Saving Seafood

NEFMC Recommends Recreational Measures for Gulf of Maine Cod, Haddock for 2022; Discusses Atlantic Cod Stock Structure

February 14, 2022 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council met February 1-3, 2022 by webinar and devoted the entire third day of the meeting to groundfish issues. In short, the Council:

  • Developed recommendations on recreational fishing measures for Gulf of Maine cod and Gulf of Maine haddock for the 2022 fishing year for consideration by the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO) of NOAA Fisheries, which consults with the Council but is responsible for setting the measures;
  • Received a presentation on the 2021 Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Science/Assessment and Management Workshops, as well as the resulting draft final report;
  • Received a progress report from the Atlantic Cod Research Track Working Group; and
  • Engaged in an extensive discussion on potential management units for Atlantic cod based on the recent work on stock structure. The Council gave the Groundfish Committee a specific charge for considering next steps, which the full Council will review and discuss during the April 2022 meeting.

Read the full release from the NEFMC

PFMC Groundfish Management Team to hold work session January 18-21, 2022

January 4, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council) Groundfish Management Team (GMT) will hold a work session that is open to the public. The online meeting will be held Tuesday, January 18, 2022, through Friday, January 21, 2022, starting at 8 a.m. Pacific Standard Time and ending when business has been completed for each day. 

Please see the GMT meeting notice on the Council’s website for details.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer Todd Phillips at 503-820-2426;  toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

 

Groundfish Subcommittee of the SSC to hold online meeting January 25, 2022

December 30, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council)  Groundfish Subcommittee of the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will hold an online meeting to review the 2021 groundfish stock assessment process and discuss process improvements for the next stock assessment cycle. The online meeting will be held Tuesday, January 25, 2022, from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Pacific Standard Time or until business for the day is completed.

Please see the meeting notice on the Pacific Council’s website for additional details.

For further information:

•Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer John DeVore at 503-820-2413; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

 

Fishery council adopts tighter Bering Sea halibut bycatch limits based on stocks

December 22, 2021 — The governing body in charge of regulating halibut bycatch limits in the Bering Sea has adopted a new management system based on stocks of the valuable groundfish.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted the policy earlier in the month on an 8-3 vote. It’s set to go into effect in 2023.

Currently, there is a static cap on halibut bycatch for the Amendment 80 trawl fleet. If the fleet hits that cap, the fishery would close.

Advocates of tighter bycatch limits have said the current cap is too high. Since 2015, when the council last amended bycatch regulations, they have pushed for them to be lowered.

Read the full story at KTUU

 

Fishing council ties bycatch limits on Bering Sea trawlers to halibut abundance

December 16, 2021 — The council that manages fishing in federal waters voted this week to link groundfish trawl fishing in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands to halibut abundance. The action caps — at least for now — a six-year debate about curbing halibut bycatch in Alaska.

For many who have been following that debate, the decision comes as a surprise because it’s expected to deal what trawlers say is a crushing blow to their fishery.

But members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council said it was also important for them to consider how high levels of bycatch hurt small-boat halibut fishermen in Western Alaska — even if they didn’t go quite as far as advocates from those communities had hoped.

The action that ultimately passed Monday came from Rachel Baker, the deputy Fish and Game commissioner who represents Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration on the council. She said it will incentivize the trawl industry to reduce the halibut they incidentally catch in their nets.

When halibut stocks are low, the cap on prohibited species catch, or PSC, will also drop.

Read the full story at KTOO

NOAA Confirms 2022 At-Sea Monitoring Coverage Levels for Northeast Groundfish Sector

December 16, 2021 — NOAA Fisheries announced that for the 2022 fishing year, the total target at-sea monitoring overall level will be 99% of all groundfish sector trips subject to the at-sea monitoring program.

NOAA said it considered a “variety of factors” when it determined the coverage level for 2022 and wrote a letter to the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) to explain their decision.

In a bulletin, NOAA also said it has the funds to reimburse the industry for its at-sea monitoring costs. Plus, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will continue to administer the reimbursement program for Fishing Year 2022 as in prior years.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Pacific Council requests nominations for remaining advisory body vacancies for the 2022-2024 Term

December 16, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Council is requesting nominations for remaining vacancies for the 2022-2024 Advisory Body term. To ensure consideration, nominations should be received via the Council’s online Advisory Body Nomination Form. no later than 5 p.m. Friday, February 4, 2022.

