"Atka Mackerel"

Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Atka mackerel are on a biennial stock assessment schedule to coincide with the availability of new survey data from the biennial trawl survey. A full assessment was presented in 2015which included data from the 2015 GOA bottom trawl survey. On alternate (even) years we present an executive summary with updated catch, last year’s key assessment parameters, any significant new information available in the interim, and projections for this year.

Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Atka mackerel have been moved to a biennial stock assessment schedule to coincide with the availability of new survey data from the biennial trawl survey. A full assessment was presented in 2011, which included data from the 2011 GOA bottom trawl survey. On alternate (even) years we present an executive summary with updated catch, last year’s key assessment parameters, any significant new information available in the interim, and projections for this year. Although a survey was conducted in 2013, we only provided an expanded executive summary with updated catch and the 2013 survey information, due to the government shut-down in October 2013. In 2014, we again presented an executive summary in keeping with the biennial schedule.

Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Atka mackerel has been moved to a biennial stock assessment schedule to coincide with the availability of new survey data from the biennial trawl survey. A full assessment was presented in 2011, which included data from the 2011 GOA bottom trawl survey. On alternate (even) years we present an executive summary with updated catch, last year’s key assessment parameters, any significant new information available in the interim, and projections for this year. Although a survey was conducted in 2013, we only provided an expanded executive summary with updated catch and the 2013 survey information, due to the government shut-down in October 2013.

Native Names: In the Aleut languages, Atka mackerel are known as tmadgi-{ among the Eastern and Atkan Aleuts and Atkan of Bering Island. They are also known as tavyi-{ among the Attuan Aleuts (Sepez et al. 2003). Atka mackerel (Pleurogrammus monopterygius) are widely distributed along the continental shelf across the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea from Asia to North America. On the Asian side they extend from the Kuril Islands to Provideniya Bay (Rutenburg 1962); moving eastward, they are distributed throughout the Komandorskiye and Aleutian Islands (AI), north along the eastern Bering Sea (EBS) shelf, and through the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) to southeast Alaska.

This Regulatory Impact Review (RIR) evaluates the costs and benefits of a proposed regulatory amendment to relax a harvest restriction for participants in the harvest limit area (HLA) Atka mackerel fishery in the Aleutian Islands. The proposed action would allow participants in the HLA fishery to harvest Atka mackerel outside of the HLA during the first assigned HLA fishery. Regulations currently prohibit harvest of any groundfish other than Atka mackerel, and then only within the HLA, during the first HLA fishery. This action would relieve a restriction on participants in the HLA Atka mackerel fishery and potentially provide additional protection for Steller sea lions by allowing for less harvest from within the HLA. The regulatory amendment would allowmore efficient harvest of Atka mackerel. This RIR addresses the requirements of Presidential Executive Order 12866.