Interim Advisory Panel appointment Between the February and April Council meetings, the Council Chair appointed Marissa Wilson to the Advisory Panel, on an interim basis until the end of the calendar year, to fill the vacancy left by Jamie O’Connor’s resignation. Call for Nominations The Council is soliciting nominations for the reconstituted Community Engagement Committee… Read More →
Written Public Comment Changes
The Council has approved a number of changes to the current written public comment procedures. The Council process should be a welcoming environment for all public, and the comment process should encourage people to be respectful when commenting. Input from written comments is exceedingly valuable to the Council process, to understand the diversity of perspectives… Read More →
Scallops
The Council reviewed the 2021 Alaska Weathervane Scallop SAFE report and specified scallop ABC for the 2021/2022 fishing year at 1.156 million pounds (524 t) of shucked scallop meats, a level equivalent to 90% of OFL, which is 1.284 million pounds (582 t). The federal specification of scallop OFL and ABC applies to all waters… Read More →
BSAI Halibut Abundance-based Management of the Amendment 80 PSC Limit
The Council reviewed and made some adjustments to options for a proposed management measure to link the Pacific halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) limit for the Amendment 80 commercial groundfish trawl sector in the BSAI to halibut abundance. The objective of linking the PSC limit to abundance is to minimize halibut PSC to the extent… Read More →
Sablefish Pots and IFQ Committee Report
The Council received reports reviewing the Gulf of Alaska sablefish pot fishery and recommendations from the IFQ committee. The GOA sablefish pot review summarized 3-4 years of fishery data as well as information gathered from speaking with fishery participants, managers, and stock assessment scientists. The review and subsequent testimony highlighted aspects of the fishery management… Read More →
IFQ Access Opportunities
The Council reviewed an expanded discussion paper on an IFQ Access pool of halibut and sablefish quota share that would facilitate entry level opportunities for crew and owner-operators, and took no further action. The discussion paper outlined an access pool that would target entry level fishermen, defined as those owning less than 5,000 pounds of… Read More →
Recreational Quota Entity Funding Mechanism
After reviewing a discussion paper outlining a stamp program as a potential funding mechanism for the recently-formed charter halibut recreational quota entity (RQE), the Council initiated an analysis to describe potential methods for the collection of fees from charter vessel operators and a mechanism to distribute those funds to the RQE. The RQE would be… Read More →
Salmon Genetics and Avoidance Plans
The Council received a number of status reports related to BSAI and GOA salmon bycatch, including genetic stock of origin reports for chum and Chinook encountered as bycatch in both the GOA and BSAI, eastern Bering Sea pollock fishery incentive plan agreement (IPA) reports, and an update from the SeaShare food donation program. These annual… Read More →
Economic Data Reporting and the Social Science Planning Team
At this meeting the Council received reports and presentations on a series of stakeholder and SSPT meetings that have taken place to assist the Council in revisions to its EDR Programs, and made adjustments to its outstanding analysis. The Council had mostly recently reviewed its EDR revisions analytical package at the Jan/Feb 2020 Council meeting,… Read More →
Research Priorities
The Council adopted research priorities for 2022-2024 as recommended by the SSC, including their suggested process changes for future reviews that incorporate SSPT and FEP research priorities. The SSC’s recommendations updated the comprehensive list of projects maintained on the Council’s online research priorities database as well as the projects the SSC is recommending for the… Read More →
