Alaska Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands Rockfish Trawl Fishery - MMPA List of Fisheries

U.S. fisheries are classified under the Marine Mammal Protection Act according to the level of interactions that result in incidental mortality or serious injury of marine mammals.

Alaska

Current Classification on the List of Fisheries

Category	II
Estimated Number of Participants	17
Target Species	Pacific ocean perch (rockfish) sablefish
Applicable Take Reduction Plans	N/A
Observer Coverage	Of the 18 trawl vessels operating in 2012, 16 are trawl catcher/processors that have 2 observers, and 2 are trawl catcher vessels with no observer delivering to a catcher/processor acting as a mothership with 2 observers.
Marine Mammal Species/Stocks Killed or Injured	Harbor seal, Aleutian Islands; Killer whale, ENP AK resident¹; Killer whale, GOA, AI, BS, transient¹; Ribbon seal, AK

^ Number of participants estimates are based on state and federal fisheries permit data. The estimated number of participants is expressed in terms of the number of active participants in the fishery, when possible. If this information is not available, the estimated number of vessels or persons licensed for a particular fishery is provided. If no recent information is available on the number of participants, then the number from the most recent LOF is used. NOAA Fisheries acknowledges that, in some cases, these estimations may be inflating actual effort.

*Observer coverage levels include the latest information reported in the most current final Stock Assessment Report (SAR).

1 Indicates the stock or species is driving the classification of the fishery.

Basis for Current Classification

Mortality or serious injury of either Gulf of Alaska (GOA), Bering Sea (BS), or Aleutian Islands (AI) transient killer whale stock or the overlapping North Pacific Alaska resident killer whale stock exceeds 1%, but does not exceed 50% of either stock’s PBR. One killer whale serious injury/mortality occurred in this fishery between 2007 and 2011, but as these killer whale stocks overlap in time and area, it was not determined from which stock the take occurred. However, the one serious injury mortality places this fishery in Category II for either stock.

Distribution

BSAI

Gear Description

Trawl

Management

Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the BSAI, 50 CFR 679, Final 2013 and 2014 harvest specifications for groundfish (78 FR 13813, March 1, 2003).

Historical Information

Original Category (Year added to the LOF)	III (2004)
Original Number of Participants	9
Basis for Original Classification	Data indicating serious injury or mortality in this fishery did not exceed 1% of the PBR of any marine mammal stock.
Past Names	For the purposes of the List of Fisheries, this fishery was included in the larger “Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands groundfish trawl” fishery prior to 2004.
Species/stocks historically documented as killed or injured (but not currently on the list)	N/A

Timeline of Changes

2021	Added harbor seal (Aleutian Islands).
2020	Added ribbon seal (AK).
2018	Added sablefish as a target species.
2015	Estimated number of participants updated from 10 to 17.
2013	Elevated to Category II based on observed mortality of killer whale (GOA, AI, BS transient) that occurred between 2007 and 2010. The mean annual mortality of killer whales (GOA, AI, BS transient) across all fisheries is 1.25 or 22.7% of PBR (5.5). The mean annual mortality caused by this fishery is 0.25 or 4.5% of PBR. This fishery is classified as Category II because the mean annual mortality caused by this fishery falls between 1% and 50% of PBR.
2009	Estimated number of participants updated from 9 to 10.
2004	In 2004 four large groups of federally managed fisheries in Alaskan waters were separated into 25 fisheries based on geographic location, target species and gear type. This fishery was included in the larger group of “Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands groundfish trawl” fishery prior to 2004, and in 2004 was broken out as the “Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands rockfish trawl” fishery. It was placed in Category III at that time as no specific information on marine mammal takes were attributed to that fishery.