Federal fisheries managers have moved their June meeting in Juneau online to a web conference, posting the agenda online and inviting everyone to submit and review comments on each item through the noon (Alaska time) June 7 deadline.
The change of plans was necessary due to health and safety concerns prompted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The new plan is for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to meet online from June 8 through June 10, with the council’s scientific and statistical committee and the advisory panel to meet beforehand, from June 1 through June 5.
Council staff have honed down the initial agenda to include six items, including final action on Also on the agenda are the scallop OFL/ABC (overfishing limit and acceptable biological catch) specifications, Bering Sea/Aleutian Island king crab specifications, Cook Inlet salmon preliminary review, observer issue updates with respect to COVID-19 response, and staff tasking.
The agenda is online at meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/Details/1443.
The schedule is online at npfmc.org/wp-content/PDFdocuments/meetings/SCHEDULE_0620.pdf.
More meeting details are online at npfmc.org/upcoming-council-meetings.
The crab plan team will meet via web conference May 4 through May 7 and the Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee will likely meet May 18-19, also by web conference. The council has postponed meetings of the ecosystem committee, trawl electronic monitoring committee, Bering Sea FEP (fishery ecosystem plan) climate change taskforce, Individual Fishing quota committee and the community engagement committee.
More information on how to join the web conference will be posted in May on the council’s website, npfmc.org.
For answers to additional questions about the logistics of the meeting or concerns about logging in, email mpfmc.admin@noaa.gov.
