Saving Seafood

Senator Cantwell Pushes for Changes to Fisheries Disaster Process, Highlights Failures to Support Southwest Washington Fishermen

September 25, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):

At a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing today on fisheries disasters, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the Ranking Member of the committee, highlighted the importance of responding to fisheries disasters and pushed for reforms to the process.

“In Washington, fisheries are a cornerstone of our maritime economy. Its related businesses and seafood processors, ship builders, gear manufacturers, support 60% of our maritime economy, which is about 146,000 jobs and $30 billion in economic activity,” Cantwell said. “Washington has experienced 17 fishery disasters since 1992, including crab, groundfish, and salmon. Unfortunately, the fisheries disaster process has become more burdensome, and has resulted in less funding and lengthy delays, putting an unnecessary burden on fishermen and fishing communities.”

In particular, Cantwell discussed the 2016 Coho salmon fishery disaster, which impacted fisheries across the state.

“The Coho disaster impacted Tribes, commercial fisherman, charter and recreational fisherman… but not all groups received adequate funding from NOAA,” Cantwell said. “In a shift from previous policy, the administration determined that the charter fishermen should not be included in the economic determination. Thus, I believe Washington did not receive adequate funding for this disaster.”

Ron Warren, the Director of Fish Policy at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, testified at the hearing about the impact of that inadequate funding for Washington state’s economy.

“If you add the charters from the coast and charters from Puget Sound, as well as the troll fishery and other fisheries that had been included, you’d be looking at about $100 million to the state of Washington,” Warren said.

The decision to exclude charter fishermen from disaster funding has impacted communities throughout the state, but it has been particularly devastating in fishing-dependent communities in Southwest Washington, like Westport and Ilwaco.

Butch Smith, President of the Ilwaco Charter Association, said: “The charter fishing industry brings in millions of dollars for Washington’s coastal economy. Nobody knows why charter fishing income was dropped from the 2016 disaster declaration, but in Westport, WA, alone, five charter boats have already left Westport and the Washington coast. People have lost houses and businesses as a result of the disaster. I’m glad Senator Cantwell is working on this issue, and I will work with her to make sure our charter fishermen get the support they need when disasters are declared.”

“I am concerned that the charter fisherman have not been treated fairly, and that’s why I plan to work with you, Mr. Chairman, on bipartisan measures that help ensure that small business charter fishermen are mandated into the Disaster Relief Recovery Act so they do receive adequate funding,” Cantwell said to Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) at the hearing.

Throughout her time in the Senate, Cantwell has prioritized working on issues that impact the fishing industry. In 2015, she introduced bipartisan legislation to create a national ocean acidification monitoring strategy to prioritize investments in ocean acidification sensors to areas that need it most. In 2018, she worked with colleagues in the House and Senate to secure $200 million in federal funding to help communities with declared fisheries disasters. She has also fought to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed from harmful mining and opposed drilling off the coasts of Washington and Oregon.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s opening statement at the hearing is available HERE, audio is HERE, and a transcript is HERE.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s Q&A with witnesses is available HERE, audio is HERE, and a transcript is HERE.

New England Fishery Management Council approves red crab fishery totals

September 24, 2019 — The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) decided on new specifications for the Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery a recent meeting on 24 September.

The council, which is meeting from 23 through 26 September, has increased the total allowable landings of the fishery by 12.7 percent for the next four fishing years. The proposed catch for the years 2020 to 2023 will now by 2,000 metric tons (MT), an increase of 225 MT over the 1,775 MT that the fishery has used for the last three specification cycles, according to a release from the NEFMC.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: Biomass of snow crab in Bering Sea grew slower than expected

September 24, 2019 — Last week’s Crab Plan Team, an advisory group to the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, heard some good news about increased biomass of mature male snow crab in the US state of Alaska’s Bering Sea, but the survey showed less than what was predicted earlier this year.

The quota for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab fisheries will be set by Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) in mid-October. Alaska’s crab resources are jointly managed by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the ADF&G.

