Category: NPFMC

The NP Council set the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Specs this morning. Here are the Overfishing Level (OFL), Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC), and Total Allowable Catch for Pollock, Pacific cod, and Sablefish for 2018 and 2017 for comparison. The TAC is the 2018 catch limits for Pollock and Pacific cod and ABC is the catch limit for Sablefish.

NMFS Alaska Fisheries Science Center is starting a new research endeavor on the interactions between fishing families and changing regulations, and environmental and socioeconomic conditions in Alaska fisheries. The impacts of fisheries management on families is an important component of understanding how fishing communities are affected by changing regulations, a key NP Council concern. And, yet, this dimension of fishing community impacts has received relatively minimal study. NMFS is working to organize a workshop around this topic during the upcoming June Council meeting in Juneau (similar to the IFQ crew workshop they held last year). The workshop will be a chance to start scoping out the type of research questions that may be worth pursuing further. NMFS is looking to discuss several Read more…

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…

Yesterday the Council passed their Final Action agenda item that will allow one Recreational Quota Entity (RQE) as a non-profit entity, registered with the IRS, to purchase and hold commercial halibut quota share for use by the guided halibut fishery with two pools, one for each area 2C and 3A. The annual limit on transfers to the RQE will be 1% of commercial quota share in 2C and 1.2% of quota share in 3A, based on the 2015 quota share units pool. There will also be a cumulative cap on the amount of quota share held by the RQE and leased under GAF in a year. The cumulative cap will be managed annually on a sliding scale with no more than 10% of 2015 commercial quota share held as RQE and leased as GAF in 2C and 12% in 3A. There will be restrictions on transfers to the RQE in an effort Read more…

-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 Read more…