
Election of Officers | BSAI Crab Specs | Charter Halibut RQE | BSAI/GOA Groundfish Specifications | Observer 2025 ADP | Crew Data Collection | Pelagic Trawl Gear Definition| Observer Availability| Climate Reports| Staff Tasking/B Reports|Chum Salmon Bycatch Outreach and Engagement|
Upcoming Meetings |
New Members and Election of Officers
At this meeting, the Council re-elected Angel Drobnica as Chair and Bill Tweit as Vice-Chair.
Jon Kurland, NMFS Alaska Regional Administrator, gave the oath of office to members starting a new 3-year term: Jamie Goen, John Moller, Brian Ritchie (all new to the Council), and Anne Vanderhoeven (reappointed to her second 3-year term). Ms. Goen is Executive Director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers and has a long career in fisheries. Mr. Moller is a commercial fisherman and fisheries consultant from Unalaska and has served on the Council’s Advisory Panel. Mr. Ritchie is a Charter fisherman from Homer and most recently was the Chair of the Council’s Advisory Panel. We welcome them and look forward to working with them in their upcoming terms. More information on Council members along with their bios can be found on the Council’s website.
Also newly appointed were two Gulf of Alaska Groundfish Plan Team members: Dr. James Thorson and Dr. Sophia Wassermann. Dr. Thorson and Dr. Wassermann are Research Fish Biologists at AFSC. We welcome them both to their new roles.
BSAI Crab Specifications
The Council specified overfishing limits (OFLs) and allowable biological catch (ABC) amounts for Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) snow crab, Bristol Bay red king crab (BBRKC), EBS Tanner crab, and St. Matthew Island blue king crab (SMBKC), and accepted final BSAI Crab Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) report chapters. The Council also supported further development of BSAI Crab Plan Team risk tables for crab stocks, as appropriate, in line with the recommendations from the SSC Risk Table Report from 2021.
For EBS snow crab, the Council adopted an OFL of 19.60 kt and ABC of 6.86 kt for the 2024/25 fishing year. For BBRKC, the Council adopted an OFL of 5.02 kt and an ABC of 4.02 kt. For EBS Tanner Crab, the Council adopted an OFL of 41.29 kt and an ABC of 33.03kt. SMBKC is managed on a biennial basis. For SMBKC, the Council adopted an OFL of 0.129 t and ABC of 0.097 t for 2024/25, and 2025/26.
The final 2024 SAFE report indicates that Aleutian Islands golden king crab, Pribilof Islands red king crab, Norton Sound red king crab, and EBS Tanner crab stocks are all above BMSY, while the EBS snow crab stock is at ½ BMSY, and the BBRKC stock is below BMSY but above ½ BMSY. Pribilof Islands blue king crab and St Matthew blue king crab stocks are below ½ BMSY, and are therefore considered overfished. EBS snow crab, St. Matthew blue king crab, and Pribilof Islands blue king crab stocks are all under rebuilding plans and will remain in rebuilding until the mature male biomass (MMB) reaches BMSY.
The SSC also received a presentation on information from the eastern Bering Sea Ecosystem Status Report (ESR) relevant to recommending crab harvest specifications, and reviewed model scenarios for Norton Sound red king crab and Aleutian Islands golden king crab, and several other topics from the September 2024 BSAI Crab Plan Team Report.
Staff contact is Anita Kroska.
Charter Halibut Recreational Quota Entity Fee Modification
In April 2022, the Council made final recommendations for a charter halibut stamp program as a means to provide funding to the charter halibut Recreational Quota Entity (RQE). At this October 2024 meeting, the Council recommended two modifications to those final Charter Halibut Stamp recommendations based on suggestions from NMFS that were generated during the rule-making process and implementation planning.
