Mr. Simon Kinneen and Mr. Kenny Down took the oath of office after being re-appointed for their final three-year term. Council members may only serve three terms, and Kineen and Down’s third term will expire in August of 2023. Additionally, the Council re-elected Simon Kinneen as Chair, and re-elected Bill Tweit as Vice-Chair for the… Read More →
Call for Nominations
The Council is accepting nominations for its Scientific and Statistical Committee, its Advisory Panel, (link to page for nominations) and its Pacific Northwest Crab Industry Advisory Committee (PNCIAC). 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,… Read More →
Russian Military Activity in the EEZ
During the U.S. Coast Guard agency report to the Council, Captain Jason Brennell of 17th Coast Guard District and Ms. Staci MacCorkle of U.S. State Department provided an in-depth briefing on the events surrounding the 26 August 2020 encounter between Russian naval vessels and aircraft, and the U.S. domestic fishing fleet legally fishing in the… Read More →
BSAI Crab Specifications
Approval of the SAFE and 2020/2021 OFL/ABC The Council approved the Final 2020 BSAI Crab SAFE and specified OFLs and ABCs for EBS snow crab, Bristol Bay red king crab, EBS Tanner crab, Saint Matthew blue king crab and Pribilof Island blue king crab for the 2020/21 fishing season. The Council took this action following… Read More →
BSAI Groundfish Proposed Harvest Specifications
The Council reviewed reports from the Joint and BSAI Groundfish Plan Teams and recommended 2021 and 2022 groundfish harvest and prohibited species catch (PSC) specifications for proposed rulemaking. The SSC was presented with the Joint Groundfish Report and the BSAI Groundfish Plan Team Report that summarized the issues discussed and actions taken by the Plan… Read More →
GOA Groundfish Proposed Harvest Specifications
The Council received a report from the GOA Groundfish Plan Team and adopted proposed harvest and prohibited species catch (PSC) specifications for 2021 and 2022. The GOA Groundfish Plan Team report summarized the issues discussed and actions taken by the Plan Team at its virtual September meeting. Highlights of the GOA Plan Team report included results from… Read More →
Squid and Sculpin Processing
The Council took final action on an analysis evaluating the potential impacts of removing restrictions to processing and sale of squids and sculpins as part of the Ecosystem Component (EC) category of the BSAI and GOA Fishery Management Plans. The Council selected the action alternative, Alternative 2, as their Preferred Alternative. Squids were added to… Read More →
Cook Inlet Salmon
The Council conducted its initial review of an analysis of alternative approaches to extend the authority of the Salmon FMP to include management of commercial salmon fishing in the Cook Inlet EEZ. The Council’s SSC reviewed the technical merits of the analysis and approved it for use by the Council for selecting a preferred alternative.… Read More →
Observer Issues
Observer Program Draft 2021 Annual Deployment Plan The Council reviewed the Observer Program Draft 2021 Annual Deployment Plan (ADP), received a report from the Partial Coverage Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee (PCFMAC), and supported NMFS’ recommendations for deploying observers and electronic monitoring (EM) on groundfish and halibut vessels in the partial coverage fisheries in 2021. Specifically,… Read More →
Halibut Abundance-based Management
The Council reviewed both a preliminary draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) and a discussion paper on approaches to indexing Amendment 80 (A80) halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) limits to abundance and other incentives to minimize halibut bycatch. Following review, the Council revised the purpose and need statement and alternatives for the action, and provided direction… Read More →
