A reception at Halibut Point in Sitka was held to recognize outgoing Council members Buck Laukitis of Homer and Theresa Peterson of Kodiak. Both Laukitis and Peterson acknowledged their involvement with fishing communities and noted they will still be involved in the Council process, albeit in a different capacity. We thank them for their… Read More →
Call for Nominations
IFQ Committee The Council is soliciting for two new IFQ Committee members. The IFQ Committee is a standing advisory body comprised of vessel owner/operators, crew, processors, and trade group representatives (including vessel owners’ associations and CDQ groups). The Committee meets independently – though sometimes in conjunction with a Council meeting – and discusses the merits… 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 →
GOA Pollock and Cod Seasonal Allocation Adjustments
At the June 2019 meeting, the Council took final action to recommend adjusting Gulf of Alaska (GOA) pollock and Pacific cod seasonal allocations. The purpose of this action is to reduce operational and management inefficiencies in the Western and Central GOA trawl catcher vessel (CV) pollock and Pacific cod fisheries. The Council intends to promote… Read More →
Observer Program Annual Report
At their June 2019 meeting in Sitka, the Council received a presentation on the Observer Program Annual Report for 2018 and a report from the Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee (FMAC). The Annual Report provides a scientific evaluation of the deployment of observers in 2018, to evaluate if deployment expectations were met that year. The report… 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 →
Classification of Sculpins in the BSAI and GOA FMPs
The Council reviewed the Initial Review Draft of an Environmental Assessment and Regulatory Impact Review (EA/RIR) to evaluate alternatives for classifying sculpins as target species or ecosystem component species in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Fishery Management Plans (FMPs). The Initial Review concluded that sculpins meet the requirements… Read More →
CQE Fish Up in Area 3A
The Council took final action to allow eligible CQE residents in Area 3A to fish halibut IFQ derived from CQE-held D class QS on C or D class vessels in Area 3A beginning on August 15th each year. This action provides flexibility for CQEs to potentially avoid revenue loss and is intended as a fallback… Read More →
Salmon Bycatch
The Council received a number of reports related to BSAI and GOA salmon bycatch including the EBS pollock fishery incentive plan agreement (IPA) reports, an update from the SeaShare food donation program, genetic stock of origin reports for chum and Chinook in both the GOA and BSAI and a summary of a NPFMC-sponsored workshop on… Read More →
BSAI Pacific cod Allocation Review
At this meeting, the Council reviewed the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Pacific cod allocation review, and accepted it as complete and final pending the addition, to the extent practicable, of information recommended by the Scientific and Statistical Committee. The review was responsive to NMFS’ Fisheries Allocation Policy Directive, issued in July of 2016,… Read More →
