The Council has indefinitely postponed any further action on modifications to the Chinook salmon prohibited species catch (PSC) limit for GOA trawl catcher vessels in non-pollock fisheries. The action could have either increased limits or added flexibility in the form of annual rollovers of unused PSC for trawl vessels targeting Pacific cod, rockfish, and flatfish… Read More →
Squid to Ecosystem Component Category
The Council reviewed an EA/RIR/IRFA to evaluate moving squid stocks in both the BSAI Groundfish FMP and the GOA Groundfish FMP into the Ecosystem Component (EC) category. Newly revised National Standard 1 guidelines include options to identify non-target species in FMPs (species caught incidentally during the pursuit of target stocks in a fishery) that do… Read More →
Gear and Sector Specific GOA Skate MRAs
The Council reviewed a discussion paper examining gear and sector specific Maximum Retainable Amounts (MRAs) for Gulf of Alaska skates. Action by the Council in 2014, and implemented in January 2016, revised the MRA for skate species in the GOA from 20% to 5% in order to reduce the likelihood that catch of skates would… Read More →
GOA Specifications for 2017/2018
The Council approved the Gulf of Alaska Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) report and recommended final catch specifications for the 2017 and 2018 groundfish fisheries. The Plan Team presentations included stock status updates and a report on the ecosystem SAFE report section. Because there was no summer trawl survey in the GOA in 2016… Read More →
