GOA Trawl Bycatch Management Options Face Analysis

How do you solve a problem like bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska trawl fisheries?

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council devoted hours of its fall meeting in Anchorage to that question, finally emerging with a motion calling for analysis of a number of alternatives and options.

The three alternatives to be considered include taking no action, a trawl bycatch management program for the Western Gulf, Central Gulf and West Yakutat area, and an alternative with a community fisheries association allocation or adaptive management program.

In considering a bycatch management program for trawl fisheries in the Western Gulf, Central Gulf and West Yakutat area, the council wants details on the pros and cons of 14 related topics, with possible options. These include observer coverage and monitoring, sector eligibility and allocated species to allocations of target and secondary species, voluntary inshore and catcher processor cooperative structures, the stability of fishery dependent communities, gear conversion and regionalization of target species quota.

In considering the third alternative, the bycatch management program for trawl fisheries, with community fisheries associations or an adaptive management program, there are a number of options to be analyzed, from how the CFA would provide a community sustainability plan to goals and objectives for these programs.

“…the halibut biomass in the North Pacific has plummeted over the past decade, with survey catch rates in some areas now at historic low levels. Many salmon stocks are imperiled, with low abundance levels triggering closures of commercial, sport and subsistence fisheries. The fishermen who have depended on these fisheries for sustenance or livelihood are struggling with significant and ongoing hardships,” said Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, in written testimony.

“In the Gulf, catch limits for the directed halibut fishery have been reduced 73 percent on average while trawl bycatch limits have been reduced 15 percent—with the reduction phased in over three years. This gross inequity indicates a dramatic imbalance in existing management, which is clearly skewed toward optimizing yield over minimizing bycatch, protecting historical fisheries, and providing for the sustained participation of fishery dependent communities.”

Theresa Peterson, a commercial harvester from Kodiak who is employed by the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, supported community fishing associations.

“A CFA provides a means to anchor quota in the community, provides a mechanism for providing for entry transition into the fishery, and provides a flexible mechanism for responding to other community concerns as they arise.

The initiative to implement trawl catch shares in the Gulf would have adverse impacts to the operational, economic, social and cultural characteristics of Kodiak and other Gulf pot cod fisheries, said Jeff Stephan , director of United Fishermen’s Marketing Association.

“I understand and do not censure the trawl sector’s interest to improve their profitability, cost, operational and other economic efficiencies,” Stephan said. “I am nonetheless concerned that the trawl catch share initiative has been successfully inculcated with the doctrine of presumed “tools” needed to reduce the prohibited species catch of Chinook salmon and halibut, and absent the acceptance or recognition of the need to carefully and fully evaluate the impacts to the pot cod fishery, Stephan said

Halibut Charter Fishery Issue Approved for Analysis

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has approved initiating an analysis proposed by Alaska’s guided recreational fishing sector for a guided recreational halibut allocation under a catch share plan.

A motion, passed during the council’s fall meeting this week in Anchorage, calls for analysis of a catch sharing plan which would be combined with the halibut quota share held by the recreational quota entity to determine the annually adjusted total guided halibut allocation. The total allocation would be the basis for the determination of appropriate management measures for the guided halibut sector annually.

Tom Gemmell, executive director of the Halibut Coalition, offered written testimony urging the council to consider the appropriateness of launching any major changes to halibut charter management at this time, given recent implementation of the Catch Sharing Plan and Guided Angler Fish program. There is a need to clearly identify a problem the CATCH plan might correct and the council should also consider the importance of convening all stakeholders to consider a broader range of alternative solutions to the problem if one is identified, Gemmell said.

Brian Lynch, executive director of the Petersburg Vessel Owners Association, said PVOA also opposed the move. “Given that 2014 is the first year of halibut charter management under the Halibut Catch Sharing Plan and provisions of the Guided Angler Fish program, we believe it is presently premature and inappropriate to initiate additional actions that would result in major changes to the halibut charter management,” Lynch said. “Any major changes in the CSP or implementation of the CATCH program should only be considered if at some future time specific implementation problems with the CSP and GAF programs are clearly identified.”

Heath Hilyard, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Guide Organization, said that there are still a number of important questions to be answered before this could become a reality, and SEAGO’s belief is that only a formal analysis can address those questions and concerns. “By approving this motion, the council has shown its willingness to consider a new and innovative approach that could resolve long standing allocation problems between the guided recreational and commercial sectors between two competing user groups,” he said.

Today's Catch: Closed

If you fish commercially in Washington State waters, you’re wasting valuable taxpayer money. At least that’s how the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) sees it. To save those poor taxpayers from financial ruin, the WDFW wants to cut back on commercial fisheries, starting with the closure of the commercial salmon fishery in Puget Sound, Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor.