NMFS recommendations were highlighted in a discussion paper that was presented in June 2024 and also made available in October. The paper outlined two portions of the Council’s April 2022 motion which posed implementation challenges: NMFS’s potential contract with the RQE to issue the stamps and to collect the fees, and tiered fees ($20-$40-$60) used to purchase stamps. While tradeoffs around these decision points were highlighted in the previous RQE funding analysis, the rule-making process was able to further gauge the magnitude of these challenges. For a halibut stamp program designed and maintained through the RQE, there are perceived advantages in flexibility and responsiveness. However, NMFS identified concerns around ensuring a secure and consistent system as well as the pace at which the system could be designed. To mitigate those concerns, NMFS could leverage its eFish platform to facilitate a safe and secure system. Although a tiered fee system would be desirable to lodges with multi-day anglers, this pricing structure is inherently more complex, it would generate revenue more slowly, and it would affect charter operations differently.
In response to these points, in its October 2024 motion, the Council endorsed modifications in line with NMFS’ two recommendations. These included:
- carrying out the fee collection and halibut stamp issuance through the NMFS Alaska Region eFish platform; and,
- adopting a single fee for halibut stamps instead of using a tiered fee approach.
Both changes are intended to add simplicity and reduce cost while still maintaining the Council’s overall intent for the stamp program. These changes will be reflected in the forthcoming proposed rule, which will then also be available for public comment.
Staff contact is Sarah Marrinan.
Joint BSAI and GOA Groundfish Specifications
Groundfish Plan Team Reports and Proposed Harvest Specifications
Under this agenda item, the Council received reports from the recent Joint, Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI), and Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Groundfish Plan Team meetings and recommended 2025 and 2026 BSAI and GOA groundfish harvest specifications and prohibited species catch (PSC) limit apportionments for proposed rulemaking. Additionally, the Council received presentations on two discussion papers; the first on how marine mammals feeding on halibut discards impacts halibut discard mortality rates, and the other on spatial management of GOA rockfishes, described below.
Proposed rulemaking for harvest specifications notifies the public of expected Council action to recommend final groundfish harvest specifications for 2025 and 2026 at the December 2024 meeting. Proposed groundfish harvest specifications for both 2025 and 2026 are typically set to match the final 2025 harvest specifications that were previously approved and published in the Federal Register in March 2024. The Council will recommend final harvest specifications in December 2024 based on stock assessments that incorporate the most recent 2024 survey data. The assessments will be compiled in the Groundfish SAFE reports for the BSAI and GOA that will be released in late November 2024. When the final rule implementing those recommendations is published in early 2025, the updated specifications will replace the 2025 specifications that were approved last year.
The SSC reviewed the Joint Groundfish Plan Team Report, the BSAI Groundfish Plan Team Report, and the GOA Groundfish Plan Team Report that summarized the issues discussed and actions taken by the Plan Teams at their September meetings. The SSC received a preview of ecosystem status reports (ESRs) which provided an Alaska climate update and a preliminary assessment of ecosystem indicators for the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska under their C1 Crab Specifications agenda item. Full presentations of these reports will be provided to the Council in December.
The Council received condensed presentations of the Groundfish Plan Team reports that focused on issues most relevant to proposed specifications and some of the highlights coming out of the Plan Team meetings as well as stock assessment products expected for stocks in December. Highlights from the Joint Plan Team meeting included preliminary survey results and proposed modeling updates as well as other informational items.
Updated groundfish stock assessments will be reviewed by the Plan Teams at the upcoming meetings November 12-15 at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, WA, and the Council will receive full reports at its December meeting prior to recommending final BSAI and GOA groundfish harvest specifications.
BSAI Groundfish
For proposed rulemaking for the 2025 and 2026 fishing years, the Council recommended OFLs, ABCs, and TACs based on a rollover of the existing 2025 specifications for all BSAI groundfish stocks, and consistent with SSC recommendations. The Council also recommended PSC limit apportionments for salmon, halibut, crab, and herring, and halibut Discard Mortality Rates (DMRs) for 2025 and 2026. Full details are included in the Council motion for proposed BSAI groundfish harvest specifications.
