The discussion paper looks at some of the economic and social impacts of crab rationalization in coastal communities due to rapid fleet consolidation and considers applying harvest caps to vessels fishing cooperative allocations to mitigate potential negative impacts of consolidation.
Under the current rationalization plan, individual vessels harvesting their own quota are subject to a cap; however, vessels in co-ops are not.
The council initially has proposed examining a range of possible vessel caps from the same caps that apply to vessels fishing IFQs outside of co-ops to 150 percent of that cap.
The crab rationalization plan came under sharp criticism from crewmembers in coastal communities of Homer and Kodiak when it was first implemented, due to the significant loss of crew jobs when over half of the crab fleet stayed home as a result of cooperative agreements with other vessels. Crew organizations have been lobbying the council to either issue crab IFQs to qualified crewmembers or create some other system that would increase the number of crew hires.
Also on the agenda are a number of items that the council has been working on for an extended period, including continuing work on groundfish rationalization, seabird avoidance and salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea.
The NPFMC meets Feb. 5-13. The full agenda, discussion paper, and other materials are available on the council’s Web site: http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/default.htm
The International Pacific Halibut Commission set a start date of March 10 for the 2007 halibut and sablefish fisheries, five days later than in 2006 and 10 days later than 2005.
The IPHC has had numerous proposals in recent years to start the fishery as late as March 15, in part because fish that spend summers in British Columbia are thought to be migrating through Southeast Alaska in late February and early March. Also, some processors prefer a later start date because it is costly to keep their doors open for scattered deliveries of fish.
Bruce Leaman, executive director of the IPHC, said it is a balancing act.
“It was a compromise between not hitting migrating fish and getting fish on the market as quick as we can,” he said.
Mother Nature also played a role. “I think the tides were also behind that one,” Leaman said. “There’s a really ugly set of tides before that.”
The full moon falls on March 3, with a corresponding combined tidal movement of 23.48 feet in Cook Inlet.
The IPHC also reminds IFQ holders that IFQ Cost Recovery Fees are due to the National Marine Fisheries Service by Jan. 31. Payment information can be found on the NMFS Web site at http://www. fakr.noaa. gov/default.htm.
Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978. She also designs and builds gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and gillnets salmon in upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist. She can be reached at cristy-fry@excite.com.
The council will take on the subject of harvest caps for vessels fishing cooperatively under the crab rationalization plan, as it reviews a discussion paper that came out in October of 2006.
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