July 28, 2021 โ Last Friday the long-awaited โSustaining Americaโs Fisheries for the Future Actโ, a reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), was introduced by Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Ed Case (D-HI). Huffman is chair of the Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee, within the House Natural Resources Committee.
This is the first time the MSA, the preeminent law on the management of the nations fisheries from 3- to 200-miles, has addressed climate change.
July 22, 2021 โ Stakeholders of an isolated Aleutians fish plant contend state appointees on the federal fisheries management board have ignored calls for help to keep more of the areaโs large Pacific cod catch in Alaska despite a court order that shot down the first attempt to do so.
Representatives from Aleut Corp., which owns the fish processing plant in Adak through a subsidiary, and Peter Pan Seafood Co., have said they need to be able to rely on a foundational allocation of cod from federal fisheries to reopen the currently shuttered plant.
Itโs believed a reliable allocation of roughly 5,000 metric tons of Pacific cod to the plants in Adak and Atka, where a plant is also currently closed, would provide a base volume of fish that would allow an operator to keep it open year-round with purchases in the state waters cod and other fisheries throughout the year.
Doing so could provide the ultra-remote community of approximately 300 residents with nearly 200 jobs during peak activity and several dozen steady positions if the plant were operated year-round, they estimate.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council that oversees the largely Seattle-based trawl cod fishery is in the process of reforming those allocations amidst other regulatory changes.
July 13, 2021 โ The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Sablefish is a high-quality, deepwater fish that supports a valuable Alaska fishery. The fishery has seen dramatic changes in recent years. The highest abundance of young sablefish in decades arrived with warming temperatures. At the same time, a rapidly-growing pot fishery has emerged alongside traditional hook-and-line fishing in the Gulf of Alaska. A new study shows that, with careful handling, they are able to withstand the stresses of capture on hook-and-line gearโbut their.reflexes could be impaired.
In the directed sablefish fishery, commercial fishermen must retain all sablefish (regardless of size) until individual fishing quotas are filled. Then, all remaining catch is returned to sea. To accurately assess the fish stocks to set sustainable catch limits, managers need to estimate how many of the fish caught and released will survive.
A new collaborative study provides information essential for sustainable management of the sablefish fishery as it evolves and adapts to changing conditions. NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center scientists teamed up with a veterinary professor at Oregon State University. They looked at how the stress of capture and time out of water affects the health and reflexes of sablefish, and whether that contributes to delayed mortality. Their findings provide a better understanding of mortality after release from pot fishing. They provide information essential for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to evaluate the implications of proposed โcareful releaseโ of small sablefish before fishing quotas are filled.
July 13, 2021 โ Fifty years ago, Patrick Pletnikoff spent his summers stripping blubber from the carcasses of seals clubbed to death in Alaskaโs annual harvest, competing with other young men to show who wielded the fastest blade.
Now heโs fighting for a bigger prize: to transform his native St. George Islandโs fortunes and protect dwindling colonies of northern fur seals by creating Alaskaโs first marine sanctuary in the surrounding waters โ a move that would empower local people to limit fishing for the sealsโ prey.
Commercial sealing was once the lifeblood of St. George, a treeless speck of volcanic rock far from the U.S. mainland. But the indigenous Unangan community has struggled to find a new niche in the decades since the trade was banned, and there are now less than 60 inhabitants left.
As the long-serving mayor, Pletnikoff has spent years lobbying the federal government to add St. George to the network of 15 U.S. marine sanctuaries, hoping that a designation will kick-start a new โconservation economyโ based on eco-tourism, scientific research and sustainable fishing.
June 24, 2021 โ The North Pacific Fishery Management Council moved quickly to adopt a preliminary preferred alternative (PPA) to rationalize the last major race for fish in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands โ trawl-caught Pacific cod โ which also relegated Adakโs state-of-the-art seafood plant to the bottom of the pile in terms of access to the resource.
โI am announcing today that, based on the Councilโs preliminary preferred alternative in the CV [catcher-vessel] trawl package, Peter Pan Seafood Company is suspending all further work in Adak,โ said Steve Minor, Manager of Business Development for Peter Pan, on the day after the Council approved the motion.
June 11, 2021 โ Alaska pollock supplier American Seafoods has hired Chris Oliver, a former top administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as special advisor on government affairs in the companyโs regulatory division.
Oliver has has a long career in fisheries. In 2017, he was designated by presidential appointment as Assistant Administrator for Fisheries at NOAA, where he was responsible for the management of commercial and recreational marine fisheries and protected species throughout the US Exclusive Economic Zone, which encompasses the Alaska pollock fishing grounds.
Oliver worked at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council โ the government agency charged with managing the Alaska pollock fishery and setting its annual catch quotasโ for more than 30 years, as a fisheries biologist, a deputy director, and finally as executive director for 16 years.
June 4, 2021 โ The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Council recommended measure responds to court ruling requiring Federal management of EEZ waters in Cook Inlet
NOAA Fisheries is seeking public comments on a proposal to amend the Fishery Management Plan for the Salmon Fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska (Salmon FMP) to prohibit commercial salmon fishing in federal waters, also called the exclusive economic zone or EEZ, in Cook Inlet. The proposed action would not close any salmon fishing in State of Alaska waters.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council first developed the Salmon FMP under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act more than 40 years ago. The current Salmon FMP excludes designated federal waters in Cook Inlet. That has allowed the State of Alaska to manage commercial salmon fishing in the area.
Read more.
May 26, 2021 โ The following was released was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Summary
Amendment 14 would incorporate the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea into the Salmon FMPโs West Area, thereby bringing the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea and the commercial salmon fisheries that occur within it under Federal management by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and NOAA Fisheries. Amendment 14 would manage the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea by applying the prohibition on commercial salmon fishing that is currently established in the West Area to the newly added Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea. The Council submitted Amendment 14 to the Salmon FMP to the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) for review.
Federal Register
May 12, 2021 โ The following was released by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council:
The NPFMC will hold meetings June 1-16, 2021, via webconference. The eAgenda, Schedule, and a list of when documents are available is now posted. Please note the SSC has a separate SSC eAgenda. More detailed information is available on our website.
You can submit comments for each agenda item through the Council and SSC eAgendas. Written public comment for the Council is open May 12 โ 26th at 5:00 PM AST. Comments will be reviewed, then publicly posted after the deadline. The full draft comment policy can be viewed here.
If you have questions, please email npfmc.admin@noaa.gov.
May 11, 2021 โ I read NFโs op-ed โCut off: Council makes sweeping changes on public inputโ on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council policy change on written public comments, and I would like an opportunity to clarify and answer the questions you pose.
The councilโs policy on written comments changes every couple of years. It has been modified several times in the past two years in response to changes in technology and an interest by the council in making it easier for the public to provide written comments.
Since I started working for the council, we have gone from getting comments by regular mail, to fax, to email, and most recently (in 2018) to an open and direct comment portal. The portal has been wildly successful in that comments have increased in response, and the public has expressed appreciation for the development of the portal, and ease of commenting and reviewing comments. The comment portal is just one recent initiative to create more public input opportunities.
The council established a Community Engagement Committee in 2018 to identify and recommend strategies for the council and council staff to enact processes that provide effective community engagement with rural and Alaska Native communities. While it was intended to be a temporary committee, the council opted to expand its membership and retain it as a standing committee.
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