Saving Seafood

PFMC: Southern Resident Killer Whale Workgroup to Hold Webinars August 6 and September 4, 2019

July 17, 2019 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Council)  Ad Hoc Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) Workgroup (Workgroup) will convene two webinars, which are open to the public.  The first meeting, to be held via webinar, will convene on Tuesday, August 6, 2019, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), or until business for the day has been completed. The second meeting, to be held via webinar, will convene Wednesday, September 4, 2019, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT, or until business for the day has been completed.  These are public meetings and not public hearings.  Public comments will be taken at the discretion of the Workgroup co-chairs as time allows.

Please see the SRKW Workgroup August 5 and September 4, 2019 webinar notice on the Council’s website for participation details.

A public listening station will be provided at the Council office in Portland, Oregon.

For further information:

Highly Migratory Species Management Team to Meet in Long Beach, CA August 7-8, 2019

July 12, 2019 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Council’s) Highly Migratory Species Management Team (HMSMT) will hold a meeting, which is open to the public, Wednesday, August 7, and Thursday, August 8, 2019, and will start at 8:30 a.m. and continue until business is concluded on each day.

Please see the HMSMT August 7-8, 2019 meeting notice on the Council’s website for participation details.

For further information:

Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer Dr. Kit Dahl at 503-820-2422; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

See the roster for a listing of HMSMT members

Ad Hoc Climate and Communities Core Team to Hold Webinar August 8, 2019

July 9, 2019 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council) Ad Hoc Climate and Communities Core Team (CCCT) will hold a meeting via webinar, which is open to the public.  The webinar will be held Thursday, August 8, 2019, from 9 a.m. until 11:30 a.m, Pacific Daylight Time.  The webinar time is an estimate; the meeting will adjourn when business for the day is complete.

Please see the CCCT August 8, 2019 webinar notice on the Council’s website for participation details.

A listening station is available at the Pacific Fishery Management Council office in Portland, Oregon.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer Dr. Kit Dahl at 503-820-2422; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

Pacific Council Slows Process on U.S. Management of Area 2A Commercial Halibut Fishery

July 1, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — After a couple years of exchanging ideas with the International Pacific Halibut Commission about management of the non-Indian commercial halibut fishery in Area 2A — Washington, Oregon and California — the Pacific Fishery Management Council plans to take incremental steps to take over management of the fishery.

Commercial fishermen have gone to IPHC meetings and pushed for individual quota systems and the IPHC has gone to the Council to propose longer seasons than single 10-hour openings. The Council and its advisory bodies have struggled with how to transition from IPHC management to U.S. management.

The Council decided last week when it met in San Diego to continue to work closely with the IPHC and stakeholders. And instead of a workshop, the Council will fold ideas into its traditional two-meeting catch-sharing plan discussion that takes place during September and November meetings. At the next Council meetings, in Boise, Idaho in September and in Costa Mesa, Calif., in November, the Council will consider small changes for the 2020 season.

Fishermen will likely see little change to the fishery in the next two years as the Council, NMFS and the IPHC work on background issues to support a management transition.

The Council also decided that:

– for 2020-2021, and maybe beyond, the Council would request IPHC continue to issue commercial licenses for the Area 2A fishery while NMFS works on development of new permitting regulations;

– it will request the IPHC and NMFS/Council share data regarding the 2A licensing system and commercial logbook data;

– it will reach out to fishery participants to let them know the Council’s intent to not consider major changes to the fishery for the next few years.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

PFMC: June 2019 Council Decision Summary Document Online

June 28, 2019 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council met June 20-25, 2019 in San Diego, California. The June 2019 Council Meeting Decision Summary Document contains the highlights of significant decisions made at that meeting. Results of agenda items that do not reach a level of highlight significance are typically not described in the Decision Summary Document.

NOAA Fisheries Adopts New Plan for West Coast Ecosystem Science and Management

June 18, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

When an unusually strong marine heat wave warmed the ocean off the West Coast from late 2014 to 2016, the effects reverberated through the marine ecosystem.

