NPFMC Archives - Saving Seafood

NPFMC April meeting via webconference

February 24, 2021 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The NPFMC will hold meetings April 5-17, 2021, via webconference. The e Ag enda, Schedule, and a list of when documents will be available are now posted. Please note the SSC has a separate SSC e Agenda. More detailed information is available on our website.

You can submit and review comments for each agenda item through the Council and SSC eAgendas. The deadline for written comments is Friday, April 2 at 5 PM (Alaska time). If you have questions, please email npfmc.admin@noaa.gov.

Read the full release here

Have Questions on NPFMC Requests for Emergency Actions? NOAA Fisheries Offers Q&As

February 23, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

On February 10, 2021, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council made four recommendations to NOAA Fisheries for emergency or expedited changes to Federal fishing regulations.

The Council’s four motions would:

Allow the temporary transfer of catcher vessel halibut and sablefish IFQ for all individual quota share holders for the 2021 fishing season.

Move the start date of the 2021 Central Gulf Rockfish Program fishery from May 1 to April 1.
Remove vessel use cap regulations for IFQ halibut harvested in IPHC regulatory Areas 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D for the 2021 IFQ fishing season.
Suspend the residency requirements applicable to the Adak Community Quota Entity Program for 2021.

NOAA Fisheries will analyze the Council’s recommendations and, if approved by the Secretary of Commerce, will publish a rule in the Federal Register. This process typically takes five to six weeks but the exact timing may vary for each action.

As we have received numerous inquiries from participants in these Alaska fisheries, we have developed a Questions and Answers webpage to answer the most frequently asked questions on the recommended emergency or expedited regulations.

For additional information or questions about permits or transfer applications, please contact the Restricted Access Management Program at: (800) 304-4846 option #2 or (907) 586-7474 or by email at RAM.Alaska@noaa.gov.

For additional information or questions about regulations and the rulemaking process, please contact the Sustainable Fisheries Division at 907-586-7228.

Read the full release here

Part I: Emergency Actions on IFQ Fisheries And Review of Climate Change at February NPFMC Meeting

February 22, 2021 — The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) sent Emergency Rule requests to NOAA Fisheries on halibut and sablefish license requirements for the second year in a row due to the pandemic, while reviewing several reports related to climate change: the Bering Sea FEP Plan Team report, the Climate Change Taskforce (CCTF) workplan, an update from the Local Knowledge, Traditional Knowledge and Subsistence (LKTKS) Taskforce, and a report from the Ecosystem Committee.

The request to modify transfer provisions in the halibut and sablefish individual fishing quota (IFQ) fishery was the same as last years, which accommodates restrictions in place due to COVID-19 travel constraints and health and safety mandates.

Read the full story at Seafood News

MSC Certification of Gulf of Alaska Cod Reinstated

January 26, 2021 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

On January 22, 2021, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) region was reinstated, effective January 1, 2021, and announced by MRAG Americas, Inc., the independent certification body responsible for conducting the annual audits of the fishery.

From April 5, 2020 through December 31, 2020, the MSC certification for GOA Pacific cod had been suspended due to a decline in the stock. According to MRAG Americas, the suspension was “not due to overfishing or a lack of a responsible management response, rather, the depressed stocks of Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska below the B20% limit is climate driven and caused by the Gulf of Alaska marine heat wave.”

From 2017 through 2019, the GOA Pacific cod stock had declined due to the effects of an anomalous warm water event in 2014-2016. This marine heat wave, among other things, reduced food availability for cod and dramatically increased natural mortality. In response, federal and state fishery managers took swift and immediate action to severely restrict commercial fishing efforts — a responsible and precautionary management decision responding to ecosystem uncertainty. In 2018 and 2019, harvests were reduced by 80% to maintain the future viability of the fishery. In 2020, commercial fishing was closed in the federal GOA fishery and the small state fishery was further reduced.

“The decision to lift the suspension comes as a result of an expedited audit that was announced on December 22, 2020. The audit was based on new information on the stock status provided by NOAA Fisheries and decisions by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council,” explains MRAG Americas in its announcement.

Read the full release here

Paul Doremus takes over as acting head of NOAA Fisheries after Chris Oliver departs

January 25, 2021 — Paul Doremus has taken over as acting assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries following the departure of Chris Oliver, who had served as NOAA Fisheries’ assistant administrator since June 2017.