The State says it needs to find some money somewhere. State agencies in Washington submit supplemental operating budget proposals every two years. This year, Governor Jay Inslee wants those agencies to cut 15 percent from their share of the general fund. The 6-member Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission decided that the best place to find it was in the commercial fishery budget.

On September 4th, the commission voted 5 to 1 to approve the proposal from the department’s budget officer, which, along with closing the aforementioned fisheries, will close four hatcheries, reduce funding for two more and reduce commercial Puget Sound shellfish fisheries. “I proposed it,” says outgoing director of Fish and Wildlife Phil Anderson, of the budget, noting that a similar proposal four years ago was put before former Governor Christine Gregoire, who didn’t approve it. Now that the commission has voted on the budget, Anderson says, it goes to the Governor. It’s his decision on whether to take it to the legislature for a vote.

“In the past, the Governor and legislature have chosen not to take the cuts,” Anderson says. “Some of the budget cuts don’t make good sense from a cost / benefit perspective.”

The commission also proposes doubling the fees for commercial fisheries statewide.

Not all fisheries are on the chopping block. In the case of recreational fisheries, the commission recognizes “the benefits of sport fishing across the state in generating funding for agency activities well beyond fishery management cost.” The commission further believes “it would be beneficial to look for ways to make practical commitments to expand sport fishing opportunities at the same time that it pursues a course during this Legislative Session that avoids the need for additional license increases in the next two biennia.”

The budget concessions to the recreational fishermen coincide with the recent decriminalization of minor recreational fishing violations, leading Snohomish County to instruct fish and wildlife officers to no longer pursue criminal prosecution for unlawful recreational fishing in the second degree – essentially fishing without a license.

The budget vote, according to commissioner Robert Kehoe, was 5 to 1 to submit the proposal to the Governor. Kehoe, the Executive Director of the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association, represents commercial fisherman on the commission, and was appointed by Governor Inslee in July of last year. 

The commission sets policy for the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Members are appointed by the governor to six-year terms and are subject to state Senate confirmation. Prior to Kehoe’s appointment, the required commercial fishing spot had been vacant for more than a year, and the seventh voting position has been vacant for more than two years. Only four of the voting members have been confirmed by the state legislature, but the vote is considered binding, and the proposal is on the Governor’s desk. The Governor’s office has declined to comment on whether he will accept the proposal.

The current commission has demonstrated a marked indifference, if not outright contempt, for the Washington State commercial fishing fleet, and Governor Inslee has been careful to remain above the fray, choosing to remain silent on the closure of the lower Columbia River to commercial gillnetters. If he approves the budget, the State Legislature will be the last chance to save Washington State’s commercial salmon fishery. Contact the Governor’s office today and tell him not to approve this budget. Also contact your legislator, and educate him on the value of the commercial fishery to Washington State, and tell your friends and family to do the same.

Booming Season Ahead for Bering Sea Crab Fisheries

Total allowable catches set for Bering Sea tanner crab, red king crab and St. Matthew Island blue king crab for the season opening Oct. 15 are bound to keep harvesters real busy.

The tanner crab quota for the Eastern Bering Sea is 8,480,000 pounds, with 7,632,000 pounds allocated to holders of individual fishing quota and 848,000 pounds for community development quota groups. For the Western Bering Sea, harvesters have an allowable catch totalling 6,625,000 pounds, with 5,962500 pounds going to IFQ holders and 662,500 pounds for the six CDQ groups.

That’s a huge jump from a year ago, when the Eastern Bering Sea had a total allowable catch of tanner crab set at 1,463,000, including 1,316,700 pounds for the IFQ holders and 146,300 pounds for CDQs, and a total of 1,645,000 pounds of tanner crab for the Western Bering Sea, including 1,480,500 pounds for IFQ holders and 164,500 pounds for CDQ groups.

The good news also prevails with higher quotas for the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery and the opening of the St. Matthew Island section blue king crab fishery, which was closed last year.

Bristol Bay red king crab quotas for this season total 9,986,000 pounds, with 8,987,400 pounds allocated to IFQ holders and 998,600 pounds going to CDQs.

A year ago the total allowable catch was 8.6 million pounds, including 7,740,000 pounds for IFQs and 860,000 pounds for CDQs.

Harvesters of Saint Matthew Island section blue king crab have a total allowable catch allocation of 655,000 pounds, with the IFQs getting 589,500 pounds and CDQs allowed to harvest 65,500 pounds.

