Tag: NPFMC

NPFMC Urges Pollock Industry to Reduce Bycatch, Declines to Impose Restrictions
22Jun By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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NPFMC Urges Pollock Industry to Reduce Bycatch, Declines to Impose Restrictions

Federal fisheries managers have acknowledged the ongoing crisis in Alaska salmon stocks, and have opted to respond with additional research and a request to the Pollock industry to institute immediate measures to reduce chum bycatch during the summer fishery. At its June meeting in Sitka, Alaska, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council requested a discussion paper on chum salmon bycatch building on the previous analysis, which was performed in 2012. But for now, the council has opted not to impose new restrictions that would impact the Pollock trawl vessels whose bycatch of chum salmon in 2021 reached 546,043 fish. Additionally, the Pollock industry was asked to report back at the end of the B season on how bycatch reduction efforts worked. During the meeting, the council...
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NOAA Report Shows Huge PSC of Chum Salmon By Pollock Fleet
8Jun By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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NOAA Report Shows Huge PSC of Chum Salmon By Pollock Fleet

New federal and state reports show that while salmon runs in Alaska have in some cases reached a crisis point, that trawlers are catching and discarding more Chinook and chum salmon from the Yukon and Kuskokwim river systems than subsistence and direct fishers are allowed to harvest. The issue of declining salmon stocks remains a complex, multi-faceted one, involving much discussion on topics ranging from trawl bycatch to climate change to the impact of juvenile hatchery fish produced in Alaska, Washington state, Japan, Russia and South Korea. NOAA Fisheries’ genetic studies of trawl salmon bycatch in 2020 and 2021 released at the end of May determined that 52% of the Chinook bycatch from the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Pollock trawl fishery in 2020 included an estimated 16,7...
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Gulf of Alaska Expedition Finds Abundant Life on Surface, Sea Floor
1Jun By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Gulf of Alaska Expedition Finds Abundant Life on Surface, Sea Floor

Researchers engaged in a Gulf of Alaska expedition in late May for ocean conservation organization Oceana say they found every marine site filled with life, from the surface to the seafloor Their initial report on the eight-day expedition exploring 23 sites in search of deep-sea corals and other seafloor habitat areas notes finding striking coral gardens in an area south of Kodiak Island in the open Gulf of Alaska, in an area still open to bottom trawling. Large groves of sea whips, a soft coral, were found in an area closed to bottom trawling to protect king crab. Sea whip groves provide vertical structure in soft sediments on the seafloor and are used by fish and invertebrates to hide from predators. The same area also had other organisms like sea pens, another form of coral th...
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Oceana Expedition Documents Seafloor Habitats
25May By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Oceana Expedition Documents Seafloor Habitats

An expedition from the nonprofit ocean conservation organization Oceana this spring used remotely-operated vehicles and other tools for eight days to document the seafloor and ocean life in several locations and depths around Kodiak Island. Their goal was to observe, photograph and record seafloor habitats and associated marine life, to protect important seafloor areas in the Gulf of Alaska from bottom trawling, where huge nets are dragged for miles along the seafloor The expedition was related to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Essential Fish Habitat review process, which is currently underway. Under the review, conservation measures for ocean habitat in Alaska are considered once every five years. Oceana is campaigning to establish new protections for Gulf of ...
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Hybrid NPFMC Meeting Scheduled for June 9-14 in Sitka, Alaska
11May By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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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...
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NPFMC Requests Expanded Discussion Paper on Bristol Bay Red King Crab Issues
13Apr By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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NPFMC Requests Expanded Discussion Paper on Bristol Bay Red King Crab Issues

At their April meeting, federal fisheries managers voted for an extended discussion paper with an analysis of impacts of annual or seasonal closures to pelagic trawl, groundfish pot and longline gear in the Red King Crab Savings Area, plus tables for all sources of BBRKC mortality across federal waters.  The North Pacific Fishery Management Council also requested that the paper go to its scientific and statistical committee for review and comment before it is presented at the October council session.  The unanimous vote came after extensive testimony and discussion at the Anchorage meeting, a move that Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers Executive Director Jamie Goen called a step in the right direction, but that left out some important protections for crab and also was action not happeni...
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NPFMC To Take Final Action on Omnibus Amendments, Fee Collection Program
30Mar By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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NPFMC To Take Final Action on Omnibus Amendments, Fee Collection Program

Final action on individual fishing quota omnibus amendments and the recreational quota entity collection program are on the agenda for when the North Pacific Fishery Management Council holds its spring meeting, scheduled for April 6-11 in Anchorage, in-person and virtually. The Council is expected to review an analysis on several revisions to the IFQ program regulations and will also receive the Enforcement Committee Report. This analysis evaluates five elements relevant to pot gear used to fish IFQ, including gear specifications and configuration requirements, pot limits and gear retrieval requirements, and one element to authorize jig gear as a legal gear type for the harvest of sablefish IFQ. The Council’s motion also included an alternative to temporarily remove the Adak comm...
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Kimball, Drobnica Top Picks for NPFMC
23Mar By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Kimball, Drobnica Top Picks for NPFMC

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has forwarded to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo four names each for two obligatory seats for the state of Alaska on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, with incumbent Nicole Kimball and Angela Drobnica as his first choices for the two seats. Kimball has worked as a fisheries analyst for the Council, as a federal fisheries coordinator for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and is now vice president of Alaska operations with the Pacific Seafood Processors Association. She holds a bachelor’s degree in natural resources management from the University of Maine and a master’s in environmental policy from Tufts University. Drobnica is currently serving as the government affairs and fisheries director for the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Deve...
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