There was a “smaller increase in mature male biomass (MMB) of snow crab than projected, but it is still increasing”, noted stock assessment author Cody Szuwalski of NMFS. He and other scientists recommended one of eight assessment models that would result in a preferred MMB of 111.4 metric tons, with an OFL of 54,900t, 85% higher than last year, to the plan team.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

ALASKA: Blue king crab fisheries in the Bering Sea are struggling

September 4, 2019 — Every year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports to Congress on the status of U.S. fisheries. The report breaks the data down by region, and highlights which stocks are in “overfishing” and “overfished” status, as well as which stocks have been rebuilt.

The 2018 report, released in August, shows an Alaska stock was just added to the nation’s overfished list.

Krista Milani, a natural resource specialist with NOAA Fisheries in Unalaska, said the recently released report shows the number of U.S. fish stocks subject to overfishing remains at a near all-time low — meaning there are a lot of healthy, sustainable populations. But in Alaska, it’s not all good news.

“For the Alaska region, we didn’t have any fisheries that were in overfishing status, but we do have two stocks that are considered overfished,” Milani said.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

MAINE: After Last Year’s Poor Harvest, Mainers Work To Help Clam Fisheries Bounce Back

August 9th, 2019 — Last year Maine’s harvest of soft-shell clams was one of the worst in many decades, down to around 7 million pounds. That’s due in part to closures of polluted flats, and predation by the invasive green crab.

But harvesters and other observers say the fishery can bounce back — and new efforts to better protect the resource are emerging in more than a dozen coastal towns.

The Medomak River is Maine’s most prolific softshell clam fishery, and Glen Melvin has been picking them from the mudflats here, off and on, for more than four decades. Steering a beat-up aluminum outboard downstream from Waldoboro, Melvin sports a multi-colored bandana and mirrored sunglasses.

The boat flies past cove after cove, which in recent years have been frequently shut down to clamming because of pollution by fecal coliform.

Read the full story at Maine Public Radio

ASMFC 2019 Summer Meeting Supplemental Materials Now Available

July 31, 2019 — The following was released by Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Supplemental materials for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Meeting are now available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2019-summer-meeting for the following Boards/Workshop (click on “Supplemental” following each relevant committee header to access the information). For ease of access, supplemental meeting materials have been combined into one PDF. Not included in the combined document are supplemental materials for the Executive Committee.

South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board – Revised Draft Agenda & Meeting Overview; Atlantic Cobia Technical Committee Meeting Summary; Atlantic Croaker Traffic Light Analysis (TLA) Report; Spot TLA Report; Draft Atlantic Cobia Fishery Management Plan Review; Draft Atlantic Croaker Fishery Management Plan Review

American Eel Management Board – Revised Meeting Overview

Horseshoe Crab Management Board – Advisory Panel Call Summary

Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Management Board – Public Comment; Black Sea Bass Commercial Options; Review of Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Discard Mortality

Tautog Management Board – 2019 Draft Fishery Management Plan Review

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board – Draft Addendum VI; 2019 Draft Fishery Management Plan Review; Public Comment

Wind Power Workshop for New England and Mid‐Atlantic Commissioners and NOAA Fisheries –Revised Draft Agenda

As a reminder, Board meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, August 6th and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 5:00 p.m.) on Thursday, August 8th. The webinar will allow registrants to listen to board deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur. No comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar. Should technical difficulties arise while streaming the broadcast the boards/sections will continue their deliberations without interruption. We will attempt to resume the broadcast as soon as possible. To register, please go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3215930074468838914

Oregon wants to untangle whales from crab fishery

July 23, 2019 — Oregon fishery managers are changing how the state’s lucrative Dungeness crab fishery will be managed to avoid tangling whales in commercial fishing gear.

Though the changes happening this season are relatively minor for commercial fishermen, difficult discussions are on the horizon.

