Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Permit Program

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted the Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program (Rockfish Program) on June 14, 2010, to replace the expiring Pilot Program. The Rockfish Program became effective in 2011 and fishing under it began in 2012.

The rockfish fisheries are conducted in Federal waters near Kodiak, Alaska, by trawl and longline vessels. The Rockfish Program allocates harvest privileges to holders of License Limitation Program (LLP) groundfish licenses with a history of Central GOA rockfish legal landings in either 2000 through 2006, or the entry level trawl fishery in 2007, 2008, or 2009.

The Rockfish Program assigns quota share (QS) to LLP licenses for rockfish primary and secondary species based on legal landings associated with that LLP. Primary rockfish species are northern rockfish, Pacific ocean perch, and pelagic shelf rockfish. Secondary rockfish species are Pacific cod, rougheye rockfish, shortraker rockfish, sablefish, and thornyhead rockfish.

Each year, an LLP license holder assigns the LLP license with rockfish QS to a rockfish cooperative. Each rockfish cooperative receives an annual cooperative fishing quota (CQ), which is an amount of primary and secondary rockfish species the cooperative is able to harvest in that fishing year. Halibut Prohibited Species Catch (PSC) is also allocated to participants based on historic halibut mortality rates in the primary rockfish species fisheries. Shore-based processors receiving rockfish CQ must be located within the boundaries of the City of Kodiak. The rockfish cooperative fishing season is authorized May 1 through November 15 of each year. An entry level fishery starts January 1 of each year for harvesters who are directed fishing for rockfish primary species using longline gear only.

Catcher/processor LLP license holders may opt-out of the Rockfish Program but are subject to certain sideboard limitations, which prevent rockfish eligible harvesters from increasing their participation in fisheries other than the Central GOA rockfish fisheries.

Issuance of permits to participate in the GOA Rockfish Program.

LLP Licenses (Current rockfish LLP QS Holders)

Cooperatives with associated LLP licenses and vessels

none

NMFS- Fisheries Information Management Committee (FIMC) Standard

Contains Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and/or Business Identifiable Information (BII)

Access to sensitive data shall only be granted to an individual that meets certain criteria. Access may be granted to the data submitter. Access can only be granted to a non-submitter if a signed and effective Confidentiality Agreement, Data Access Sharing Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding, Standard Statement of Nondisclosure, or similar agreement is in place. These signed agreements shall indicate that individuals have reviewed and understand the provisions in the manual governing the legal use of sensitive data. The signed agreements are maintained by the Alaska Regional Records office. The name of each individual that has signed a statement of nondisclosure for using sensitive data will be added to the Alaska Region list of authorized confidential data users.

Data may be released if aggregated in accordance with AKRO and/or MSA confidentiality protocols. Data may be released if confidential BII or PII information are re-dacted. .

Access to sensitive data shall only be granted to an individual that meets certain criteria. Access may be granted to the data submitter. Access can only be granted to a non-submitter if a signed and effective Confidentiality Agreement, Data Access Sharing Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding, Standard Statement of Nondisclosure, or similar agreement is in place. These signed agreements shall indicate that individuals have reviewed and understand the provisions in the manual governing the legal use of sensitive data. The signed agreements are maintained by the Alaska Regional Records office. The name of each individual that has signed a statement of nondisclosure for using sensitive data will be added to the Alaska Region list of authorized confidential data users.

Data may be released if aggregated in accordance with AKRO and/or MSA confidentiality protocols. Data may be released if confidential BII or PII information are re-dacted. .

Data are sensitive under the Privacy Act, FOIA and Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act (2007) and can only be shared with authorized persons or in summary format for public dissemination.

Submitted data is reviewed by NMFS staff prior to data entry. Source data are validated against business rules when loaded into NMFS' Oracle database. Data input is reviewed against output on a routine basis to ensure quality.

IT Security and Contingency Plan for the system establishes procedures and applies to the functions, operations, and resources necessary to recover and restore data as hosted in the Alaska Region in Juneau, Alaska, following a disruption.

Information is collected from participants on paper applications or, if allowed, through on-line data submissions in NMFS/AKR eFISH on-line services. Harvest data necessary for real-time account management may also be submitted through eLandings.

Information submitted on paper forms is entered/updated through NMFS/AKR Alaska Data Entry and Retrieval System (ALDERS) by permitting staff. Data entered into ALDERS is stored in appropriate database tables for use in generating permits, reports, views, etc.