The Council held its June 2020 meeting online due to concerns surrounding COVID-19. This was the first regular virtual meeting with the SSC, AP, and the Council members all participating. The public was able to engage during public testimony and provide handouts, and other attendees were able to follow along through presentations and discussions by… Read More →
Appointments and Call for Nominations
Appointments The Council appointed Ms. Erin Fedewa to serve on the BSAI Crab Plan Team, as a replacement for Dr. Robert Foy. Ms. Fedewa is a Research Fisheries Biologist at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center studying Bering Sea crab body condition, energetics, growth and trophic dynamics in relation to environmental conditions. The Council also appointed… Read More →
Scallop Specifications
The Council reviewed the 2020 Alaska Weathervane Scallop SAFE report and specified scallop ABC for the 2020/2021 fishing year at 1.156 million pounds (524 t)of shucked scallop meats, a level equivalent to 90% of OFL, which is 1.284 million pounds (582 t). The federal specification of scallop OFL and ABC applies to all waters off… Read More →
BSAI Crab Management
The Council approved OFLs and ABCs for Aleutian Islands golden king crab, Pribilof Islands golden king crab, and Western Aleutian Islands red king crab, and reviewed stock assessment scenarios and other issues addressed at the Crab Plan Team’s May 2020 meeting. For AI golden king crab specifications, the Council adopted an OFL of 4,798 mt… Read More →
St Matthew Island Blue King Crab Rebuilding
The Council took final action to adopt a rebuilding plan for St Matthew Island blue king crab and recommend a preferred alternative for Secretarial Action (Alternative 2/Option 2) that is projected to rebuild the stock within the time required under the Magnuson-Stevens Act’s National Standard 1, while also providing affected communities with the possibility of… Read More →
Cook Inlet Salmon
The SSC, AP, and Council reviewed a preliminary draft of the environmental assessment and regulatory impact analysis (EA/RIR) that is being prepared to analyze the impacts of managing the salmon driftnet fishery in federal waters of Cook Inlet through the Council’s Salmon FMP. The Council also reviewed reports from the final meetings of the Cook… Read More →
Observer coverage update
The Council reviewed changes to observer deployment and data collection this year in the full and partial coverage program related to COVID-19, presented by the agency. After a report from its Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee (FMAC), the Council provided recommendations to NMFS about re-introducing observers into the partial coverage observer program as well as developing… Read More →
Sablefish apportionment
The SSC received a report regarding ongoing analyses of different ways to spatially apportion the sablefish stock sub-area ABCs across management regions in the GOA and BSAI. Preliminary results indicate limited biological differences amongst apportionment schemes. Final analyses of a range of apportionment schemes and their performance against some biological and economic objectives will be… Read More →
Species Distribution Models for EFH
The SSC received a report from Jodi Pirtle (NMFS AKR) and Ned Laman (AFSC) on the development of new and revised species distribution models that may provide information to support descriptions and mapping of Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) in the Council’s FMPs. The discussion paper and presentation reviewed analyses under development to provide information to… Read More →
Herring PSC management
The Council discussed herring prohibited species catch (PSC) management in the Bering Sea following unanticipated high catch of herring in the pollock fishery A season in 2020, and affirmed NMFS’ authority to use inseason adjustments to monitor and manage PSC closures during the summer. By regulation, the PSC trigger limit for herring is 1% of… Read More →