The number of whales entangled so far this year off Oregon, Washington state and California appears to be down compared to prior years, according to preliminary reports. But Oregon wants to avoid a lawsuit like the one brought against California by the Center for Biological Diversity. That lawsuit, over impacts to whales from commercial fishing activities, settled in March.

For now, fishery managers will eliminate a two-week postseason cleanup period in the commercial Dungeness fishery — a grace period for fishermen to clear gear out of the water. Instead, all commercial gear must be out of the water by the last day of the season on Aug. 14.

The measure, along with others, including the introduction of new buoy tags to help better identify gear, were among a list of recommendations proposed by the Oregon Whale Entanglement Working Group. The stakeholder group, which includes fishermen and industry representatives as well as researchers and fishery managers, began meeting in 2017 following several years of record-high incidents of whale entanglement.

Read the full story at The Astorian

Massive shift underway in China’s aquaculture, fisheries sectors

July 19, 2019 — It’s unlikely anyone on the average Chinese aquaculture worker’s wages will afford to eat often at “Guo,” a fancy new restaurant which opened recently at the New Century Hotel in Dalian, one of China’s traditional fishing and seafood processing hubs – and the home town of the Zoneco Group.

Punters pay CNY 500 (USD 73.00, EUR 64.76) to sit amid chic décor at a buffet of “Dongbei” treats including lobsters and crabs.

The average annual income for a Chinese fisherman (including aquaculture workers) stood at CNY 18,450 (USD 2,685, EUR 2,390) in 2017. That’s lower than an industrial wage in China – and this in a workforce that is now officially shrinking. And that might explain why so many are exiting the sector.

China claims a total 18.7 million people are active in fisheries, which includes related industries. Other figures suggest five million involved directly in aquaculture. But it’s not clear how long many of the small-time players in the industry – and that huge headcount – will last.

Several factors are combining to radically transform China’s fisheries and aquaculture sector. Most significant among those are a nationwide environmental crackdown and the domestic market’s mounting concern over food safety and the overuse of chemicals and antibiotics in local aquaculture production.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Kona Crab, Bigeye Tuna Among Fishery Science Discussions Next Week in Honolulu

June 11, 2019 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

Renowned scientists from throughout the Pacific will meet June 18-20 in Honolulu to consider a range of issues facing the offshore fisheries of Hawai’i and the US Territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Recommendations from this group known as the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will be forwarded to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, which meets in Honolulu on June 25-27. The Council develops fishery management measures for the fisheries, which are transmitted to the US Secretary of Commerce for approval and implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

Kona Crab: SSC members will hear reports to inform their setting the acceptable biological catch for the main Hawaiian Islands Kona crab. Updated information is now available from a 2019 benchmark stock assessment with catch projection to 2026. The SSC’s recommendation, including a new way to incorporate management uncertainties and risk of overfishing, will help the Council specify multi-year harvest limits for fishing years 2020-2023.

Bigeye Tuna: In December 2018, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission agreed to limit the US longline bigeye tuna catch in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean to 3,554 metric tons annually in 2019 and 2020. In 2014, an amendment to the Council’s Pelagic Fishery Ecosystem Plan in part provided NMFS with the authority to specify annual catch limits in US participating territories. It also allows NMFS to specify a limit, recommended by the Council, authorizing a US participating territory to allocate a portion of that specified catch limit to eligible US vessels through a fishing agreement. The SSC will decide on potential catch and/or allocation limits to recommend to the Council, in addition to considering if the limits should be re-evaluated annually or after multiple years.

Other Issues:

  • The SSC will review and provide input on a NOAA Fisheries framework for determining that stock status determinations and catch specifications are based on the best scientific information available.
  • A working group of the SSC will seek to define benefits and limitations to spatial management actions, both existing and potential, relative to pertinent regional fishery issues and management objectives.
  • The SSC will review and may endorse a process developed by its working group to comply with the Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Act (2018) requirement for greater incorporation of non-governmental information sources into federal fisheries management.

