Date: September 15, 2017 Federal Register summary: “This advance notice provides information on a request by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) to establish a control date of September 15, 2017, for the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery. The Council may use the control date to limit the extent, location, or ability to use non-trawl gear […]
Date: June 13, 2017 Federal Register summary: “This advance notice of proposed rulemaking provides information on a request by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) to announce deliberations of potential accumulation limits for Catcher Processor Permit use or ownership in the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery. The Council may not count any acquisition and usage of […]
Regulations were updated to reflect the new process for submitting eTickets through internet‑based platforms. The proposed rule for these issues was published on June 1, 2016 and the public comment deadline was July 1, 2016. A final environmental assessment was published on November 23, 2016. The final rule was published November 23, 2016 with an effective date of December 23, 2016, […]
By November 30, 2015, anyone who controls trawl quota shares was required to be within the quota share control limits (including the aggregate non-whiting quota share control limit) with respect to all of their holdings—except for widow rockfish quota shares, which continues to be under a transfer moratorium. In April 2015, the Council recommended that […]
In September 2016, the Council took action to change management of the at-sea whiting sector allocations of darkblotched rockfish and Pacific ocean perch to set-asides, while maintaining the allocation formulas in the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for these two stocks to determine the set-aside amounts. This change required an Amendment to the […]
In April 2016, the Council took final action on a package of recommendations related to the monitoring of vessel movements. The package includes: providing fishermen a choice between increasing their vessel’s satellite vessel monitoring system (VMS) ping rate, using electronic discard monitoring in conjunction with their VMS unit; allowing vessels declared into the whiting mothership fishery […]
Elements for a whiting and midwater trawl cleanup rule were reviewed by the Council in March and November, 2014. The proposed rule included the following with respect to vessels on Pacific whiting individual fish quota (IFQ) trips: An allowance for prohibited and protected species to be retained until landing on “maximized retention” trips. Disposition procedures for […]
In April 2012, the following NMFS-proposed trailing actions were approved for implementation: Implementation of certification and decertification requirements for observer providers, Numerous revisions to details of the observer program provisions, and Revision to briefing periods in catch monitor certification requirements. The proposed rule was published on February 19, 2014 and the public comment deadline was March 21, 2014. […]
In November 2012, the Council recommended moving the shorebased sector primary whiting season opening date to May 15 for the area north of 40o 30’ N. latitude. The proposed rule was published on February 17, 2015 and the public comment deadline was March 19, 2015. NMFS published a final environmental assessment for this action in March 2015, and a final rule on […]
The current pass-through of the quota pounds allocated for the quota share set-aside for the adaptive management program (10% of the non-whiting quota shares) was set to expire at the end of 2014 (for further description of the Adaptive Management Program, see “Develop Criteria for Distributing Adaptive Management Program Quota Pounds”). The Council recommended a […]