North Pacific Fishery Management Council Archives

Alaska fishing industry grapples with fallout from coronavirus response

March 26, 2020 — Like almost all industries and institutions across Alaska, the novel coronavirus pandemic is shaking up the fishing industry.

With restrictions changing almost daily and cases spreading across the United States, fishermen are still fishing, but the normal seasonal progression of the industry is likely to hit some rough waters.

Travel in and out of Alaska has dropped after federal and state advisories against it, and questions are hovering about how seafood processors and fishing vessels will find the employees they need for upcoming seasons. Demand for seafood has fallen in restaurants after sweeping closures, and large numbers of layoffs may affect demand as workers scale back their expenses after losing incomes.

Status-quo industry events have been disrupted, too. Hiring events have been postponed or canceled; the North Pacific Fishery Management Council cancelled its April meeting, and Kodiak’s annual ComFish exposition has been rescheduled for Sept. 17-19 due to concerns about gatherings where the COVID-19—the name for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus—could be spread. As of March 24, Alaska had reported 42 cases of the illness in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Soldotna, Ketchikan, Sterling, Seward, Juneau and Palmer.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Gulf of Alaska cod exemplifies commitment to sustainability

February 19, 2020 — Recent headlines discussing a potential suspension of the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification for Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod have included some misleading and even inaccurate depictions of the status of the fishery. As the client for both MSC and Responsible Fisheries Management certifications for all Alaska Pacific cod, Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation feels it is important to provide necessary context and clarification.

Most importantly, all Alaska Pacific cod is currently certified under both the MSC and RFM programs, with only a small percentage (6 percent or less) of the commercial harvest under review in 2020 by the certification bodies. Alaska’s Pacific cod fishery is split into three primary commercial fishing regions — the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska — which will account for about 78 percent, 16 percent, and 6 percent of the 2020 harvest, respectively. Only the Gulf of Alaska harvest is under review and subject to a potential change in certification status. The Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands produce 343 million pounds of Alaska Pacific cod, and recent surveys from these fisheries show abundant populations.

To say that sustainability certification and fisheries management standards are complicated is an understatement. Yet every aspect of fisheries management in Alaska is based on the best available scientific data, effective management practices, and a precautionary approach designed specifically to sustain the long-term health of the species and ecosystem. In Alaska, we are now challenged by the fact that climate or environmental changes are often the key drivers in fisheries health and management. This makes our investment in and commitment to federal surveys, annual stock assessments, monitoring, and catch accounting data even more important.

Adherence to our robust management systems, even when climate-driven events necessitate a fishery closure, is the strongest demonstration of Alaska’s sustainable fisheries.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska Sea Grant Deadline for Fellowship Program is Tomorrow

February 14, 2020 — The Alaska Sea Grant Program wants to remind soon-to-graduate or recently finished graduate students interested in the science and policy that applications for their 2020 state fellowship program must be in by tomorrow.

Six positions are available — Alaska Sea Grant Mariculture Fellow, NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region, National Park Service, North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the United States Geological Survey.

Read the full story at Seafood News

NPFMC Meets Jan 27-Feb 2 in Seattle

December 30, 2019 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The NPFMC will meet January 27 – February 2, 2020, at the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle. The AGENDA and SCHEDULE are now available. If you’re planning a flight, you can use the EasyBiz Discount Code: ECMC935. You can submit and review comments through each Agenda Item and the deadline for comments is Friday, January 24, 2020, at 12:00 pm (Alaska time).

The Blob returns: Alaska cod fishery closes for 2020

December 11, 2019 — The Gulf of Alaska’s federal cod fleet is bracing for a complete shutdown in 2020 after an 80 percent TAC cut in 2018 and another 5 percent last year, down to 17,000 tons.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council announced its decision on Friday, Dec. 6, in response to low recruitment.

“We’re on the knife’s edge of this overfished status,” said Council Member Nicole Kimball, vice president of Alaskan operations for the Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

The fall 2019 stock assessment returned biomass numbers for gulf cod below the necessary threshold as a food source for the endangered Steller sea lion.

The infamous Blob of 2014 — a mass of warm water that hovered in the Gulf of Alaska — likely depleted the cod’s food supply and severely restricted recruitment. The fall 2017 Gulf of Alaska survey yielded historically low numbers at 46,080 metric tons, down more than 80 percent since 2013.

