February 15, 2017 — The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:
Thank you, Seattle!
The Council members and public enjoyed a spectacular seafood reception at the Renaissance Mariott Hotel in downtown Seattle following the first day of the Council meeting. Many thanks to the fishing industry businesses and groups involved in the North Pacific for hosting the event – a good time was had by all.
Nominations open for Charter Halibut Committee
The Council is seeking nominations for seats to be filled on the Charter Halibut Committee to include a 3A representative from a community that is not on the road system, and a 2C representative from one of the smaller communities to complement representation from Juneau and Sitka. Nominations are open until March 31. Representatives will be named at the April Council meeting. Please send a letter of interest to steve.maclean@noaa.gov.
BSAI Halibut Abundance-based PSC Management Workshop
In conjunction with the February Council meeting, the Council held a public stakeholder workshop to solicit input to identify measurable objectives and appropriate metrics for the development of alternative management measures for BSAI halibut PSC limits. Per Council request, the inter-agency AbundanceBased Management (ABM) workgroup translated the confirmed Council objectives into draft overarching goals to gather stakeholder input on these goals and associated measurable objectives and related performance metrics. The ABM workgroup is continuing to develop a range of alternative control rules along with a range of indices to further the process of developing alternatives for this action. This discussion paper will be presented at the April Council meeting, and will also include the results of the stakeholder feedback from the February workshop. Staff contact is Diana Stram.