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NOAA Fisheries Issues Final Rule Regarding Pacific Cod Harvests in BSAI

16Aug

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NOAA Fisheries Issues Final Rule Regarding Pacific Cod Harvests in BSAI

NOAA Fisheries has issued a final rule allocating Pacific cod harvest quota to qualifying groundfish License Limitation Program license holders and qualifying processors, in order to, the agency has said, improve management of the fishery, increase its value and minimize bycatch to the extent practicable. The final rule, Amendment 122, for groundfish management in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI), establishes the new Pacific Cod Trawl Cooperative Program PCTC). The rule was printed in the Federal Register on Aug. 8 and goes into effect on Sept. 7. Fishing under the PCTC program is scheduled to begin on Jan. 20, 2024. Jon Kurland, NOAA regional administrator for Alaska, noted that PCTC also aims to provide for the sustained participation of fishery-dependent communities,...

If Properly Managed, Atlantic Cod Stocks Could Rebound: Study

New research on Atlantic cod, led by scientists at Rutgers University, concludes that if properly managed, stocks of the popular white fish may rebound, now that commercial fishing pressure has been reduced. The study, published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, offers the first genomic evidence that Atlantic cod evolved new traits over only decades during a period of overfishing – evolutionary changes that scientists formerly believed could take millions of years. “The discovery was made possible by new technology that allowed us to extract and read the genetic code of cod, some caught more than 110 years ago, as well as new analytical techniques that detect subtle changes in that genetic code,” said Malin Pinsky, senior author on the stud...

Hybrid NPFMC Meeting Scheduled for June 9-14 in Sitka, Alaska

Final action on Central Gulf of Alaska rockfish adjustments is on the agenda for the hybrid June meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, set for June 6-14 in Sitka, Alaska. Other major issues on the agenda include a Crab Plan team report on Aleutian Islands golden king crab and adopting alternatives for the snow crab rebuilding plan analysis, initial review of the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island Pacific cod small boat access and trawl electronic monitoring committee report, plus a review of the observer program annual report for 2021. Discussions on salmon research reports on Chinook and chum stock status from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Alaska Department of Fish and Game are also on the agenda, which is online at https://meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/Details...