Federal fisheries managers will take final action during their spring meeting in Anchorage on community development quota ownership caps.
The CDQ ownership caps are one of 10 major issues before the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which will meet from April 3 through April 11 at the Hilton Hotel. All meetings are open to the public, except for executive sessions, and will be broadcast at https://npfmc.adobeconnect.com/april2017 . Motions will be posted following the meeting.
Also before the council is a discussion paper regarding a salmon fishery management plan, related to the state of Alaska’s petition for a writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court regarding management of three salmon fisheries that overlap state and federal waters. A writ of certiorari orders a lower court to deliver its record in a case so that the higher court may review it. The state of Alaska filed its brief with the Supreme Court on Feb. 27, naming United Cook Inlet Drift Association and Cook Inlet Fishermen’s Fund as respondents. The brief states that the National Marine Fisheries Service agrees that managing these salmon fisheries to meet escapement goals as the state does is more effective at preventing overfishing than how fisheries would be managed under a federal fisheries management plan, which requires managing the fisheries to meet inflexible catch limits.
The state questions whether the Secretary of Commerce, acting through NMFS, may approve an FMP “that excludes and defers to state management of a fishery, because NMFS concludes that the excluded fishery does not require a plan and would be worse off managed under a plan?”
The state’s petition to the court is included in the meeting agenda, which is online at http://legistar2.granicus.com/npfmc/meetings/2017/4/955_A_North_Pacific_Council_17-04-03_Meeting_Agenda.pdf
The CDQ ownership caps are one of 10 major issues before the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which will meet from April 3 through April 11 at the Hilton Hotel. All meetings are open to the public, except for executive sessions, and will be broadcast at https://npfmc.adobeconnect.com/april2017 . Motions will be posted following the meeting.
Also before the council is a discussion paper regarding a salmon fishery management plan, related to the state of Alaska’s petition for a writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court regarding management of three salmon fisheries that overlap state and federal waters. A writ of certiorari orders a lower court to deliver its record in a case so that the higher court may review it. The state of Alaska filed its brief with the Supreme Court on Feb. 27, naming United Cook Inlet Drift Association and Cook Inlet Fishermen’s Fund as respondents. The brief states that the National Marine Fisheries Service agrees that managing these salmon fisheries to meet escapement goals as the state does is more effective at preventing overfishing than how fisheries would be managed under a federal fisheries management plan, which requires managing the fisheries to meet inflexible catch limits.
The state questions whether the Secretary of Commerce, acting through NMFS, may approve an FMP “that excludes and defers to state management of a fishery, because NMFS concludes that the excluded fishery does not require a plan and would be worse off managed under a plan?”
The state’s petition to the court is included in the meeting agenda, which is online at http://legistar2.granicus.com/npfmc/meetings/2017/4/955_A_North_Pacific_Council_17-04-03_Meeting_Agenda.pdf