Summary of Action Items for the 178th Meeting of the WPRFMC

June 5, 2019 — The following was published by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The 178th meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council will convene June 25-27, 2019, at the Laniakea YWCA, Fuller Hall, Honolulu, Hawai’i. The Council will consider and may take action on the issues summarized below, including any public comments on them. Written public comments should be received by the Council’s executive director by 5 p.m. (Hawai’i time), Thursday, June 20, 2019, by postal mail, fax or email as indicated below. After June 20, it is the submitter’s responsibility to provide at least 40 copies of the written comment to Council staff at the Council meeting.

Mail: Ms. Kitty M. Simonds
Executive Director
Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council
1164 Bishop Street, Suite 1400
Honolulu, HI 96813

FAX: (808) 522-8226
E-mail: info.wpcouncil@noaa.gov

Action Item Summaries
A
1. Specifying Harvest Limits for the Main Hawaiian Islands Kona Crab

The Council will consider specifying multi-year harvest limits for the main Hawaiian Island Kona crab for fishing years 2020-2023. The best scientific information available is the 2019 benchmark stock assessment with catch projection to 2026[1]. Based on this updated information, the maximum sustainable yield was estimated to be at 73,609 pounds and the overfishing limit at 33,989 pounds. The Council’s P* and SEEM* Working Groups and the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) evaluated the scientific, social, ecological, economic, and management uncertainties and recommended a risk level for the Council to consider. The SEEM* working group used a new standardized process developed by the Social Science Planning Committee (SSPC), in which the social, ecological, and economic dimension is used to determine the risk of overfishing, and the monitoring and compliance/management criteria are used to determine management uncertainty. The risk of overfishing informs the Council’s consideration of annual catch limit (ACL) specification, and the management uncertainty informs the Council’s consideration in setting the annual catch target (ACT).

The Council will evaluate the following options:
1) No Action. No harvest limits will be specified for fishing year 2020-2023.
2) Specify the previous harvest limit at 3,500 pounds using the 2015 assessment (Thomas et al. 2015) for fishing year 2020-2023.
3) Specify the ACL equal to the acceptable biological catch (ABC) at P*=38 percent at 30,802 pounds and set an ACT at P*=30 percent at 28,324 pounds based on the P* and SEEM* Analysis using the 2019 benchmark stock assessment.
4) Specify the ACL equal to the ABC at P*=38 percent at 30,802 pounds and set an ACT 10 percent lower than the SEEM* analysis at P*=20 percent at 25,491 pounds using the 2019 benchmark stock assessment
5) Specify the ACL equal to the ABC at P*=38 percent at 30,802 pounds and set an ACT 20 percent lower than the SEEM* analysis at P*=10 percent at 21,243 pounds using the 2019 benchmark stock assessment

At its 178th meeting, the Council will consider taking final action to specify the harvest limits and the accountability measure that will prevent the fishery from overfishing the stock.

citation
[1]Kapur MR, Fitchett MD, Yau AJ, Carvalho F. 2019. 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment of Main Hawaiian Islands Kona Crab. NOAA Tech Memo. NMFS-PIFSC-77, 114 p. doi:10.25923/7wf2-f040

B
2. Hawai’i Fishery Ecosystem Plan Amendment to Precious Coral Essential Fish Habitat

The Council at its 173rd meeting in June 2018 directed staff to develop options to redefine essential fish habitat (EFH) and any habitat areas of particular concern (HAPC) for precious corals in Hawai’i for Council consideration for a Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) amendment. EFH information was reviewed through the 2015 and 2016 annual Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) report cycles and an options paper was developed for the 174th meeting in October 2018.

New observations of precious corals have occurred throughout the region, with research concentrated in the Hawai’i Archipelago. Observations in the territories and of the larval phase of precious corals are rare or nonexistent. However, new information exists to refine the habitat characteristics and geographic extent of deep- and shallow-water precious coral EFH in the Hawai’i Archipelago. Narrative information on which the EFH designations are based and information to fulfill the EFH requirements of fishery management plans may also be used to update the archipelagic FEPs. The redefinition of precious corals EFH is framed in three separate actions: refinement of deep-water species complex EFH; refinement of shallow-water precious coral species complex EFH; and update of the narrative information.

