February 6, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — National Marine Fisheries Service has issued a temporary rule prohibiting directed fishing for Pollock in Statistical Area 610 in the Gulf of Alaska for the A season.
The action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2017 total allowable catch of pollock for Statistical Area 610, NMFS said in the rule published on Jan. 31 in the Federal Register.
NMFS manages the groundfish fishery in the Gulf exclusive economic zone under the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska prepared by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
The A season allowance of the 2017 total allowable catch of Pollock for Area 610 of the GOA is 2,232 metric tons, as established by the final 2016 and 2017 harvest specifications for groundfish in the GOA.
After NMFS’ regional administrator determined that the A season allowance for that TAC would soon be reached, NMFS moved to prohibit additional directed fishing for Pollock there during the A season.
This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.