The Council reviewed an exempted fishing permit (EFP) application from the Alaska Seafood Cooperative to test ‘hallway’ style excluders in the Bering Sea flatfish trawl fisheries, and recommended that NMFS approve the EFP noting suggestions by the SSC for some experimental protocols where possible. This EFP project will document halibut and target species escapement rates… Read More →
Exempted Fishing Permits
The Council reviewed two exempted fishing permit (EFP) applications that were presented at the meeting and recommended that both be approved. The first EFP was proposed by the Aleut Corporation, to develop an economically viable AI pollock fishery. By allowing vessels under this EFP to fish in a mixed-target pollock fishery with its own Pacific… Read More →
Halibut Deck Sorting EFP Updates
The Council received an update from representatives of the Alaska Seafood Cooperative concerning the ongoing halibut deck sorting Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) research, which is testing handling methods or reducing halibut mortality in non-pollock groundfish fisheries. The research is intended to explore implementation issues that will be applied in the proposed regulatory amendment to implement… Read More →
Deck Sorting Analysis Updates
In Kodiak, the Council received an update from NMFS staff concerning an ongoing deck sorting analysis. NMFS is developing a proposed regulatory amendment to implement voluntary halibut deck sorting on trawl catcher processors when operating in non-pollock groundfish fisheries off Alaska. The proposed amendment is derived from the exempted fishing permits (EFPs) issued by NMFS… Read More →
Deck Sorting and Halibut Genetic Sample EFPs
The Council reviewed and supports two exempted fishing permit (EFP) applications that were presented at the meeting. The first is to allow on-deck sorting of Pacific halibut on non-pelagic trawl catcher processor vessels, as a means of reducing halibut bycatch mortalities. The EFP would extend, through 2018 and 2019, a current EFP granted to the… Read More →
Halibut Deck Sorting EFP
The Council reviewed a presentation on the exempted fishing permit (EFP) application to allow on-deck sorting of Pacific halibut on non-pelagic trawl catcher processor vessels, as a means of reducing halibut bycatch mortalities. Under the EFP, vessels are allowed to sort halibut removed from a codend on the deck, rather than routing halibut over the… 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 →
Salmon Excluder EFP
The Council received a final report on the exempted fishing permit for testing salmon excluder devices in the EBS pollock fisheries. The excluder tested in this EFP employs an ‘over and under” (O/U) design that achieved successful escapement (33-54%) in the GOA pollock fishery during previous trials. Three vessels were used and testing spanned the… Read More →
