-As part of the IFQ Program Review, the Council will re-create the IFQ Implementation Committee. The Committee will be tasked with providing recommendations regarding potential revisions of the IFQ program. Nominations are due by November 11, and the committee will be chaired by Buck Laukitis. As a result of the IFQ program review, the IFQ Committee will be asked to consider:
-sweep-ups of small blocked QS units
-use of medical lease provision
-definition of ‘immediate family member’ under the beneficiary lease provision
-impacts of quota share loss on Alaska’s rural communities and geographic distribution of QS
-geographic distribution of new entrants
-use of hired masters in the IFQ fisheries
-any additional concerns identified by the committee
-Preliminary selection rates for observers are 18% Trawl, 11% Hook and Line, 27% Hook and Line delivering to tenders, 3% for pot vessels, and 6% for pot vessels delivering to tenders.
-Required retention of all rockfish for EM vessels was an option in the EM analysis. The Council choose to remove this from the program and initiate it as a separate issue through a discussion paper for possible action later that would affect all fixed gear vessels, not just ones in the EM pool.
-Applications for the AP are due by December 1. Applications for the AP or IFQ Committee can be sent to: [email protected]
-The three meeting outlook is also at the end of the newsletter. Final action items at the December meeting include: 2017 charter halibut management measures, charter halibut RQE, groundfish harvest specs, and EM integration.
The full newsletter is here:
http://www.npfmc.org/wp-content/PDFdocuments/newsletters/news1016.pdf