View the 2018 Black Cod Almanac is here, and here are some highlights: -In 2017, 3,322 sablefish, 877 shortspine thornyhead, 9 Greenland turbot were tagged; plus 3 spiny dogfish with pop-off satellite tags. The greatest time at liberty for a tag is 13,568 days or about 39 years. And the greatest distance a tagged sablefish has traveled is 1,544 nm from the tip of the Aleutians to central Southeast Alaska. -The Gulf of Alaska trawl survey for sablefish was up 79% from 2016 -The 2014 year classes is estimated to be 10 times higher than the long-term average. -Longline survey locations and dates for 2018 are posted at the end of the Almanac
GOA Specs
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.
IPHC 2018 Recommended Catch Limits
This week IPHC also met for their Interim Meeting in Seattle. The recommended catch limits and a comparison of last years catch limits are here. The Commission has moved from the ‘Blue Line’ to a Spawning Potential Ratio (SPR) this a reference of fishing intensity and ratio of spawning biomass compared to fishing levels. The 2017 catch limits equaled an SPR of 40% and the recommended 2018 catch limits would be an SPR of 46%. TCEY is Total Constant Exploitable Yield or total amount of halibut removals over 26” in length and FCEY is Fishery Constant Exploitable Yield or the amount of directed fisheries halibut. The 2018 TCEY is a reduction of 24% from the catch limits adopted in 2017 and projections indicate that the target fishing intensity of SPR46 is likely to result in similar but Read more…
IPHC Interim Meeting
The IPHC Interim Meeting will be held Tuesday, November 28th-Wednesday, November 29th from 8am to 4 pm daily. To register to participate remotely via Webinar, please follow this link: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7155427446809338881 The meeting documents for the IPHC Interim Meeting are here: http://iphc.int/meetings-and-events/interim-meeting/im093-documents.html
Important Upcoming Dates
Purse Seine Task Force meeting Tuesday, November 28, from 9:00am-5:00 pm in Ketchikan at the Ted Ferry Civic Center Drift Gillnet Task Force meeting Wednesday, November 29, from 9:00-5:00 pm in Ketchikan at the Ted Ferry Civic Center Southeast Alaska Regional Planning Team Thursday, November 30, from 9:00-5:00 pm in Ketchikan at the Ted Ferry Civic Cener North Pacific Fishery Management Council December 4-12, in Anchorage at the Hilton Young Fishermen’s Summit December 6-8 in Anchorage at the Dena’Ina Center King and Tanner Task Force meeting Thursday, December 7, 2017 from 1pm-4pm in Douglas at the ADF&G building and Petersburg at the Tide’s Inn Conference room IPHC Harvest Regulatory Proposal deadline 5pm Saturday, December 23 Board of Fish Southeast Shellfish Read more…
Alaska Marine Highway Reform
As you know, The Alaska Marine Highway Reform Steering Committee, led by Southeast Conference, is pursuing legislative changes to transform the ferry system to a public corporation and pursue forward funding. Check out www.amhsreform.com to find project reports and information, provide feedback, and support reform efforts.
2018 Pink Salmon Harvest Forecast
The 2018 Southeast Alaska Pink salmon harvest forecast is out. The harvest is predicted to be in the average range with a point estimate of 23 million fish (80% confidence interval: 3–44 million fish). This would be below the recent 10-year average harvest of 38 million pink salmon, but near the average even-year harvest since 1960 (25 million). This year, unlike in recent years, ADF&G did not use NOAA’s forecast as a basis for their forecast. The juvenile pink salmon abundance indices from the 2017 trawl survey were the lowest in the 21 years NOAA has been conducting the survey, and about 25% of the previous lowest index. Forecasts using the previous forecast models resulted in negative to <10 million fish prediction for 2018. Instead, ADF&G chose a trend model and the pink Read more…