March 20, 2014 — Last night the Kodiak City Council and Borough Assembly met for a joint work session and discussed Gulf of Alaska trawl bycatch management at length.
In April the North Pacific Fishery Management Council will take up the bycatch issue, and try to develop some sort of management plan to help reduce it within the trawl industry. On Monday, the Kodiak Fisheries Work Group heard public comments, panel discussion and guest presentations on the matter and ultimately drafted a list of community goals that align with elements of the fishery management council’s framework motion on bycatch.
That drafted list was before the island’s two governing bodies last night, and Kodiak’s fisheries analyst, Heather McCarty, emphasized that the entire list is mere suggestions to the council for further analysis on certain issues.
“Everything in this outline is asking for analysis or continued analysis of the elements of the framework motion and any additional elements that you might add. It’s not expressing support for those elements.”