April 22, 2021 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:
The Council met via web-conference April 5-16. The digital newsletter is published, the 3 meeting outlook is updated, and you can listen to the audio recording on box.net. Please note that the Council made changes to the written comment policy which will be effective for the June Council meeting. As always, you can access all other meeting materials including motions through the eAgenda.
April 15, 2021 — For the first time in 20 years, China is not a viable market for U.S. seafood suppliers due to increased tariffs between the two countries, as well as complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This uncertainty has raised concerns among Kodiak processors, harvesters and industry leaders.
In an effort to keep processors working, the trawl industry had requested that the rockfish season begin on April 1, one month earlier than is typically authorized.
April 15, 2021 — For six years the North Pacific Fishery Management Council has grappled with shifting the management of halibut bycatch in the Bering Sea trawl fleets by limits set with no correlation to halibut abundance to pinning the limits — and therefore the use of halibut as bycatch — to an abundance-based policy.
The stakes in the fundamental question are high: can the Amendment 80 (A80) fleet catch their annual allotment of flatfish in the Bering Sea throughout the year without exceeding abundance-based limits? The A80 fleet is one of the jewels in the Council’s crown of fisheries management, perhaps second only to the pollock fleet that makes up more than half of the 2 million metric ton sustainable harvest of the Bering Sea. A80 has built a fishery and a market for Bering Sea flatfish as well as other species, but when they are on schools of yellowfin sole and northern rock sole, they also inadvertently catch high levels of halibut, a prohibited species catch (PSC) that they must throw back. However, in the 13 years since A80 was implemented, the fleet has never exceeded their halibut PSC limit.
April 13, 2021 — The North Pacific Fishery Management Council often flies under the radar, meeting in dimly lit conference rooms and delving into technical questions about fish stocks and ecosystems. But it has a hugely important job: conservation of species and managing offshore fisheries for species like cod, pollock and crab, which are huge economic drivers for coastal communities on the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska.
At the end of last year, the council went into a closed door meeting. When it emerged, it had eliminated two seats on its key advisory panel: Ernie Weiss of Anchorage who had reached his cap for reappointment on the panel, and Natasha Hayden of Kodiak, a vocal advocate for smaller vessels and Alaska Natives, who had been seeking reappointment.
The blowback of Hayden’s ouster was immediate, especially among stakeholders advocating for Indigenous voices in fisheries management.
At the council’s February meeting, more than 20 people — from conservation council representatives, to well established commercial fishermen, to policy directors at Native non-profits — provided public testimony calling for Hayden’s reappointment.
“This is a time when we should be adding more Indigenous voices to council bodies and not less,” Marissa Merculieff, director of justice and governance administration for the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government, told the council.
April 2, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:
The Pacific Sablefish Transboundary Assessment Team, in collaboration with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Pacific Fishery Management Council, and North Pacific Fishery Management Council, is holding a public workshop to solicit feedback on the ongoing range-wide sablefish management strategy evaluation (MSE). The Sablefish MSE Workshop is open to the public and will be held Tuesday, April 27, 2021 through Wednesday, April 28, 2021 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) and ending at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, reconvening at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday and ending at 5 p.m. or when business for the workshop has been completed
Please see the Sablefish MSE Workshop notice on the Council’s website for details, including workshop attendee registration information and deadlines.
If you have additional questions:
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 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, April 2 at 5 PM (Alaska time). If you have questions, please email npfmc.admin@noaa.gov.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.