Environmental Assessment of Amendment 40 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area

Amendment 40 will establish a prohibited species catch (PSC) limit for Chionoecetes opilio crab in a new Q. opilio PSC Bycatch Limitation Zone of the Bering Sea. The PSC would be established annually to fluctuate with crab abundance, within the minimum and maximum limits, as a percentage of the NOAA Fisheries bottom trawl survey index. 

This analysis indicates that reducing the PSC limits may not drastically improve or rebuild crab stocks. Because bycatch mortality caused by trawl fisheries is very small relative to other sources of removals due to natural and fishing mortality, reductions in bycatch limits may not result in measurable improvements to crab stock abundance. Potential "savings" of crab through PSC reductions proposed under Alternative 2-4 will increase crab available for harvest or spawning only slightly.

None of the alternatives considered in this document is likely to have significant impacts on groundfish stocks. Catch of all groundfish is counted against the TAC, regardless where or when it is caught. Closure of bycatch zones to groundfish trawling will likely be offset by increased effort outside the closure areas. No changes to groundfish stock status from the status quo are expected. It is likely that fisheries will continue to remove about two million metric tons of ground fish per year from the Bering Sea / Aleutian Islands region.