Federal
fisheries managers have voted to annually allocate the harvest limit surplus of
flathead sole, rock sole and yellowfin sole to Amendment 80 cooperatives and
the community development quota program.
The
action concerning the difference between the acceptable biological catch and
the total allowable catch came during the North Pacific Fishery Management
Council’s April meeting in Anchorage.
Regulations
for this allocation must still be written by the National Marine Fisheries
Service, and the measure is anticipated to be in effect by 2015.
The
council’s action calls for using the same formulas as are used in the annual
harvest specifications process.
Entities
may exchange their yellowfin sole, flathead sole, and/or rock sole quota share
for an equivalent amount of their allocation of the harvest limit surplus for
these species. Quota share that is exchanged for harvest limit surplus may be
credited back to the entity’s allocation of the surplus if unused, under the
alternative approved.
Amendment
80 vessels were designated under Amendment 80 to the Bering Sea/Aleutian
Islands Fishery Management Plan, adopted by the council in June 2006. The
amendment allocated to several BSAI non-pollock trawl groundfish species among
trawl fisheries sectors and facilitated the formation of harvesting
cooperatives in the non-American Fisheries Act trawl catcher/processor sector.
A
full explanation of Amendment 80 is online at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/amds/80/default.htm.
The
Community Development Quota, or CDQ program, allocates a percentage of all BSAI
quota for groundfish, prohibited species, halibut and crab to eligible
communities, with a goal of giving eligible western Alaska villages
opportunities to participate in and invest in commercial fisheries.
More
about that program is at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/cdq/default.htm.
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