This years meeting will cover a number of issues, including stellar sea lion protection, catch share issues, and crab allocations. The real heat of the meeting will focus on halibut and the battle between the charter and commercial fishermen. Halibut continues to be a tense issue because the quota has been decreased substantially over the past few years. Check below for links to LIVE audio of the meetings. (here) Read below for more info from Bristol Bay Times. AbundentOceans has some great YouTube content from past meetings. I expect that it will be updated soon.
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.
The council is made up of 11 voting and four non-voting members. Seven of the voting members are from the state of Alaska, while others hail from Washington and Oregon.
The meeting is being held at the Anchorage Hilton from Oct. 3-9. For those unable to attend the public meeting, online participation is welcomed via http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/.
After hearing initial reports from state and federal agencies, the council will move on to big-ticket items such as halibut, groundfish, stellar sea lions, vessel replacement issues and crab management.
In the halibut world, the council will make a final decision on the halibut catch sharing plan. If approved, the plan may move five percent of the yearly halibut allocation from commercial fishermen to charter and sport operations. There are a total of five options for Pacific halibut allocation on the table. That decision will be the first of the major issues addressed following reports.
via Halibut, crab, groundfish top council agenda – The Bristol Bay Times.
Related articles
- Tensions simmer among B.C. halibut fishermen (cbc.ca)
- World fish supply declining, but there’s hope for recovery (kansascity.com)
- B.C. fishermen sue Ottawa over lowered halibut haul (theglobeandmail.com)
- “Catch Shares” Save Fish Populations–and the Fishing Industry (scientificamerican.com)
- Alaska editorial: King closures expose double standards on bycatch (juneauempire.com)