The Council at its 174th meeting reviewed the following options for each of the three actions:
Action 1 – Update EFH for deep-water precious coral species
Options
1) No change (status quo)
2) Revise EFH by depth range
3) Refine the geographic boundary of existing precious coral beds
4) Refine the geographic boundary of existing beds and add new beds

Action 2 – Update EFH for shallow-water precious coral species:
Options
1) No change (status quo)
2) Update geographic extent and habitat characteristics.

Action 3 – Update EFH narrative information
Options
1) Update the FEP narrative information on EFH
2) Do not update the FEP narrative information on EFH

The Council took initial action at its 174th meeting directing staff to prepare an amendment to the Hawai’i FEP to revise the Precious Corals EFH and selected the following preliminary preferred options:

Action 1 – Option 4: Refine the geographic boundary of existing beds and add new beds.
Action 2 – Option 2: Update geographic extent and habitat characteristics.
Action 3 – Option 1: Update the FEP narrative information on EFH.
At its 178th meeting, the Council will consider taking final action to amend the Precious Coral EFH section of the Hawai’i FEP.

C
3. Managing Loggerhead and Leatherback Sea Turtle Interactions in the Hawai’i-Based Shallow-Set Longline Fishery

The Council at its 173rd meeting in June 2018 recommended amending the Pelagic FEP to establish a management framework for the Hawai’i shallow-set longline fishery that consists of 1) annual limits on the number North Pacific loggerhead and leatherback turtle interactions consistent with the anticipated level of annual interactions that is set forth in the current valid biological opinion (BiOp) and 2) individual trip interaction limits for loggerhead and leatherback turtles. The Council also recommended specifications under the framework as follows: 1) annual limits of 37 North Pacific loggerhead turtles and 21 leatherback turtles; and 2) individual trip limit of five North Pacific loggerhead turtles.

The Council’s recommendation for specifying the loggerhead and leatherback turtle annual limits was based on the anticipated level of interactions analyzed in the biological evaluation (BE) initiating reconsultation of the Hawai’i shallow-set longline fishery under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 consultation process. As part of its recommendation, the Council noted that it would review its recommendation if the new BiOp from the ongoing consultation results in a jeopardy decision or otherwise results in a different incidental take statement for North Pacific loggerheads or leatherbacks. The new BiOp was originally scheduled to be completed by Oct. 31, 2018, but the draft was not completed in time for the October SSC and Council meeting. Following the October meetings, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO) set a new timeline to deliver the draft BiOp by Jan. 31, 2019, and a final BiOp by Feb. 28, 2019. Due to the federal government shutdown, the draft BiOp timeline was further delayed to March 25, 2019.

At its October 2018 meeting, the SSC received a presentation from the NMFS Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) on the population viability analysis (PVA) for loggerhead and leatherback turtles prepared for the ongoing Section 7 consultation. The modeling was conducted in response to a request by the PIRO Protected Resources Division for the purpose of examining the long-term viability of the species. PVA results indicate that the North Pacific loggerhead population has a mean estimated population growth rate of 2.4 precent, while the Western Pacific leatherback turtle population has a mean estimated population growth rate of 5.3 percent. The growth rates reflect long-term population trends based on nesting beach data representing approximately 52 percent of the North Pacific loggerhead turtle population and approximately 85 percent of the Western Pacific leatherback turtle population.

The Council at its 174th meeting in October 2018 reviewed the approach to the assessment for the BiOp and considered the SSC’s report regarding the PVA. The Council recommended convening an interim Council meeting, if needed, to review draft BiOp and consider any revisions to its June 2018 recommendations based on the BiOp and stated that it will reconsider a specification of leatherback individual trip limits if necessary.

