The Agenda for the April NP Council meeting is now online and documents are beginning to be become available, including the State of Alaska’s petition to the Alaska Supreme Court to repeal the Ninth Circuit’s decision that Cook Inlet and the other state salmon fisheries that overlap with federal waters (Alaska Peninsula and Prince Willam Sound) will need to be managed under a federal fishery management plan (FMP). The petition also argues that the Ninth Circuit’s decision would also apply to and require an FMP for other non-salmon fisheries overlapping with federal waters that NMFS previously deemed are better managed by the State. This would include the Tanner crab fishery in the Gulf of Alaska and lingcod throughout Alaska. Also on the agenda for the April meeting is a discussion Read more…