The Council received a letter from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) indicating that the combined, post-season sum of the run sizes from the rivers comprising the three-river index (Upper Yukon, Unalakleet, and Kuskokwim Rivers) of Chinook salmon is 197,359 and is below the threshold level of 250,000. Therefore, the performance standard for the Bering Sea pollock fishery will remain at 33,318 Chinook salmon, and the PSC limit will remain at 45,000, as identified in 50 CFR 679.21.
The Council also received a letter from the NMFS indicating that results of the NMFS Eastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey estimate of halibut is 125,145 fish and below the abundance threshold of 150,000 fish thus in the ‘low abundance’ state for purposes of setting the 2025-2026 halibut PSC limit for the Amendment 80 fleet. The IPHC letter reporting the abundance estimate from the setline survey was not yet available, thus the Council recommended the same halibut PSC limit as in 2024 for proposed specifications. Abundance estimates for halibut (IPHC setline) and herring (ADF&G) will be available for consideration as part of final specifications in December.
Highlights from the BSAI Plan Team report included preliminary results from the Eastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey, and proposed changes to and modeling considerations for several of this year’s planned stock assessments. The Plan Team, SSC, AP, and Council also reviewed harvest projections for stocks that will not have an updated assessment this year, and which will be included in December final specifications.
Staff contact for the BSAI Groundfish Plan Team is Diana Stram.
GOA Groundfish
For proposed rulemaking for the 2025 and 2026 fishing years, the Council recommended OFLs and ABCs consistent with SSC recommendations, based on rollover of the existing 2025 specifications for all GOA groundfish stocks. The Council also recommended proposed TACs for all species. Lastly, the Council recommended GOA halibut PSC limit apportionments and adopted updated halibut DMRs for 2025 and 2026; full details are included in the Council motion for proposed GOA groundfish specifications.
Highlights from the GOA Plan Team Report included: preliminary results from the acoustic survey conducted this year, potential changes to survey plans for 2025, and proposed changes to GOA groundfish models and apportionments for several of this year’s planned stock assessments. The Plan Team, SSC, AP, and Council also received harvest projections for the following GOA stocks or stock complexes, which will not be reviewed again in November but will be used for making final harvest recommendations in December: Flathead sole, Pacific ocean perch (POP), rougheye/blackspotted rockfish (RE/BS), northern and southern rock sole, shallow-water flatfish (SWF), rex sole, deepwater flatfish (DWF), and arrowtooth flounder (ATF).
Staff contact for the GOA Groundfish Plan Team is Sara Cleaver.
DMR and rockfish spatial management discussion papers
The interagency Halibut DMR Working Group provided an informational report and short presentation on a discussion paper: “Marine Mammals Feeding on Halibut Discards.” The report outlined the 3 ways DMRs are calculated to estimate halibut mortality and described how observers record data on marine mammals feeding on discards. The working group could not put forward a recommendation at this time due to the lack of a sampling frame.
The Council also received a presentation on a discussion paper on GOA rockfish spatial management issues. The rockfish presentation focused on: 1) stock structure of shortraker rockfish, rougheye and blackspotted rockfish, thornyhead rockfish, and the Other rockfish stock complex, and 2) potential fishery impacts of changes to subarea ABC apportionment for these stocks. Due to potential impacts of spatial management changes on the CGOA Rockfish Program, the Council urged GOA industry members interested in exploring this issue further to collaborate and bring forward potential options for subarea apportionment changes at a future Council meeting. The Council took no further action at this time.
Staff contact is Sara Cleaver.
Observer 2025 Annual Deployment Plan
The Council reviewed the Draft 2025 Annual Deployment Plan (ADP) for Observers and Electronic Monitoring in the Groundfish and Halibut Fisheries off Alaska, and provided recommendations to NMFS for the Final 2025 ADP. Observer coverage rates resulting from the selected design and the final budget are expected in the final ADP that will be published in December 2024. The Council also received reports from its Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committees (FMAC & Partial Coverage FMAC).