The Council convened its 175th Meeting on Dec. 17, 2018, to consider final action on additional mitigation measures for the Western Pacific leatherback turtles in advance of the draft BiOp completion, taking into consideration the results of the PVA model indicating a continuing long-term declining trend of the population. The Council deferred action until the draft BiOp and more complete information on the impacts of the fishery on the Western Pacific leatherback turtles are available to fully inform the Council decision.

The draft BiOp was provided to the Council on March 28, 2019. The Council convened its 177th meeting on April 12, 2019, to review its recommendations on the management framework from the 173rd meeting for consistency with the draft BiOp and to consider taking final action on the management framework. The draft BiOp concluded that the shallow-set longline fishery is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of ESA-listed species, including loggerhead and leatherback turtles. However, the draft BiOp also contained Reasonable and Prudent Measures (RPMs) that were inconsistent with the Council’s recommended framework. The Council at its 177th meeting maintained its management framework recommendation from the 173rd Council meeting, additionally recommended an individual trip limit of two leatherback turtles and requested that NMFS consider revising the RPMs for consistency with the Council recommended action.

At its 178th meeting, the Council will review the final BiOp for consistency with the 177th meeting recommendations and may consider taking additional final action if any discrepancies remain with the previously recommended action.

D
4. US Participating Territory Longline Bigeye Catch/Allocation Limits

Bigeye tuna comprises a Pacific-wide population that is internationally managed and assessed as separate stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) and Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Association (IATTC), respectively. The best scientific information available indicates that both stocks are not subject to overfishing nor are they overfished, according to the stock status determination reference points in the FEP for Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region. The scientific bodies of the WCPFC and IATTC will consider new benchmark stock assessments for both stocks in 2020.

In December 2018, the WCPFC agreed on CMM 2018-01, which limits the US longline bigeye tuna catch in the WCPO to 3,554 metric tons (mt) in 2019 and 2020. CMM 2018-01 does not establish an individual limit on the amount of bigeye tuna that may be harvested annually in the Convention Area by Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Participating Territories, including American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Limits are not provided to the SIDS and Participating Territories in recognition of their fisheries development aspirations.

In 2014, Amendment 7 to the Council’s Pelagic FEP was approved and implemented (50 CFR 665.819). It established the territorial catch/effort and allocation limit measure that provides NMFS with authority to:
Specify annual catch or effort limits for a US Participating Territory, as recommended by the Council, not to exceed any WCPFC-adopted limits;
Specify a limit recommended by the Council authorizing a US Participating Territory to allocate a portion of that specified catch or effort limit to eligible US vessels through a specified fishing agreement; and
Review and approve specified fishing agreements for consistency with the Pelagic FEP and other applicable laws.

The Council must annually review the conservation status of the fishery resource, the needs of fishing communities dependent on the particular fishery resource and consistency with the Pelagics FEP and other applicable laws in considering its recommendations for territorial catch, effort and allocation limits as well as its review of specified fishing agreements. Amendment 7 also established a territorial longline bigeye tuna catch limit of 2,000 mt for each territory and an allocation limit of 1,000 mt for each territory. At its 173rd meeting in June 2018, the Council took final action to modify the territorial catch/effort and allocation limit measure and implementing regulations. Should NMFS approve the action, it will amend the Pelagic FEP to remove the requirement for establishing separate total catch or effort limits for the US Participating Territories in order to establish an allocation limit and also would allow multi-year limits. The Council would annually review any established limits to determine whether the best available scientific information or the needs of fishing communities warrant modifying or rescinding such limits.

At its 178th meeting, the Council will consider recommending territorial bigeye tuna catch and/or allocation limits to take effect beginning in 2020, given the Council’s recommended modification of the territorial catch, effort and allocation limit measure. The Council will consider the following options:
1. No catch or allocation limits (no action)
2. 2,000 mt catch and 1,000 mt allocation limits
3. No catch limit and up to 2,000 mt allocation limits

The Council will also consider the fishing years in which the limits will take effect or expire, in consideration of the requirement for annual review, availability of new scientific information and potential for multi-year limits.