Doremus has worked at NOAA for the past 16 years, including as chief strategy officer from 2005 to 2011, assistant secretary for conservation and management from 2017 to 2018, and chief of strategy and operations, as well as lead for seafood production and aquaculture from 2011 until his recent promotion.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NPFMC February meeting via webconference

January 8, 2021 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The NPFMC will hold meetings February 1-12, 2021, via webconference. The eAgenda, Schedule, and a list of when documents will be available are now posted. Please note the SSC has a separate SSC eAgenda. More detailed information is available on our website.

You can submit and review comments for each agenda item through the Council and SSC eAgendas. The deadline for written comments is Friday, January 29 at 5 PM (Alaska time). If you have questions, please email npfmc.admin@noaa.gov.

Pacific cod appears to be rebounding throughout the Gulf of Alaska after long heat wave

December 23, 2020 — Alaska coastal communities will get a bit of an economic boost in 2021 from increased catches of Pacific cod.

The stock, which crashed after a multiyear heat wave starting in 2014 wiped out several year classes, appears to be rebounding throughout the Gulf of Alaska.

No cod fishery occurred at all this year in federally managed waters (from 3 to 200 miles out) where the bulk of the harvest is taken, and a catch of under 6 million pounds was allowed in state managed waters (out to 3 miles).

For 2021, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council set the federal cod catch at just over 38 million pounds and nearly 11.7 million pounds for the state. While it’s a bump up, managers caution that the stock remains very low.

“The state waters GHLs (guideline harvest levels) have gone up about two and half times since last year. While it’s good, we are still at a very low level of abundance, so that should be kept in mind,” said Nat Nichols, area groundfish manager for the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game at Kodiak.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: Sen. Murkowski “Disappointed” by Cook Inlet Closure, Supports “Long-Term Solution” for CI Fleet

December 14, 2020 — Two days after Monday’s decision to close the federal waters of Cook Inlet to commercial salmon fishermen, Alaska’s senior Senator Lisa Murkowski called for “the need to collaboratively resolve tensions that have long persisted in Cook Inlet.” The decision came at the beginning of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council’s December meeting.

The ‘historical tensions” the senator referred to have been between both commercial and recreational fishermen and between all fishermen and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Cook Inlet is home to Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, the nearby Matenuska-Susitna Borough, and the state’s most popular recreational area, the Kenai Peninsula. About two-thirds of the state’s population lives on or near Cook Inlet, which is accessed by the state’s only road system.

Read the full story at Seafood News

ALASKA: Worry for commercial fishermen and Peninsula communities after Cook Inlet fishery closure

December 9, 2020 — Federal managers voted Monday to close a huge swath of Upper Cook Inlet to commercial salmon fishing, capping a two-year fight over the fate of the fishery and its 500 permit-holders.

Fishermen and representatives from the Kenai Peninsula turned out in droves to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting to oppose the closure and advocate for lighter conservation measures.

But when representatives from Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration said the state was unwilling to manage the area’s fisheries alongside the federal government, the council voted unanimously for the closure.

The 10-0 vote shuts down drift gillnet fishing in waters farther than three miles offshore, from the southern tip of Kalgin Island to Anchor Point. Fishermen like Georgie Heaverly of Anchorage said the area is a crucial fishing ground, and the closure will reverberate across industries.

“Fishermen have been leaving the fishery already for the last several years,” she said. “It’s hardly economically viable, and this really is the nail in the coffin.”

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Fisheries council shuts down commercial salmon fishing in Cook Inlet federal waters

December 9, 2020 — The council that controls fishing in most federal waters off Alaska on Monday closed a large chunk of Cook Inlet to commercial salmon fishing.

The decision came despite a wall of opposition from commercial fishermen and community and state leaders who said the move threatens seafood processors on the Kenai Peninsula and hundreds of fishing operations.

The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council accepted the proposal, presented to the council by the Dunleavy administration in October, to close federal waters starting 3 miles offshore.

Stretching from Homer to Ninilchik off the southern Kenai Peninsula, the waters are where some boats fish exclusively, fishermen said, and it’s where the commercial driftnet fleet typically lands about half its salmon.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News