The Council supported the sampling design proposed in the draft 2025 ADP, which is largely the same as the design currently on the water for the 2024 fishing year. However, the Council made several recommendations to NMFS for the Final 2025 ADP. The Council recommended including shoreside observers and electronic monitoring (EM) service/maintenance support for tenders such that the Western Gulf pollock fleet can fully participate in the pelagic trawl EM program. To reduce temporal bias resulting from cancellation of trips that are selected for monitoring, the Council recommended changes to the fishing trip cancellation policy in ODDS such that a person must EDIT (and not cancel) a trip selected for observer coverage to reduce temporal bias. The Council urged NMFS to conduct significant outreach to the fleet prior to 2025 to convey these changes.
The Council reiterated its support for revising the zero selection pool and removing EM systems from vessels that have not fished for multiple years. Lastly, the Council will provide written support for the proposals (on p. 4 of the September 2024 PCFMAC report) submitted to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) under the 2025 Electronic Monitoring and Reporting Grant Program.
See the Council’s full motion here. Staff contact is Sara Cleaver.
Crew Data Collection
The Council reviewed an initial review analysis of implementing a crew data collection program, and recommended no further action at this time. The Council cited concerns over the lack of secure funding to implement the data collection and the potential for additional costs. The draft evaluated the need for an annual data collection program to gather crew information across federally managed fisheries, aiming to improve the availability of data on crew participation (licenses) and compensation. The proposal offered benefits such as enhancing community impact assessments and providing data for more equitable disaster relief fund distribution, and several SSC, AP, and Council members spoke to the importance of systematic crew data collection for supporting informed fisheries management and promoting economic stability in fishing-dependent communities. However, concerns were also highlighted in the AP and Council about the potential costs and distribution of the reporting burden. In addition, at this point it was not clear whether there would be sustained Federal funding for the administration of the data collection; therefore, the Council did not advance further action at this time.
Staff contact is Sarah Marrinan.
Pelagic Trawl Gear Definition
The Council reviewed a preliminary Regulatory Impact Review (RIR) focused on amending the Federal pelagic trawl gear definition, and made revisions to the purpose and need and list of alternatives for analysis. The revised options under the action alternative would update the regulatory definition of pelagic trawls in Alaska to clearly allow for additional flotation in codends and bycatch excluder devices, remove unnecessary outdated text, and allow instrumentation necessary to monitor and adjust net performance.
The Council emphasized that this action is an essential step in ongoing efforts to minimize the impacts of pelagic trawl gear on bycatch, sensitive habitat, and unobserved mortality. At the October meeting, the Council affirmed that this action is intended to have a narrow scope and will focus solely on changes to the regulatory definition of pelagic trawl gear. The Council signaled within the revised purpose and need statement that clarifying this regulatory definition will facilitate the process to incentivize trawl gear innovation. This action is separate from ongoing Council efforts to incentivize gear innovations and amend performance standards.
The next review of the RIR is scheduled for the June 2025 Council meeting.
Staff contact is Taylor Holman.
Observer Availability
The Council reviewed a discussion paper on observer availability, comments on the paper from its FIshery Monitoring Advisory Committee, and took no further action. The paper examined the number of observers needed across Council fisheries, and challenges in providing observer coverage.
In examining the number of observers of each endorsement level needed across fishing seasons, the paper determined there is a surplus of qualified observers for assignments under current management requirements including recent regulatory changes implementing the trawl EM program, the pacific cod trawl cooperative, and changes to monitoring requirements in the Bering Sea pot cod CP sector. The pool of qualified observers includes any observer whose current certification meets the endorsement requirements which likely includes numerous observers who are not actively interested in observing and are not available for deployment. However, given available data, it is difficult to estimate an accurate number of observers willing and able to accept an assignment at any given time.
Regarding the challenges in providing observer coverage in both partial and full coverage fisheries, the paper noted that many of the challenges affecting observer availability are either inherent to fisheries observing or are general factors that affect the overall labor pool. Strategies being considered by National Marine Fisheries Service and observer provider companies to improve observer availability are largely outside the scope of Council influence, but it is important for the Council to continue to consider the impacts of management changes on monitoring requirements including potential cumulative and indirect effects.
