Federal fisheries officials will take final action in Anchorage in December on measures involving electronic monitoring integration and the charter halibut recreational quota entry program.
At its meeting at the Anchorage Hilton, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council will also set final harvest specifications for groundfish in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska.
Other agenda items include the 2017 charter halibut management measures, a preliminary analysis of Gulf of Alaska trawl bycatch management, a review of an application for a red king crab savings area, and industry reports on Amendment 80 cooperatives’ halibut prohibited species catch measures.
Amendment 80 allocates Bering Sea and Aleutian Island yellowfin sole, flathead sole, rock sole, Atka mackerel and Aleutian Islands Pacific Ocean perch to the head and gut trawl catcher processor sector, and allows qualified vessels to form cooperatives. The Amendment 80 program establishes Gulf of Alaska groundfish sideboard limits for Pollock, Pacific cod, Pacific Ocean perch, northern rockfish, and pelagic shelf rockfish, plus Gulf halibut prohibited species catch. Gulf sideboard restrictions are based on the historic participation from 1998 through 2004.
A dinner celebrating the 40th anniversary of the council is already sold out.
In conjunction with the NPFMC session, several other meetings are slated: the Scientific and Statistical Committee, Dec 6-9, the Advisory Panel, Dec. 7-11, the Charter Halibut Management Committee, Dec. 6, the Recreational Quota Entity Committee, Dec. 6, and the Ecosystem and Enforcement committees, both on Dec. 7.
All meetings are open to the public, except executive sessions.
The deadline for written comments is Nov. 29. Those comments should be emailed to npfmc.comments@noaa.gov
A link to information on submitting comments in writing or in person can be found in the public comment information, by clicking on the council agenda.
The council meeting will be broadcast at https://npfmc.adobeconnect.com/december2016
