Category: NPFMC

On Wednesday, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of United Cook Inlet Drift Association against a 2011 decision by the NP Council, Amendment 12, to remove several Alaska salmon fisheries from the federal management plan. The court found that under Magnuson Stevens, NMFS must manage fisheries in federal waters unless there is a fishery management plan that defers control to the State. After NMFS includes Cook Inlet in its salmon fishery management plan, they can then hand over control to the State. Here is more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/09/21/ninth-circuit-sides-with-fishermen-in-inlet-fight.htm The full court ruling can be found here: http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2016/09/21/14-35928.pdf Read more…

This week, Michael ‘Buck’ Laukitis of Homer and Theresa Peterson of Kodiak were both appointed to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to fill two of the Alaska seats.

Governor Walker announced his preferred nominees for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, they are Theresa Peterson of Kodiak and Buck Laukitis of Homer. Alternates include Linda Behnken, Art Nelson, Eric Olson, and Paul Gronholdt.

The February NP Council Newsletter is out. Dr. Ian Stuart of IPHC was appointed to the SSC for a one-year term. The Council is currently looking at re-structuring the Gulf of Alaska groundfish trawl fisheries. They will consider: -Alternative 1 leaving the fishery continue to exist as License Limitation Program and leave the prohibited species catch (PSC) unchanged. -Alternative 2 allocating the groundfish and PSC quotas to harvester-processor cooperatives based on historical catch of LLP licenses. -Alternative 3 allocating only PSC quotas to harvester processor cooperatives based on equal share and dependency on the fishery. -Alternative 4 setting 5-15% PSC and/or groundfish for use by Community Fisheries Associations or an Adaptive Management Plan. This could be selected in addition Read more…

The February NP Council Newsletter is out. Dr. Ian Stuart of IPHC was appointed to the SSC for a one-year term. The Council is currently looking at re-structuring the Gulf of Alaska groundfish trawl fisheries. They will consider: -Alternative 1 leaving the fishery continue to exist as License Limitation Program and leave the prohibited species catch (PSC) unchanged. -Alternative 2 allocating the groundfish and PSC quotas to harvester-processor cooperatives based on historical catch of LLP licenses. -Alternative 3 allocating only PSC quotas to harvester processor cooperatives based on equal share and dependency on the fishery. -Alternative 4 setting 5-15% PSC and/or groundfish for use by Community Fisheries Associations or an Adaptive Management Plan. This could be selected in addition Read more…

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…

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…