Staff contact is Anna Henry.
Climate Reports
The Council has multiple concurrent efforts planned or underway to build climate resilience in the Council process and the fisheries it manages. These include Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding and proposed activities, the June 2024 Climate Scenarios Workshop (CSW) and resulting report and ideas, and the Programmatic Evaluation, as well as the work of the Climate Change Task Force (CCTF), which will hold its final meeting in November 2024 and provide a final report to the Council in December. As such and to coordinate amongst various ongoing initiatives, the Council received two presentations on the CSW report and an overview report on the recent Scientific Coordination Subcommittee 8th National meeting (SCS8). These two discussion items provided the Council an opportunity to consider next steps and further actions in support of developing further guidance, tools, and/or approaches to improve climate readiness in the Council process.
Update on IRA Climate Readiness Funding
The Council’s IRA funding provides the resources and staff capacity to invest in a focused climate readiness planning effort. The Council submitted a proposal to NMFS and was approved for $2.5 million in funding. IRA funds must be spent by the end of 2027. While the Council is not constrained to planning within this timeline (and some potential items including any regulatory actions would likely extend beyond this timeline), it is important to consider how to leverage this substantial support strategically and impactfully in the next three years.
The Council’s IRA funding proposal focuses on three objectives that build on and advance the Council’s current work:
1. Develop a climate-resilient management policy. (This work is intended to be carried out through the Programmatic Evaluation process).
2. Continue work to incorporate local and traditional knowledge.
3. Strengthen the consideration of uncertainty and risk in harvest specifications.
Climate Scenarios Workshop Report
In June 2024, the Council held a two-day Climate Scenarios Workshop with the purpose of generating ideas for short- and long-term management approaches and tools to improve climate resiliency of federally managed fisheries in the North Pacific. The workshop convened over 200 participants in person and virtually to explore four hypothetical future scenarios. No decisions were made at this meeting, and the intent was to generate ideas and not to build consensus or make recommendations. The discussion section of the workshop report is based on detailed meeting notes from all plenary and breakout sessions, and captures the ideas and feedback shared at the workshop as expressed by participants. The report includes ideas relevant to all 3 IRA proposal objectives, as well as other climate readiness planning opportunities, and. As well as some suggestions for moving forward some of the main themes and ideas stemming from the workshop.
The Council also reviewed a brief report on the recent 8th national meeting of the Scientific Coordination Subcommittee (SCS8), which took place in August 2024 in Boston, MA, and focused on the topic of “Applying Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) Control Rules in a Changing Environment.” The meeting convened SSC members from across all eight council regions to discuss this topic in depth. The full meeting summary is anticipated to be available in early 2025. The brief summary report provided some more immediate high level considerations for the Council from the NPFMC delegation to the meeting.
Following discussion of both reports and after hearing from both the SSC, the AP and the public, the Council noted that it looks forward to the Climate Change Task Force final report in December 2024, which, with the Climate Scenarios Workshop report, will allow the Council to further plan and communicate climate resiliency efforts in a comprehensive manner through a tracking tool and/or workplan. The Council also supported the two priorities identified by the SSC resulting from SCS8, both of which support and maintain momentum toward achieving IRA proposal Objective 3: Strengthen the consideration of uncertainty and risk in harvest specifications. The two priorities are the following:
1. Consider to what extent, and whether, to revise groundfish and crab harvest control rules (HCRs) to be more climate-resilient by scheduling an SSC workshop (February or April 2025) as a starting point to frame how to approach and prioritize HCR adjustment opportunities and supports the formation of a technical SSC-Plan Team-agency subgroup to develop the ideas from this workshop.
2. Compile social and economic information to meet the needs of using the best scientific information available and informing Council decision-making and TAC-setting. In doing so, the Council supports efforts of the existing technical SSC economic and socioeconomic subgroup and will review pilot work on sablefish in December 2024
Staff contacts for climate initiatives are Katie Latanich (Climate IRA project coordinator/programmatic evaluation) and Diana Stram (CCTF/SCS/HCRs).
