Petersburg . . . The Registration Area A Tanner crab harvest strategy [5 AAC 35.113] establishes commercial Tanner crab fishing season length using estimated mature male biomass and the number of registered pots at the start of the fishery. As of 8:40 a.m., Wednesday, February 17, 2016, there are 61 pot vessels and 4,880 pots registered for the 2015/2016 commercial Tanner crab fishery. At the current estimated mature male biomass and effort level of 4,880 registered pots, the harvest strategy provides two additional days of season length in “core” and “non-core” areas. The 2015/2016 commercial Tanner crab fishery in Southeast Alaska will open in “core” and “non-core” areas (described in 5 AAC 35.113(c)) at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, February 17, 2016. The season will close Read more…
New Board of Fish Appointees
Governor Walker announced three new appointees to the Board of Fish. Robert Mumford, the latest addition to the Board of Fish, who was confirmed last spring has announced the Statewide meeting in March will be his last. Alan Cain has been appointed to replace him. Mr. Cain is from Anchorage and has spent 15 years as an enforcement advisor for the Board of Fish. Tom Kluberton, the current Board of Fish Chair, and Fritz Johnson both have terms expiring in June. The Governor has appointed Israel Payton and Robert Ruffner to replace them. Mr Payton lives in Wasilla and works for Airframe Alaska, he has been a fish an game subsistence user for 40 years. Mr. Ruffner is an environmental scientist living in Soldotna and working for Kenai Watershed. All three appointees will have to be confirmed Read more…
2015/2016 SOUTHEAST GOLDEN KING CRAB FISHERY ANNOUNCEMENT
Petersburg . . . The 2015/2016 commercial golden king crab fishery in Southeast Alaska will open concurrently with the commercial Tanner crab fishery at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, February 17, 2016. Guideline Harvest Levels The Registration Area A guideline harvest level (GHL) for this season is 155,000 pounds. Management area specific GHLs set within the guideline harvest ranges (GHRs) are as follows: Management Area GHR 2015/2016 GHL Northern 0 – 175,000 15,000 Icy Strait 0 – 75,000 12,000 North Read more…
Underwater Vehicles in Chatham
NMFS, the US Geological Survey, and Rutgers University are partnering to deploy temporary ocean moorings at the Little Port Walter hatchery. This is the federally owned research station on the southern most tip of Baranof Island. The moorings will be part of a study on the use of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) for fisheries research. This study will focus on the outmigration of juvenile Chinook salmon released from Little Port Walter. 24 moorings with yellow and orange buoys labeled “NOAA RESEARCH” will be deployed from March 16-March26 and removed no later than December 15.
NPFMC February Newsletter
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…
2016 Black Cod Almanac
You can read the 2016 Black Cod Almanac here.
2016 Halibut Catch Limits
Click here to see the recent IPHC Blue Lines and recent Adopted Catch Limits. The 2016 season will open March 19th and close November 7th.