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NEW
GROUNDFISH
FORUM
MEMBERS: Groundfish Forum was
happy to
welcome Fishermen’s Finest and Fishing Company of Alaska
as new members in 2004.
LEGISLATIVE
BUYBACK
BILL: Groundfish Forum
was directly involved with
drafting an omnibus bill that was passed in 2004 for the BSAI non-pollock groundfish catcher processor sector,
which outlined
a fishing capacity reduction program and included sector definitions
and provided
authority to form multi-sector cooperatives.
BYCATCH
TELECONFERENCES: Groundfish Forum
continued to
hold bi-weekly teleconferences with members of the head & gut
(H&G)
sector, which helped vessels control their prohibited species catch
(PSC) to the
point that virtually all flatfish fisheries closed on their Total
Allowable
Catch (TAC) rather than an overrun on PSC allowance for the fishery.
IMPROVED
RETENTION/IMPROVED
UTILIZATION
(IRIU): Groundfish Forum
continued to
work with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) to
refine
alternatives in proposed Amendment 80 to the Bering Sea Aleutian
Islands (BSAI)
Fisheries Management Plan (FMP), while focusing on reasonable solutions.
PRIBILOFF ISLAND
COLLABORATIVE: Groundfish Forum
participated
in the Pribiloff Island Collaborative
addressing
concerns by the local communities and environmentalists about the
halibut
decline in area 4C, crab decline and the fur seal decline around the
islands.
GULF
OF ALASKA
ROCKFISH
PILOT
PROGRAM: Groundfish Forum
continued to
work with Alaska Groundfish Databank to develop and present to the
North
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) a draft proposal for the
program,
which was used as a template for further development. Groundfish Forum
worked
closely with all the head and gut sector (H&G) participants to
develop
sideboards that protected everyone without crippling anyone.
SKIPPER'S
MEETING: Groundfish Forum held
its annual
Skipper's Meeting prior to the fishing season in which skippers from
the head
and gut (H&G) industry discussed issues related to the past fishing
season,
as well as issues for the upcoming year.
ESSENTIAL
FISH
HABITAT/HABITAT
AREAS
OF PARTICULAR
CONCERN
(EFH/HAPC): In 2004,
Groundfish Forum,
along with other fishing groups in the Aleutian Islands (AI) and Gulf
of Alaska
(GOA), submitted several HAPC proposals to the North Pacific Fishery
Management
Council (Council) to address habitat protections, which delineated
small areas
of known coral and rockfish abundance that were non-trawlable.
The Council ultimately decided it wanted to adopt more sweeping
protections for
coral stands than the HAPC proposals, so Groundfish Forum, along with
fishermen
who depend on the Aleutian Chain, developed an \ldblquote
open areas\rdblquote approach, using log
book and
Geographic Positioning System (GPS) trawl data from fishermen\rquote s plotters. Groundfish Forum received and
verified
the fishermen's confidential trawl track and logbook data, which
included areas
where bottom fishing had occurred from the mid 1980's, and delineated
the areas
on charts. The Council ultimately accepted this open areas proposal in
lieu of
other proposals and it is expected to go into effect in 2006 or 2007.
GULF OF
ALASKA
RATIONALIZATION: Gulf
Rationalization is an
on\f2 -\f1 going process and in 2004 Groundfish Forum continued to be
involved
in North Pacific Fishery Management Council(Council)
and industry deliberations and to meet with State of Alaska
personnel to craft options for the catcher processor sector.
OBSERVER
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE: Groundfish Forum
continued to
participate in the Observer Advisory Committee meetings to develop a
restructured system for observer funding.
NON-TARGET
SPECIES
COMMITTEE:
Groundfish
Forum participated on the
Non-Target Species Committee for the North Pacific Fishery Management
Council
(Council), which focused on developing better management for non-target
species
to provide sufficient protection to the stocks, while still allowing
fisheries
to operate efficiently.
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