The Bering Sea tanner crab fishery closes March 31, the red king crab fishery on Jan. 15, and the St. Matthew blue king crab fishery on Feb. 1.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists at Dutch Harbor are expected to announce the total allowable catch for snow crab within the next few days.

SeaShare Delivers 13,000 Pounds of Bycatch Halibut to Kotzebue

SeaShare, the Seattle-based nonprofit organization dedicated to improving nutrition for people served by food banks and feeding centers, recently delivered 13,000 pounds of frozen halibut for distribution to 11 villages in Northwest Alaska.

The catch was caught incidentally by trawl fishermen in the Gulf of Alaska and provided to SeaShare by Ocean Beauty Seafoods.

“Kodiak fishermen work hard to avoid bycatch, but when they get it they want to see these valuable fish utilized,” said Jim Harmon, executive director of SeaShare. “That’s how SeaShare was started 20 years ago, to provide a network to feed hungry families with fish that would otherwise be thrown overboard.

Harmon said fishermen did a great job handling and delivering these fish, and that six processing plants in Kodiak cleaned, packaged, froze and stored the fish for SeaShare. Local food banks take what they can, and when we receive more fish than Kodiak needs, SeaShare works to find freight and storage partners to help us reach other communities, he said.

In this particular scenario, SeaShare worked with the US Coast Guard and NANA Regional Corp., the regional Alaska Native corporation for Northwest Alaska, to get the fish to Kotzebue and 10 other villages in Northwest Alaska, he said.

Elders get fish first, with the balance going to families according to need.

In addition to volunteers from NANA and FBX Aviation Services, the Coast Guard flight crew helped unload, then reload the halibut on the various pallets and trucks, Harmon said.

Since 1994, SeaShare has provided over 150 million meals to Feeding America’s food bank network. Lean more about SeaShare at www.seashare.org

Federal Fisheries Council Meeting Underway in Anchorage

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s fall meeting is underway in Anchorage through Oct. 14. The meeting is being aired over the Internet at https://npfmc.adobeconnect.com/october2014/

Motions will be posted online following the meeting.

The council’s scientific and statistical committee began its meeting’s on Oct. 6, on the observer deployment plan, and the council’s advisory council began it’s discussions on the same subject on Oct. 7. The full council was expected to take up the observer annual deployment plan today, after hearing a report from NPFMC executive director Chris Oliver. Oliver’s report is expected to include updates on Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act legislation and a discussion of the council’s joint meeting with the International Pacific Halibut Commission, plus management reports from the National Marine Fisheries Service. The agenda is online at http://legistar2.granicus.com/npfmc/meetings/2014/10/894_A_North_Pacific_Council_14-10-06_Meeting_Agenda.pdf

The council has scheduled final action during this meeting for community development quota Pacific cod fishery development.

The council has allocated time for discussion of Gulf of Alaska trawl bycatch management, including discussion papers and a salmon genetics report. The final report on the Amendment 80 five-year review and an initial review of Aleutian Island Pacific cod allocation and delivery requirements are also on the agenda.

AMSF Funded to Continue Debris Cleanup

Federal funding backed by matching grants has the Alaska Marine Stewardship Foundation on target to clean up another 51.6 metric tons of marine debris in 2015, in or adjacent to state and federal critical habitat areas in Alaska.

The $200,000 grant was announced in early October for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program. It will be used, along with the matching funds from community development quota programs, to remove debris at St. George, Nelson Lagoon, Nikolski, Port Heiden and Gambell.

NOAA allocated a total of $1,275,000 nationwide in similar grants.

Since 2006, this program has funded 87 marine debris removal projects, removing more than 4,800 metric tons of marine debris.

Matching funds came from the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association, Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp., and Norton Sound Economic Development Corp.

Because funding arrives late in the year, NOAA funds for fiscal 2013 were used for 2014 cleanup and funds allocated in 2014 will be used next year, said Dave Gaudet, executive director of AMSF.

Gaudet is a retired Alaska Department of Fish and Game fisheries biologist and a commercial salmon fish harvester. He joined AMSF as marine debris program coordinator in early 2009 and grew the organization through expanded projects and debris research.

Gaudet has a bachelor’s degree in fisheries management from the University of Wisconsin at Steven’s Point and a master’s degree in fisheries science from the University of Washington.

AMSF, formerly known as the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation, promotes conservation and restoration of Alaska’s coastlines through marine debris cleanup and public outreach. Through 2011, AMSF’s work has cleaned 1,794.8 miles of shoreline, removing 2,206,152 pounds of debris.

More information on the foundation’s work is at its website, (www.alaskamsf.org).