List of vacancies

•Groundfish Advisory Subpanel – Sport Fisheries At-Large – 1 Position (WA, OR, or CA) preferably, but not exclusively, requesting nominees with knowledge of WA sport groundfish fisheries

•Groundfish Advisory Subpanel – At-Large Processor – 1 Position

•Habitat Committee – Northwest or Columbia River Tribal Representative– 1 Position

•Highly Migratory Species Advisory Subpanel – Processor North of Cape Mendocino– 1 Position

•Salmon Advisory Subpanel – Idaho Sport Fisheries– 1 Position

•Scientific and Statistical Committee – At-Large– 2 Positions, preferably, but not exclusively, requesting nominees with expertise in oceanography and/or social sciences. Nominations to the Scientific and Statistical Committee must include a curriculum vitae (CV) and a Statement of Financial Interests to be considered for appointment. Please download and complete NOAA Form 88-195 and submit it along with a CV via the online Advisory Body Nomination Form.

To submit a nomination and supporting documents, please fill out the Council’s online Advisory Body Nomination Form.

Individuals may nominate themselves or be nominated by other individuals or organizations. Individuals may apply for more than one advisory body seat, but please use a separate form for each nomination. Nomination materials submitted for the November 2021 Council meeting will not be considered. If you have been nominated in the past and wish to be considered in March 2022, please complete a new form.

The Council is scheduled to review the nominations and fill positions during the March 2022 Council meeting.  Appointments will be effective through December 31, 2024.

A summary list of nominations will be included in the public briefing materials for the March 2022 Council meeting, but Nomination Forms, Statements of Financial Interest, or other submitted nomination materials will only be distributed to participants of the closed sessions of the SSC or the Council. Letters of support for nominees may be submitted with the nomination form or may also be submitted for the March 2022 Council Meeting via the Council’s Public Comment E-Portal which will open no later than early-February.

The Council is committed to the principle of diversity and is interested in receiving nominations from a broad spectrum of people.  Eligibility or selection for these positions will not be based on race, color, national origin, handicap, age, religion, or sexual orientation. For further information on the advisory bodies or the nomination process, please contact Mike Burner, Deputy Director (503-820-2414 or toll free 866-806-7204).

 

‘For the first time in its history, the council has ignored science’: Decision to reduce halibut bycatch leaves Alaska groundfish fleet reeling

December 15, 2021 — Major fishing companies targeting the Alaska flatfish sector blasted the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) this week for a decision it says could cost thousands of jobs and millions in lost revenue.

Members of the NPFMC voted Monday to tie halibut bycatch limits to Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) abundances, a decision that will have significant consequences on several major companies targeting the Alaska flatfish sector.

The council voted 8-to-3 in favor of a measure that will lower the current bycatch cap between 20 to 35 percent, depending on the levels of halibut in the Eastern Bering Sea. It is estimated the measure won’t go into effect for the Amendment 80 fleet until 2023.

The council action followed several days of often emotional testimony in an ongoing fisheries battle over the scope of the trawlers’ catch of a revered flatfish found off the US West Coast, British Columbia and Alaska. Surveys indicate halibut have been in decline over the past 15 years.

When halibut abundance is very low, the prohibited species catch, or PSC limit, decreases for the Amendment 80 fleet by 35 percent from the current cap amount of 1,745 metric tons, according to the motion.

The Bering Sea-Aleutian Islands halibut abundance-based management, or ABM, is not currently in place for the Amendment 80 fleet. The cap is fixed and is not adjusted to halibut abundance. If the fleet exceeds that cap, they have to stop fishing.

Read the full story from Intrafish

Council cuts Alaska halibut bycatch caps for groundfish fleet

December 14, 2021 — With four proposed alternatives on the docket to amend the management of halibut bycatch in Alaska’s Amendment 80 groundfish trawl fleet, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted Monday, Dec. 13, to approve a compromise between Alternatives 3 and 4.

“The preferred alternative balances the interests of the two largest halibut user groups in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands — the directed commercial halibut fishery and the Amendment 80 sector — by establishing abundance-based halibut [bycatch] limits for the Amendment 80 sector,” said Rachel Baker, deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, who devised and presented the compromise to the council.

The bulk of public comments called for significant changes, with many halibut stakeholders urging council members to support Alternative 4.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Halibut cuts threaten the livelihood of thousands of fishermen

December 13, 2021 — We are two captains with a combined experience of more than 70 years in Alaska’s groundfish trawl fisheries.

In that time, we’ve been a part of a trawl fishery that has evolved and innovated heavily to meet several regulatory challenges. This is thanks to a collective commitment of the 2,200 fishermen and women who participate in our fishery. Our families are fishing families, too – as important as any other. We believe we are true stewards of the North Pacific resources. But cuts to our halibut bycatch caps under consideration by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council at its upcoming December meeting threaten our fishery and our way of life.

Our fleet has achieved a 49% reduction in halibut bycatch mortality since Amendment 80 rationalization in 2007. Halibut now represents 0.4% of our catch, which is among Alaska’s lowest bycatch rates, and far lower than Canada’s West Coast fisheries, which are often held up as an example of low bycatch rates. But it has not been easy to get here.

Read the full op-ed at the Anchorage Daily News