Fishing industry stakeholders and federal managers in June will begin crafting a bycatch reduction plan for trawl groundfish fisheries in the Gulf. It will include some form of catch share plan, and as the main delivery port for more than $100 million worth of pollock, cod, flats and other fishes, Kodiak is closely guarding any giveaways.
Incidental harvest of thousands of Chinook salmon in Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries is an issue that just won't go away, simmering before federal fisheries managers as debate continues over whether a catch share program would solve the problem.
A new plan is being crafted by federal managers for Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries that will reduce bycatch by trawlers, and it will very likely result in a catch share plan. Now is the time for fishing residents to make sure the new program protects their access to local resources and sustains, instead of drains, their coastal communities.
Currently, the plan includes trawlers in the Central Gulf and both trawl and pot cod gear in the Western Gulf.
A new plan is being crafted by federal managers for Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries that will reduce bycatch by trawlers, and it will very likely result in a catch share plan. Now is the time for fishing residents to make sure the new program protects their access to local resources and sustains, instead of drains, their coastal communities.
Currently, the plan includes trawlers in the Central Gulf and both trawl and pot cod gear in the Western Gulf.
The NPFMC is taking up a proposal to create a more flexible catch shares environment for the Amendment 80 fleet. This video and computer animation explains the challenges faced by the fleet, along with proposed solutions.
Most of the first fish landed goes to Homer, Kodiak and Petersburg and processors there said there wasn’t “the usual chatter” and none said they had a feel for what’s going to happen yet with prices. Lots of halibut remains in the freezers and some major processors had reportedly unloaded the high priced fish at a loss.
The Boat Company filed documents in Alaska District Court on December 21, challenging the restructured monitoring program developed by the National Marine Fisheries Service for federal waters off the coast of Alaska.
Western Gulf of Alaska harvesters interested in being part of a proposed catch share program for Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries will have opportunity to state their case when federal fisheries managers meet in Portland, OR, Feb. 4-12.
Depending on their quarry, some commercial fishermen working Alaska waters can expect a productive year in 2013, while others will face tighter limits.
A restructured groundfish and halibut observer program, aimed at improving fisheries management and minimizing bycatch, commences in January with a two-month deployment for selected vessels rather than the initial three-month plan.
A long list of crabbing issues, decisions on halibut catch sharing, and groundfish regulations look to dominate a fall meeting of Pacific fisheries overseers.
The 15 members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council will gather next week, beginning on Wednesday, to discuss fish issues for the Pacific Northwest.
It has taken a quarter of a century, but fishery managers are finally poised to take action to reduce the 5 million pounds of halibut allowed to be taken as bycatch in Gulf of Alaska fisheries. Industry watchers are hoping that public comments will sway them to make the largest of the proposed cuts.
NOAA Fisheries Service is accepting public comment on the agency’s new proposal to change the observer program for federal groundfish and halibut fisheries off Alaska.
A public workshop on Pacific halibut bycatch, set for April 24-25 in Seattle, is drawing considerable interest from the halibut setline fleet and trawlers who operate in the Gulf of Alaska fisheries.
Revenues and efficiency have climbed substantially over the last year for West Coast commercial fishers trawling for whiting and other valuable groundfish under the catch shares programme, according to preliminary data from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
Less than a year after telling the public Gulf of Alaska halibut bycatch would be reduced in 2012, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council has bowed to a variety of pressures from bureaucratic to biological, and cuts won’t take effect until at least 2014.
The first anniversary of the groundfish catch share management system launched last January is on the horizon, and reviews - while still decidedly mixed - are steering toward guardedly optimistic tradewinds.
