Amendment 30 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) was completed as part of the 2023-24 Groundfish Harvest Specifications and Management Measures. Under Amendment 30, a 2,000 mt threshold for shortbelly rockfish bycatch that would trigger Council review of the fishery was adopted. The Council also adopted changes to the use of block […]
Amendment 29 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) was completed as part of the 2021-22 Groundfish Harvest Specifications and Management Measures. Under Amendment 29, changes to the allocations of widow rockfish, petrale sole, lingcod south of 40°10 N. lat, and the Slope Rockfish complex, including blackgill rockfish, south of 40°10′ N. lat. […]
In April 2022, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) initiated a Coastal Pelagic Species Management Team (CPSMT) recommended administrative or “housekeeping” amendment of the CPS Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This idea had initially been proposed in June 2019 by the CPSMT when the Council was developing the management categories action (Amendment 20: Agenda Item F.4.a, Supplemental […]
Beginning in November 2018, the Council embarked on a process to consider removing the concept of categorizing CPS management unit species, specifically the nomenclature of “Active” and “Monitored” (Agenda Item E.5.a, CPSMT Report 1, November 2018). This action was prompted by a perceived lack of clarity regarding the meaning and use of the “Active” and […]
Federal regulations (50 CFR 600 Subpart R) require all FMPs establish a standardized reporting methodology to assess the amount and type of bycatch occurring in a fishery. The regulations implement Section 303(a)(11) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. FMPs must be consistent with the regulations by February 21, 2022. At the November 2020, June 2021, and September […]
In response to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) re-initiating Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation on the effect of Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council)-area ocean salmon fisheries on Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW), the Council formed the Ad Hoc SRKW Workgroup (Workgroup) in April 2019. The Workgroup was tasked with reassessing the effects of Council-area […]
On July 9, 2019, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) notified the Council that the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine is overfished. The Council is obligated to develop a rebuilding plan, which must be implemented within two years of the notification (i.e., July 9, 2021). NMFS determined that the stock was overfished based on a 2019 […]
At its April 2019 meeting, the Council received a report from NMFS highlighting the challenge in completing the regulatory work needed to implement annual regulations for the ocean salmon fishery, based on the measures developed by the Council each year at its March and April meetings. NMFS encouraged the Council to adopt a long-term solution […]
Groundfish essential fish habitat, Rockfish Conservation Area modifications, and Magnuson-Stevens Act discretionary closures Amendment 28 includes a new configuration of areas closed to bottom trawling to protect essential fish habitat (EFH); it removes the trawl rockfish conservation area off Oregon and California; and it includes a deep water closure of groundfish bottom contact fishing in […]
Amendment 17 to the coastal pelagic species (CPS) fishery management plan was approved by the Council in November 2018 and by the Secretary of Commerce in June 2019. Amendment 17 eliminates the predetermined incidental catch allowance in the live bait fishery when a CPS stock is overfished, and instead requires the Council to determine appropriate […]