One of the telltale changes was in copepods, tiny crustaceans that provide essential food for juvenile salmon as they first enter the ocean. Instead of energy-rich copepods that help the fish grow quickly, leaner copepods with less energy began to dominate. That left young salmon facing tougher odds in the ocean.

In the following years, salmon returns fell to some of their lowest levels in a decade.

Deciphering, and even anticipating such ecosystem-level effects is a goal of a new plan produced by NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region. The Western Regional Implementation Plan for Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management provides steps for helping West Coast fishermen and fisheries managers make sustainable business and conservation decisions that maximize the value of fisheries while protecting the ecosystems they depend on.

Read the full release here

PFMC: Ad Hoc Southern Resident Killer Whale Workgroup to Meet July 2 and July 23-24

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

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council) Ad Hoc Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) Workgroup will convene two meetings, which are open to the public. The first meeting, to be held via webinar, will convene on Tuesday, July 2, 2019, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), or until business for the day has been completed. The second meeting, to be held in-person, will convene Tuesday, July 23, 2019, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.PDT, or until business for the day has been completed. It will continue on Wednesday, July 24, 2019, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT, or until business for the day has been completed. These are public meetings and not public hearings. Public comments will be taken at the discretion of the Workgroup co-chairs as time allows.

Please see the SRKW July 2019 meeting notice on the Council’s website for full details(both the July 2 webinar and the July 23-24 in-person meeting).

For further information:

PFMC: June 2019 Briefing Book online

June 3, 2019 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Briefing Book for the June 19-25, 2019 Council meeting has been posted to the Council’s website on the “June 2019 Briefing Book” webpage. The Briefing Book contains the meeting agenda, “situation summaries” (brief summaries that provide background for each agenda item), reports and materials for each agenda item, and public comment submitted to our e-portal. Advisory body and committee agendas and memos are also available.

For further information:

Killers and kings: West Coast group intervenes in orca lawsuit

May 31, 2019 — On Wednesday, May 29, the federation, the West Coast’s largest trade organization of small-scale commercial fishermen, filed its opposition to the lawsuit filed in a Seattle federal court lawsuit on April 3, by the Wild Fish Conservancy and the Center for Biological Diversity.

The suit was reportedly filed to protect endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales which eat primarily king salmon, by arguing that their food supply is not well managed. This orca subgroup migrates from California’s coastal waters to Washington’s Puget Sound and into British Columbia. West Coast salmon fisheries outside of state waters are managed by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which prioritizes sustainability and replenishment.

The suit claims that federally managed ocean salmon fisheries are allowing commercial harvest of the orcas’ food supply, which is contrary to NMFS data and management standards that commercial salmon fisheries have little or no impact on the whales. For many years the council has managed West Coast salmon fisheries to minimize any potential competition between orcas and fishermen, including through a NMFS-approved 2009 biological opinion, which contains various required mitigation measures that further minimize and mitigate impacts to the endangered whales.

“Seafood lovers on the West Coast should be proud of their fisheries management system, which is among the best in the world,” said Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “The Center for Biological Diversity and Wild Fish Conservancy lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service is naïve, counterproductive, and unnecessary. By suing, these two groups instead undermine the extraordinary coalition of scientists, managers, commercial fishermen, and conservationists that has come together to identify the strategies that will be used to recover the Southern Resident Killer Whale population.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

PFMC: SSC’s Economics Subcommittee to Hold Webinar Tuesday, June 4, 2019

May 28, 2019 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Council) Scientific and Statistical Committee’s Economics Subcommittee (Economics Subcommittee) will hold a webinar on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, which is open to the public. The webinar will begin at 1 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time) and is expected to end at 4 p.m. or when business for the day is complete.
Please see the June 4, 2019 SSC Economics Subcommittee webinar notice on the Council’s website for the purpose of the webinar and participation details.

A listening stations will also be provided at the following location:

Pacific Fishery Management Council
7700 NE Ambassador Place, Suite 101
Portland, OR 97220-1384
503-820-2280
Driving Directions

For further information:

  • Please contact the Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer for SSC matters, Mr. John DeVore at 503-820-2413; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.
  • See the Council’s SSC webpage for information about the SSC and a listing of SSC Ecosystem Subcommittee members