Staff Tasking / B reports
E Newsletter – 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 B reports and staff tasking materials, the Council took the following actions:
Advisory groups
- Appointed Dr. Sophia Wassermann and Dr. Jim Thorson to the GOA Groundfish Plan Team.
- Approved a Terms of Reference for the Legislative Committee.
- Noticed the public that the Groundfish and Crab Plan Teams, and the IFQ and Charter Halibut Management Committees will meet prior to the December meeting.
Other actions
- Endorsed the current practice of how to prioritize which items to include for SSC review when their agenda does not allow sufficient time, as described in the staff paper. The Council also agreed with the SSC addition that an additional trigger for when the SSC should review program review reports should include when environmental conditions are substantially different from those that were in place at the time the program was developed.
- Expressed support for the Exempted Fishing Permit application submitted by Trident Seafoods, to allow for the development and testing of a new footrope design that aims to minimize seafloor contact by the gear when targeting pollock that are on or near the seafloor, while maintaining catch efficiency.
In addition, Deputy Commissioner Rachel Baker reported back to the Council as promised on her research into ways to account for the total number of rental boats used for fishing and the effort and harvest from this segment of unguided users. A proposal has been submitted to the Alaska Board of Fisheries to address this issue, and ADFG plans to continue exploring how best to quantify harvest data for this subsector to help inform management decisions.
Staff contact is Diana Evans.
Chum Salmon Bycatch Outreach and Engagement
The Council is currently considering new management measures to minimize chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery, especially chum salmon that originate from Western Alaska river systems. At this meeting, Council staff presented a brief discussion paper that provided a) information on recent outreach and engagement efforts related to salmon bycatch; b) an opportunity for the Council to give input and direction on additional engagement opportunities on the current chum salmon bycatch action, and c) a means to facilitate this discussion and receive feedback from members of the public. All outreach and engagement activities must be balanced with analytical workloads and funding constraints.
Consistent with prior and current outreach and engagement efforts on salmon bycatch, the Council indicated its interest in committing Council members’ and staff time to participating in several Regional Subsistence Advisory Council (RACs) meetings in 2025.
- Eastern Interior RAC meeting on February 19 and 20, 2025 in Fairbanks
- Western Interior RAC meeting on February 25 and 26, 2025 in McGrath
- Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta RAC on March 4 and 5, 2025 in Bethel
- Kodiak-Aleutian RAC on March 6 and 7, 2025 (virtual)
The next step for RAC related outreach is for staff to contact the respective RAC coordinators to gauge the RAC’s interest and scheduling availability. In addition, the Council was invited to participate in the Special Convention of the Tanana Chiefs Conference on November 13, 2024. Further detail and planning related to the Special Convention are forthcoming. Several additional recommendations for engagement opportunities were provided including a Tribal Unity Gathering on October 16 from 9am-1pm at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, as well as a Subsistence Panel at the Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Convention on October 17 from 3-5pm at the Egan Center.
Staff contact is Kate Haapala.
Upcoming Meetings
Staff contact is Diana Evans
The following Committee and Plan Team meetings are currently anticipated
- Charter Halibut Management Committee, October 25, 2024, Virtual
- BSAI Crab Plan Team, Nov 5, 2024, Virtual
- Bering Sea FEP Climate Change Taskforce (CCTF), Nov 6-7, 2024, Juneau, AK and virtual
- Joint BSAI/GOA Groundfish Plan Teams, Nov 12-15, 2024, Seattle, WA and virtual
- Alaska Interagency Crab Meeting, Nov. 20, 2024, virtual
- IFQ Committee, December 2, 2024, Anchorage, AK and virtual
- NMFS Saltwater Recreational Fishing Roundtable, December 2, 2024 (T), Anchorage, AK
- Charter Halibut Management Committee, December 3, 2024, Anchorage, AK and virtual
- BSAI Crab Plan Team Modeling Workshop, January 14-16, 2025, Anchorage, AK