Groundfish Fishery Management Plan:
Amendment 21
Allocation of Harvest Opportunity Between Sectors of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery
April 2008
Amendment 21 to the Groundfish FMP contemplates long term formal allocations of some groundfish species and species complexes between the limited entry trawl fishery and other sectors of the groundfish fishery. The Council was scheduled to decide their preferred alternative for these allocations at their April 2008 meeting, but decided to delay the decision until next year.
A draft Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzing the potential consequences of alternative species allocations to trawl sectors was provided for Council consideration at the April meeting. However, much of this analysis had not been previously reviewed by the Council and its advisors and many felt they needed more time to digest this information before recommending long term formal trawl allocations. Additionally, the Council decided to expand the EA into an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), citing the potential long term impacts of any formal allocation.
The Council charged the Groundfish Allocation Committee (GAC) with developing a new intersector allocation alternative that provides an allocation of some species to be taken with fixed gear rather than trawl gear. The GAC is tentatively scheduled to meet in January 2009 to develop this new alternative. The new alternative will be analyzed and provided to the Council, along with an analysis of the current alternatives, in a draft EIS at their April 2009 meeting, when they are tentatively scheduled to decide Amendment 21 trawl allocations.
PFMC
04/22/08
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