The Council reviewed the Observer Program Draft 2019 Annual Deployment Plan (ADP), received a report from its Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee (FMAC, formerly named the Observer Advisory Committee), and provided recommendations to NMFS. The Council supported NMFS’ recommendations for the deployment strata (to use the same strata as in 2018) and a coverage allocation scheme… Read More →
Observer Issues: 2017 Annual Report
The Council received a presentation about the Observer Program Annual Report for 2017 and a report from the Observer Advisory Committee (the OAC, which will in future be renamed the Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee). The Annual Report provides a scientific evaluation of the deployment of observers in 2017, to assess whether the objectives of the… Read More →
Electronic Monitoring
In Kodiak, the Council received an update about fixed gear and trawl EM development from the Electronic Monitoring Workgroup (which has now been renamed the EM Committee) and endorsed preliminary monitoring objectives for trawl EM development. In April 2018, the Council reconstituted membership on the EM Workgroup to reflect a transition from the development and… Read More →
Electronic Monitoring Priorities
At the February 2018 meeting in Seattle, the Council reviewed the status of observer and electronic monitoring (EM) projects in the groundfish and Pacific halibut fisheries off Alaska. The Council received a presentation from the National Observer Program about observer insurance issues. The presentation further provided an overview of the National Observer Program Safety Review.… Read More →
Observer Fee Analysis
The Council reviewed a progress report on the observer fee analysis. The Council adopted a purpose and need statement, as well as three action alternatives for the fee analysis: Alternative 1: Status quo. Observer fee of 1.25% applies equally to all landings in the partial coverage category. Alternative 2: Increase the observer fee up to… Read More →
Final 2018 Annual Deployment Plan
NMFS reported on the Final 2018 Observer Annual Deployment Plan (ADP), which was released in early December. Although NMFS did not ultimately accept the Council’s ADP recommendations from October where they differed from those of the agency, the outcome is similar to the Council’s intent to allocate more coverage in the hook and line and… Read More →
Tendering Scoping Paper
The Council reviewed a scoping paper identifying the specific observer data concerns with respect to vessels engaged in tendering, and the OAC recommendations for developing short-term and long-term solutions. The Council agreed with the OAC recommendations, and initiated the following two projects. To address the issue of salmon monitoring and sampling in the GOA pollock… Read More →
Low Sampling Rates Discussion Paper
The Council reviewed a discussion paper that considered options for increasing partial coverage selection rates. The Council opted to initiate an analysis to consider increasing the observer fee, with the first steps of the analytical process to follow the Observer Advisory Committee recommendations to develop observer coverage reference points. The paper was prepared by a… Read More →
Draft 2018 ADP
The Council reviewed the Draft 2018 Observer Annual Deployment Plan (ADP), received a report from its Observer Advisory Committee (OAC) and its Electronic Monitoring Workgroup (EMWG), and provided recommendations to NMFS. The Council supports the ADP’s continuing recommendation to deploy observers by gear type in 2018, for trawl, longline, and pot gear (regardless of vessel… Read More →
Other Observer Issues
The Council reviewed the EMWG and the OAC recommendations on draft Statement of Work for the EM and observer service provider contracts for partial coverage, on which the NMFS Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO) is currently soliciting input. In staff tasking, the Council requested that the OAC, EMWG, and Advisory Panel comments be compiled and… Read More →
