The April NPFMC Newsletter is out.
In April the NP Council took final action and created an annual renewal process for chart halibut permits (CHPs). The is meant to provide the Council with more information on the CHP program and to facilitate retirement of non-transferable permits when ownership changes, and improve the ability of enforcement to ensure only valid permits are being used.
The NP Council also took action to restrict halibut harvested by sport fishing guide services and possessed with halibut harvested not using sport fishing guide services. Previously these two types of sport harvest had separate limits. Under the Councils new direction, guided and unguided halibut onboard one vessel are held to the stricter management measure of for guided sport fishing including bag and possession limit, size restrictions, and carcass retention requirements.
After reviewing the status of Chinook stocks on the Pacific Coast, the NP Council indefinitely postponed any further action to modify the Chinook salmon prohibited species catch (PSC) limit for GOA trawl catcher vessels in non-pollock fisheries in the Central and Western GOA. The Council did not identify a future time to revisit this issue, but will monitor the Chinook stocks throughout the Pacific Coast and the performance of the PSC-limited GOA trawl catcher-vessel sector targeting Pacific cod, rockfish, and flatfish.