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 →
Observer Issues
The Council reviewed the 2016 Annual Report for the North Pacific Observer Program, and made recommendations for the 2018 Annual Deployment Plan (ADP), which will be developed over the summer. The Annual Report provides a scientific evaluation of the deployment of observers in 2016, to assess whether the objectives of the Observer Program have been… Read More →
Lead Level 2 Observers
The Council took final action to recommend a regulatory change expanding the ways that an eligible observer can qualify to become a fixed gear lead level 2 (LL2) observer. This action is intended to address the potential for a shortage of fixed-gear LL2 observers for deployment on freezer longline vessels, or other fixed gear vessels… Read More →
Electronic Monitoring
The Council reviewed the Electronic Monitoring (EM) Workgroup report from their March 2017 meeting. In addition to discussing how the 2017 program is working, a workplan for giving public input on the statement of work for an EM contract, and planning for the transition of the current EM pre-implementation program to an integrated Observer Program,… Read More →
