The Council received a report on the Final Observer Program 2021 Annual Deployment Plan (ADP). This report highlighted changes to the report since the Council’s review of the Draft ADP in October.
The 2021 ADP uses the Council’s recommended port-based approach for partial coverage observer deployment, consistent with the redesigned 2020 ADP that is responsive to COVID-19 impacts on monitoring. The Final ADP also uses the Council’s recommended deployment strata, and a coverage allocation scheme of a 15% baseline plus an optimized allocation based on discarded groundfish as well as halibut PSC and Chinook PSC. This results in the following deployment rates by strata:
- No selection – 0%
- Trawl – 16%
- Hook-and-line – 15%
- Pot – 15%
- Fixed-gear EM – 30%
- Trawl EM EFP—100% at-sea EM; plus: 30% shoreside monitoring in GOA or 100% shoreside monitoring in BS.
The 2021 fixed gear EM pool includes 168 vessels. Three additional vessels opted into the program; however, no additional funding is available to accommodate additional vessels at this time. Therefore, NMFS has approved 168 vessels for the EM selection pool for 2021.
Staff contact for observer issues is Kate Haapala.
