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…
Friday, September 23 EM Display and Outreach Meeting
Archipelago Marine Research makes cameras used in the Electronic Monitoring program for the longline fisheries and will be meeting with any interested community members this Friday at 9am in the PVOA office. Please join us for cookies, coffee and an EM system demo, and information on logistics.
2017 EM Program
The deadline to sign up for the 2017 EM Pool is Tuesday, September 20. If you participated in 2016 and want to participate again, you will need to opt-in again. As always, if you change your mind, you can opt-out at any point. The selection rate is 30% and trips will be selected through the same ODDS system as the human observer program. Previously, boats installed and removed the wiring when selected for a trip. This winter there is grant money to pay for the wiring needed for boats and vessel owners can choose to install the wiring permanently. The camera portion of the set up will still be installed before an observed trip and removed at the end of the trip. If you would like to opt-in for 2017, please contact Liz Chilton via email at [email protected], or call her at (206) 526-4197. Read more…
Next Meeting 9.2.2016
Our next membership meeting will be Friday, September 2, at 9am in the office. All members are welcome to join.
USCG Enhanced Oversight Program
The Coast Guard has announced that the Alternate Safety Compliance program has been suspended while they develop the Enhanced Oversight Program. The USCG will prescribe the Voluntary Safety Guidelines by January 1,2017. The Coast Guard will work with the Commercial Fishing Safety Advisory Committee to set the program and will solicit advice from the industry. The full Marine Safety Information Bulletin is here
BOF Teleconference Tomorrow
The Board of Fish will hold a teleconference tomorrow, August 30 from 10:00 am-12:00 pm to consider a petition for an emergency regulation requesting the Board allow Southern Southeast sablefish longline permit holders to convert their gear to pots, or allow fishing later in the year. The meeting will not be open to public testimony during the teleconference. The meeting can also be streamed live from the Board of Fisheries website: www.boardoffisheries.adfg.alaska.gov
New NP Council Members
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.