In January 2004, Congress amended the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to establish the crab rationalization program, which allocates crab resources to participants in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands king and tanner crab fisheries.
"Releasing this EIS to the public is a big step for us in getting the Bering Sea Aleutian Island Crab Rationalization Program on the ground," NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region Administrator Dr. James Balsiger said in a press release. "Congress has decided on this program and we would like to see crab fishermen operating under it in the fall of 2005."
The EIS evaluates the environmental, social, and economic consequences of four alternatives: (1) status quo; (2) three-pie voluntary cooperative program (the preferred alternative); (3) an individual fishing quota program; and (4) a cooperative program. The alternative programs under consideration are a complex set of elements that are designed to balance the interests of several identifiable groups that depend on these fisheries. These groups include harvesters, processors, communities and crew.
The EIS also serves as the primary environmental review document supporting the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands king and tanner crabs. It summarizes and analyzes the best available scientific information about crab resources and the seafloor environment in the Bering Sea and Aleutians Islands areas and assesses the environmental impacts resulting from fishery management actions.
The 400-page EIS can be found on the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region Web site at www.fakr.noaa.gov. Printed or CD copies of the EIS may be ordered through the EIS order form, also on the Web site.
The Saint Matthew Island section blue king crab and the Pribilof district red and blue king crab fisheries will remain closed for the 2004 season. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and National Marine Fisheries Service completed analysis of the 2004 NMFS trawl survey results for these parts of Registration Area Q and found both stocks are depressed. If thresholds had been met to open the fishery, they would have both opened Sept. 15, but neither fishery has opened since 1998. Survey estimates for Saint Matthew blue king crab indicate continued low abundance of mature male and female crabs. The stock is above the mature biomass threshold of 2.9 million pounds of mature males. However, the calculated guideline harvest level is only 0.592 million pounds, well below the harvest strategy minimum GHL of 2.5 million pounds.
Survey results of Pribilof district blue king crabs also indicate continued low abundance. The abundance of blue king crabs estimated by the Fish and Game is lower in 2004 than in 2003 and NMFS estimates of abundance are the lowest ever. The minimum threshold for a fishery opening is a total biomass estimate of at least 13.2 million pounds of blue king crabs for two consecutive years. The 2003 total mature biomass estimate was 4.1 million pounds of mature male blue king crabs and the 2004 estimate decreased to 0.5 million pounds of blue king crabs, the lowest ever and approximately 4 percent of the threshold value.
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council Crab Plan Team is meeting Sept. 20-22 in Juneau. The agenda includes reviewing the status of crab stocks and annual management reports, reviewing results of the snow crab survey, and reviewing state guideline harvest levels.
The team will also continue work on revising crab over-fishing definitions, continue a discussion on trawl performance issues and discuss long-range research priorities for industry-funded research. There will also be an update on the Crab Rationalization Plan as it affects the CPT. The meeting will be held in the NMFS Sustainable Fisheries Conference Room at the Federal Building in Juneau. There will be a call-in number available, which can be obtained by calling the NMFS office in Juneau at 586-7221.
Alaska Sea Grant will host the symposium "Sea Lions of the World: Conservation and Research in the 21st Century," Sept. 30 through Oct. 3 at the Anchorage Marriott Downtown Hotel. The world community of researchers on sea lions will gather to share experiences and knowledge that will improve understanding of sea lion population fluctuations, especially Steller sea lions. Changes in the abundance of all five species of sea lions worldwide are of growing concern to fisheries and conservation groups, either because fisheries are feared to threaten sea lions, or because sea lions are feared to threaten fisheries. About 140 oral and poster presentations will be given at the meeting, and Alaska Sea Grant plans to publish a peer-reviewed proceedings book of full papers in 2005. Sponsoring agencies are the Alaska Sea Grant College Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Alaska Department of Fish and Game; NOAA Fisheries (National Marine Fisheries Service); North Pacific Fishery Management Council; and Wakefield Endowment, University of Alaska Foundation. The meeting is the 22nd Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium.
