After the delivery of a report examining the costs for Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) to develop and implement BSAI crab electronic logbooks (eLogbooks), the Council chose to suspend agency consideration of developing a Crab Rationalization eLogbook while industry investigates more cost-effective options. NMFS requires daily fishing logbooks for vessels 60 ft length overall… Read More →
BSAI Crab Management
The Council approved 2019/2020 fishing year OFLs and ABCs for the Aleutian Islands golden king crab and Pribilof Islands blue king crab stocks, and reviewed summaries and SSC comments for stock assessment scenarios and other issues addressed at the Crab Plan Team’s May 2019 meeting. The Council also reviewed issues related to rebuilding the St.… Read More →
Crab Partial Offloads
The Council identified a preliminary preferred alternative for a proposal to allow vessels participating in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Crab Rationalization (CR) Program to partially offload crab harvested and then continue fishing before fully offloading all remaining harvested crab. The Council’s preliminary preferred alternative would remove Federal regulations that prohibit the continuation… Read More →
Bristol Bay Red King Crab Savings Area
The SSC and Council reviewed an application for an exempted fishing permit to allow for some flatfish trawling within the Bristol Bay red king crab savings area (RKCSA) closure in order to evaluate the relative differences in crab bycatch rates inside and outside of the closure area. The Bristol Bay red king crab savings area… Read More →
