The NP Council December Newsletter is out. December’s decisions on the Charter Halibut RQE are summarized. This will be in an additional initial review tentatively set for April. The action would allow the charter sector to purchase halibut IFQ from 2c and 3a to be added to the guided recreational allocation and therefore loosen charter halibut management measures. The next review will look at transfer restrictions of 5 to 20% versus the 10 to 40% considered in December. The council doesn’t have jurisdiction over the funding source for the RQE, but can restrict the use of funds acquired by the proposed non-profit. Finally, alternative three changed from retiring latent charter permits to allowing the RQE to purchase and hold them. In December, the Council made their Charter Halibut recommendations Read more…
Month: December 2015
Dockside Exams
Steve Ramp will be in Petersburg to conduct dockside exams from February 6-10. They will also hold a meeting Monday, February 8th at 6pm in the Council Chambers to update us on regulation changes and answer questions.
2015 SOUTHEAST ALASKA DIRECTED PACIFIC COD FISHERY ANNOUNCEMENT
Sitka . . . The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) announced today that the directed fishery for Pacific cod will close in the waters of Icy Strait and Port Frederick at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, December 22, 2015. The closure area includes waters of the Northern Southeast Inside Subdistrict (NSEI) that are east of 136°00.00′ W. longitude and west of a line from Point Couverden to Point Augusta (Figure 1.). This includes all waters of statistical areas 355801 and 355802. The guideline harvest range for Pacific cod in the NSEI and SSEI Subdistricts combined is 750,000 – 1,250,000 round pounds. The department estimates that 270,000 round pounds of Pacific cod have been taken from the Icy Strait area during the 2015/2016 seasonal fishing period. This area is being closed Read more…
SOUTHEAST ALASKA TANNER CRAB AND GOLDEN KING CRAB SEASONS ANNOUNCEMENT
Petersburg . . . The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced today that seasons for the 2015/2016 commercial Tanner and golden king crab fisheries in Southeast Alaska will open by regulation at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, February 17, 2016. The season start date for the Tanner and golden king crab fisheries is based on the date with the smallest Juneau tidal range between February 10 and February 17 [5 AAC 35.110(a) and 5 AAC 34.110(b)]. Fishermen are also reminded that weather delay criteria for the Tanner and king crab fisheries have been adopted into regulation. Any delay to the start of the 2015/2016 Tanner and golden king crab fisheries due to weather will be announced 24 hours before the start of the fisheries [5 AAC 35.110(b) and 34.110(f)]. The registration deadline for Read more…
2016 WINTER DEMERSAL SHELF ROCKFISH FISHERY ANNOUNCEMENT
Sitka. . . The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) announced today the 2016 winter directed commercial fishery for Demersal Shelf Rockfish (DSR) will open in the Northern Southeast Inside (NSEI) Subdistrict and portions of the Southern Southeast Inside (SSEI) Subdistrict on Tuesday, January 5 at 9:00 a.m. These areas will remain open until allocations are taken or until 4:00 p.m. on the day prior to the start of the commercial halibut fishery, whichever occurs first. The seven species of rockfish in the DSR assemblage are yelloweye, quillback, canary, copper, china, tiger, and rosethorn. The 2016 annual directed commercial DSR harvest limit for each area is 55,125 round pounds (25 mt) with 37,485 pounds (17 mt) allocated to the winter fishery. The remainder of the harvest objective Read more…
NP Council C6 Halibut RQE
The Council finished up C6 Charter Halibut RQE. They are recommending this policy return for another Initial Review with a changed Purpose and Needs statement and refined Alternatives. The following is what we will see in the next analyses of the Charter Halibut RQE: New Purpose and Needs: Alaska’s guided halibut anglers have seen recent increases in regulatory restrictions due to declining halibut stocks and guided recreational allocations. A market-based mechanism for the guided halibut recreational sector may be an effective means to supplement their annual allocations. Allowing an RQE (Recreational Quota Entity) to hold a limited amount of commercial halibut QS on behalf of guided recreational halibut anglers under a “willing seller and willing buyer” approach may result in less Read more…
2016 GOA Sablefish Apportionment
Click here to view the 2016 allowable biological catch for the GOA.