Bob Mace Award The Council selected Lauren Smoker to receive the Bob Mace award upon her retirement because of her position with NOAA General Counsel over the course of three decades. In that capacity, Ms. Smoker worked on some of the most complex and controversial fishery management actions in Alaska, including but not limited to… Read More →
Election of officers
The Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee and Advisory Panel each convened with some new members and held an election for Chair and vice-chair. The SSC re-elected Sherri Dressel (ADF&G) and elected Franz Mueter (University of Alaska Fairbanks) to serve as co-chairs for 2022. The SSC also re-elected Alison Whitman (ODFW) to serve as vice-chair. The… Read More →
Coast Guard Law Enforcement in the North Pacific
The Council received a report on Operation North Pacific Guard (NPG) from the U.S. Coast Guard in conjunction with their normal B report. NPG is an annual high seas U.S. fisheries law enforcement operation designed to detect and deter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activity in accordance with multilateral and bilateral international agreements to… Read More →
Economic Data Reporting Amendments and Future Data Collection
The Council took final action to amend three existing Economic Data Reporting (EDR) Programs, and remove one. Currently four data collection programs exist which represent mandatory annual data reporting requirements for regulated entities participating in the BSAI Crab Rationalization fisheries, the BSAI American Fisheries Act pollock fishery, the BSAI Amendment 80 fisheries, and the GOA… Read More →
BSAI Crab
Norton Sound Red King Crab OFL/ABC for 2022 and January Crab Plan Team Meeting Report The Council received an overview of the 2022 stock assessment for Norton Sound red king crab (NSRKC). The council accepts SSC and CPT recommendations of maintaining an ABC buffer of 40%, given the concerns with the status of the stock… Read More →
Catch Sharing Plan Allocation Review
At this meeting the Council considered an Allocation Review for the Area 2C and 3A commercial and charter halibut Catch Sharing Plan (CSP) as required by NOAA Policy Directive. The Council deemed the review complete and final with the incorporation of SSC recommendations. In response to the review and public input, the Council… Read More →
Bering Sea Greenland Turbot Longline Pots
The Council initiated an analysis of authorizing longline pot gear in the directed Greenland turbot fishery in the Bering Sea. The Council reviewed a discussion paper that examined evidence that killer whale depredation is precluding the hook-and-line fishery for Greenland turbot and scoped issues with a new gear authorization that should be fully analyzed. The… Read More →
Groundfish Management Policy
The Council conducted a comprehensive review of the Groundfish Management Policy, highlighting Council activities in 2019-2021 that were relevant to priorities and objectives established in the Policy. The Management Policy is part of the Council’s Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Groundfish FMPs, and was developed through a Council process… Read More →
Trawl Electronic Monitoring
The SSC completed a preliminary review of electronic monitoring (EM) on pelagic trawl pollock catcher vessels (CVs) and tenders both delivering to processing plants. The trawl EM program combines EM systems that provide at-sea monitoring of CVs for compliance with fishery management objectives to achieve maximized retention, electronic reporting of catch and discard information, and… Read More →
Essential Fish Habitat
At this meeting, the SSC reviewed the models and output being used for the Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) 5-year review summary report, which is under preparation for Council review later this year, and the Council supported the SSC’s recommendations for improvements. The SSC received reports on progress with assessing EFH component 1, descriptions and maps… Read More →