“That warm water was sitting in the gulf for three years starting in 2014, and it was different than other years in that it went really deep and it also lasted throughout the winter,” said Steven Barbeaux with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. “You can deplete the food source pretty rapidly when the entire ecosystem is ramped up in those warm temperatures.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska Cod Fishery Closes And Industry Braces For Ripple Effect

December 9, 2019 — In an unprecedented response to historically low numbers of Pacific cod, the federal cod fishery in the Gulf of Alaska is closing for the 2020 season.

The decision, announced Friday, came as little surprise, but it’s the first time the fishery has closed due to concerns over low stock.

“We’re on the knife’s edge of this over-fished status,” North Pacific Fishery Management Council member Nicole Kimball said during talks in Anchorage.

It’s not over-fishing to blame for the die-off, but rather, climate change.

Warming ocean temperatures linked to climate change have wreaked havoc on a number of Alaska’s fisheries in recent years, decimating stocks and jeopardizing the livelihoods of fishermen and locals alike who rely on the industry.

A stock assessment this fall put Gulf cod populations at a historic low, with “next to no” new eggs, according to Steven Barbeaux, a research biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who authored the report. At their current numbers, cod are below the federal threshold that protects them as a food source for endangered steller sea lions. Once below that line, the total allowable catch goes to zero. In other words, the fishery shuts down.

Read the full story at New England Public Radio

ALASKA: Council recommends raising 2020 Bering Sea pollock quota by 2%, cutting cod TAC

December 6, 2019 — The US North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) is recommending that the preliminary total acceptable catch (TAC) for pollock in federal waters off the state of Alaska be set at 1.425 million metric tons in the Eastern Bering Sea.

That compares to a 2019 TAC of 1.397m metric tons and represents a 2% year-on-year increase.

The 2020 TAC recommendation falls within the 2m-metric-ton cap for all groundfish species within the eastern Bering Sea.

Additionally, the council recommended cutting the Pacific cod TAC in the Bering Sea by 4% to 141,799t. For Pacific cod in the Aleutian Islands, the recommended TAC is 13,796t, up from 12,214t in 2019.

Jim Ianelli, a veteran pollock scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration previously told Undercurrent News that a higher – or even level — TAC in 2020 would likely prove harder to fish.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NPFMC is Moving

December 5, 2019 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:

After the December 2019 Council meeting, the NPFMC office will be moving three blocks west and one block north to 1007 W. 3rd Ave, Suite 400, Anchorage AK, 99501, still in downtown Anchorage. While the office will be closed to the public from December 16-27 to allow workers to accomplish tasks safely, you may still reach us via email. Our website, phone numbers, and email addresses will all remain the same.

The Council offices are all on the 4th floor of the building. We are excited that consolidating staff offices to be on the same floor will encourage collaboration and efficiency. We also expect to hold committee meetings on site in our newly-equipped conference room, with upgraded video and teleconferencing capabilities.

Currently, the first floor of this building houses the North Pacific Research Board, the Alaska Ocean Observing System and Alaska Sea Grant offices. We’re looking forward to being closer to our marine partners, and hope to be able to host an open house during the April Council meeting!

Thank you for your patience during this exciting endeavor.

Read the full release here

US Pacific cod TAC set to drop below Russia’s next year, 2021 reduction also likely

December 3, 2019 — The total allowable catch (TAC) for US Pacific cod will drop again in 2020 and beyond, as Russia increases its TAC way past the Alaskans and also has now Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for a large chunk of its fishery.

Alaska’s Pacific cod biomass is down considerably in 2020 and will drop further in 2021, according to the draft stock assessment and fisheries evaluation (SAFE) report on stocks in the eastern Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, which will be discussed Monday at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) meeting, held from Dec. 2-10, 2019, at the Hilton Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska.

At the end of the meeting, TACs for Pacific cod, pollock and other species will be recommended to the government. According to historical catch data, the last time Russia had a higher Pacific cod catch than the US and Canada was 1987, when it was 175,271t compared to 150,591t.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Alaska’s northern rock sole another climate change winner

December 3, 2019 — Count Alaska’s northern rock sole among the fish species that appear to have more promise as water temperatures continue to increase as a result of climate change, Alaska TV station KTUU reports.

Using biomass data collected from 1982 through 2014 as well as wind and temperature data, Dan Cooper, a fish biologist with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and his team have determined that the flatfish species has higher reproductive success in warmer years, according to the NBC affiliate.

Though its females grow to a size of up to 27 inches in length and males up to 19 inches, northern rock sole is harvested significantly less than pollock and Pacific cod, in Alaska. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council set the acceptable biological catch for the fish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands at 143,000 metric tons for 2020, yet in 2018 only 60% of the total allowable catch was harvested, the news service noted.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News