The Council elected Mr. Simon Kinneen as Chair of the Council for the upcoming year, and re-elected Mr. Bill Tweit as Vice-Chair. As Mr. Tweit has been serving as Interim Chair since August, the Council commemorated his service with a mini gavel. Mr. John Jensen joins the NPFMC as a new council member from Petersburg, Alaska. Mr.… Read More →
Call for Nominations
The Council is accepting nominations for its Scientific and Statistical Committee, Advisory Panel, and BSAI Halibut ABM Stakeholder Committee. Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) nominees should have areas of expertise in biology/stock assessment, marine mammals, statistics, fisheries/resource economics, sociology/anthropology, or other relevant disciplines and be federal employees, state employees, academicians, or independent experts not employed by advocacy… Read More →
Plan Team / Committee Appointments
The Council appointed new membership to the Social Science Planning Team, in response to a Council call to add expertise in Local and Traditional Knowledge and those who work directly with rural and Alaska Native coastal villages and/or tribal organizations. The Council selected Dr. Courtney Carothers to serve as a member of the Team, and… Read More →
Halibut Deck Sorting EFP Updates
The Council received an update from representatives of the Alaska Seafood Cooperative concerning the ongoing halibut deck sorting Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) research, which is testing handling methods or reducing halibut mortality in non-pollock groundfish fisheries. The research is intended to explore implementation issues that will be applied in the proposed regulatory amendment to implement… Read More →
BSAI Crab Specifications
The Council reviewed the final BSAI Crab Stock Assessment Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) report and received information on the status of the ten federally managed crab stocks. Based on this report, the SSC recommends overfishing levels (OFLs) and acceptable biological catch levels (ABCs) for 2018/19 and reports on catch accruing towards these levels in the previous… Read More →
Groundfish Harvest Specifications
The SSC was presented with the Joint Groundfish Plan Teams Report that summarized the issues discussed and actions taken by the Plan Teams at their September meeting in Seattle, WA. Highlights of the Plan Team report included overviews of the various surveys conducted in support of stock assessments and ecosystem analyses, as well as Team… Read More →
Observer Program Annual Deployment Plan
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 →
Halibut in Pots
The Council took final action on an issue that would allow retention of legal-size halibut in pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI), provided the operator holds sufficient halibut IFQ or CDQ for the corresponding regulatory area. The purpose of this action is to allow for more efficient harvest of the halibut… Read More →
Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan
The Council reviewed an initial draft of the Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP). The Bering Sea FEP establishes a framework for the Council’s continued progress towards ecosystem-based fishery management (EBFM) of the Bering Sea fisheries, and relies and builds on the Council’s existing processes, advisory groups, and management practice. The core FEP document reviewed… Read More →
BSAI Halibut Abundance-based Management
BSAI ABM PSC limits preliminary analysis The Council evaluated a preliminary review draft EIS/RIR of alternatives for abundance-based management (ABM) of BSAI halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) limits. The analysis centered primarily around a detailed description of the Council’s alternatives, elements and options, and a historical analysis of the application of candidate PSC limits from… Read More →
