incur the additional time and travel costs of attending in-person. At the current moment, the staff report notes that the communities of Sitka, Kodiak, and Juneau should be able to support Council meetings with this high level of remote participation. Staff recognizes that broadband initiatives underway may allow this list to expand in future. Additionally, the Council preserves the opportunity on a case-by-case basis to consider special circumstances and tradeoffs that may support meeting in a community where the same level of remote participation is not possible.

Harvest specifications and annual meeting cycle

Staff will report back to the Council in October with an exploration of the timing of the harvest specifications process and impacts of reducing the Council’s 5 meeting per year schedule down to 4. To facilitate Council discussion in October, the Council will convene a meeting of its Executive Committee and AP/SSC leadership prior to the October meeting to provide recommendations as appropriate.

Staff contact is Diana Evans.

Upcoming Meetings

The following Committee and Plan Team meetings are currently anticipated.

• BS FEP Climate Change Taskforce – August 2022
• Partial Coverage Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee (PCFMAC) – Aug/Sep 2022
• Ecosystem Committee – September 2022
• BSAI Crab Plan Team – week of September 12-16, 2022
• Joint Groundfish Plan Teams – week of September 19-23, 2022; November 2022
• Trawl EM Committee – Sep/Oct 2022
• Charter Halibut Management Committee – October 2022 and December 2022
• Joint Protocol Committee – October 2022 (T)
• BS FEP Local Knowledge, Traditional Knowledge, and Subsistence Taskforce (LKTKS) – Oct/Nov 2022

The Council will also host the national SSC workshop in Sitka, AK, August 15-17, 2022.