The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council will continue its work on Gulf of Alaska groundfish rationalization next week at its upcoming meeting April 3-11 at the Anchorage Hilton Hotel.
At a pre-council advisory panel meeting in Kodiak last week to field questions about groundfish rationalization, emotions boiled over, according to a story in the Kodiak Daily Mirror.
The Mirror reports that several attendees asked that the Gulf groundfish rationalization process be stopped in its tracks.
“I think people want to take a break from the process so they can get it right,” fisherman Alexus Kwachka told the Mirror. “There’s no trust in the process.”
Some Kodiak residents have suffered severe economic impacts as a result of crab rationalization, and are leery of the federal plan to rationalize the lucrative groundfish fisheries.
Panel member Duncan Fields told the Mirror, “I’m of the view it’s going to be really hard overall to move ahead with a rationalization program in the Gulf unless we address (crab rationalization) at some level, not necessarily to everybody’s satisfaction or every detail. We (need to) address the substantial, significant, adverse impact of crab rationalization, particularly on the crew jobs and the consolidation.”
He said he understands why some stakeholders harbor bitterness and cynicism but said he doesn’t believe the council has a predetermined outcome or a conspiracy going on.
“In Kodiak, we’re listening to a chorus, and the chorus is very loud and they’re all singing in harmony. But the Kodiak chorus is part of a much larger choir, and the choir is not in harmony with the Kodiak chorus,” Fields said.
Other items on the agenda are Bering Sea/Aleutian Island Pacific cod allocations, Bering Sea non-pollock rationalization, improved retention, improved utilization, Bering Sea/Aleutian Island trawl catcher vessel eligibility, and halibut guideline harvest level regulations for the charter fleet.
A full agenda including the amount of time allocated to each agenda item can be found online at www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/.
The Senate Commerce Committee’s National Ocean Policy Study Subcommittee has announced a hearing on Offshore Aquaculture scheduled for April 6, at 10 a.m. Eastern time. This hearing will be webcast live at 6 a.m. Alaska Standard Time.
The committee notes that the United States lags behind other nations in using offshore aquaculture facilities to supplement its domestic seafood production. This hearing will examine current proposals to regulate offshore aquaculture operations, discuss research in this field being conducted off the coasts of New England and Hawaii, and explore the impacts that expanded aquaculture operations would have on fishermen, seafood processors, and consumers.
The panel will include Bill Hogarth, director of NMFS, Dr. Richard Langan, director of the University of New Hampshire’s open ocean aquaculture program, Randy Cates, president of Cates International, Inc., Mark Vinsel, executive director of United Fishermen of Alaska and Dr. Rebecca Goldburg, senior scientist for Environmental Defense.
To listen to the live webcast, log on to http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/index.cfm at 6:00 a.m. on April 6, and click on the link to Offshore Aquaculture.
The deadline for submitting proposals to the Board of Fisheries for the 2006/2007 meeting cycle is April 10.
The Board of Fisheries is accepting proposed changes to the subsistence, personal use, sport, guided sport and commercial finfish regulations for the Bristol Bay, Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim and Alaska Peninsula/Aleutian Islands management areas. Finfish includes salmon, herring, trout, groundfish, char, burbot, northern pike, whitefish, Pacific cod, sablefish, shark, pollock, etc., but does not include halibut.
A list of offices that can officially accept proposals can be found online at www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us.
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.
