"Fishermen"

The National Standard Guidelines for Fishery Management Plans published by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) require that a stock assessment and fishery evaluation (SAFE) report be prepared and reviewed annually for each fishery management plan (FMP). The SAFE report summarizes the best available scientific information concerning the past, present, and possible future condition of the stocks, marine ecosystems, and fisheries that are managed under Federal regulation. It provides information to the Councils for determining annual harvest levels from each stock, documenting significant trends or changes in the resource, marine ecosystems, and fishery over time, and assessing the relative success of existing state and Federal fishery management programs. For the FMP for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Area, the SAFE report is published in three sections: a “Stock Assessment” section, which comprises the bulk of this document, and “Economic Status of Groundfish Fisheries off Alaska” and “Ecosystem Considerations” sections, which are bound separately.

2013 North Pacific Groundfish Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Reports for 2014 Fisheries.

The Southeast Coastal Monitoring project (SECM) is a component of the NOAA Auke Bay Laboratories salmon research program which has sampled juvenile salmon and associated biophysical parameters in northern Southeast Alaska (SEAK) since 1997 utilizing the NOAA Ship John N. Cobb and chartered trawl vessels. Sampling juveniles as they migrate to the Gulf of Alaska, after high-mortality periods of freshwater incubation and early marine residency, provides information on year-class strength that can be used with associated environmental data to forecast abundance of the fish when they return as adults. Data from these annual surveys have been used to develop models that predicted SEAK pink salmon harvests within 16% of actual harvests for 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009. However, this forecast accuracy was not achieved in 2006, when pink salmon harvest was well below both the SECM forecast based on juvenile salmon abundance and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) forecast based on previous pink salmon harvest time series. Despite this overestimate, the 2006 SECM forecast accurately identified a decline in average pink salmon harvest. The ADF&G is now incorporating the SECM juvenile data into their annual harvest time series forecast.

This document is a Regulatory Impact Review and Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis of an action to revise regulations at 50 CFR parts 679 and 680 amending the Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Pilot Program, the Amendment 80 Program, the Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program, and Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Program.

The annual stock assessment and fishery evaluation (SAFE) report is a requirement of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (FMP), and a federal requirement [50 CFR Section 602.12(e)]. The SAFE report summarizes the current biological and economic status of fisheries, total allowable catch (TAC) or Guideline Harvest Level (GHL), and analytical information used for management decisions. Additional information on Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) king and Tanner crab is available on the NMFS web page at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) Westward Region Shellfish web page at: http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/region4/shellfsh/shelhom4.php.

NOAA Fisheries has received an application for an exempted fishing permit (EFP) from the Best Use Cooperative (BUC). The EFP would allow three vessels in the BUC to sort halibut removed from a codend on the deck of the vessel, and release those fish back to the water after accounting for the halibut condition using standard International Pacific Halibut Commission viability methods for predicting mortality of individual fish. The EFP will allow these vessels to alter the amount of time that halibut are in a codend, on deck and the amount of handling they receive prior to release.

NMFS  has received an application for an exempted fishing permit  (EFP) from the  Best Use Cooperative  (BUC).  The EFP would allow three vessels in the  BUC to sort halibut removed from a codend on the deck of the vessel,  and release those fish back to the water after accounting for the halibut condition using standard International  Pacific  Halibut Commission viability methods for predicting mortality of individual fish.  The EFP will allow these vessels to alter the amount of time that halibut are in a codend,  on deck and the amount of handling they receive prior to release.

This non-controversial rule removes regulations in 50 CFR part 679 that are expired. The corrections in this rule will remove the clutter of outdated regulations which will result in clearer regulations and will reduce the potential for confusion. In§ 679.20, NMFS would remove paragraphs (a)(5)(i)(D), (E), and (F), (a)(5)(iv)(C), and (c)(2); and remove the parenthetical phrase "(Effective April 1, 2005)" from paragraphs ( c )(5) and (c)(6). This action improves the efficiency of the regulations and is necessary to remove the clutter of outdated regulations and potential confusion.

NMFS proposes an administrative structure that provides notice to the public of the IFQ fee percentage while removing any discretionary authority from NMFS in calculating the fee percentage. Calculation of the fee percentage under this action would become a purely ministerial duty conducted by NMFS. The proposed action would not affect the ex-vessel value determination under either program or affect the current structure or administration of the standard prices calculated for the Halibut and Sablefish IFQ Program or the Catcher/Processor Ex-vessel Values calculated for the Crab Rationalization Program. However, NMFS would make minor changes to the current fee regulations to ensure full compliance with the AP A while improving administrative efficiency. The proposed action would accomplish the following three goals if approved:

In Section 802 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004, the U.S. Congress included a directive to the Secretary of Commerce to establish, in consultation with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (the Council), a pilot program for management of three rockfish fisheries in the Central Gulf of Alaska (the Central Gulf rockfish fisheries). At the February 2004 Council meeting, National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) presented a brief discussion paper requesting Council input in the development of the pilot program. Based on this request and public testimony, the Council requested industry stakeholders to prepare and submit proposed alternatives for establishing the program to the Council at its April 2004 meeting. Industry representatives presented a proposal at that meeting that defined an alternative for management of the fisheries under the pilot program. Using the industry proposal and public input and staff discussion papers, the Council developed alternatives for the pilot program management of the rockfish fisheries at its June 2004, October 2004, December 2004, and February 2005 meetings. The Council conducted an initial review of the analysis of alternatives at its April 2005 meeting, directing staff to release the document, after making suggested revisions, for final review at its June 2005 meeting.