Friday, June 28th, 2013

The Council considered the most recent information on the status of ongoing fisheries and recommended the following trip limit increases:

1. Limited entry fixed gear fishery north of 36° N. latitude:  increase the sablefish trip limits from 950 lbs/week, not to exceed 2,850 lbs/2 months to 1,110 lbs/week not to exceed 3,300 lbs/2 months as soon as possible through the end of the year.
2. Open access fixed gear fishery north of 36° N. latitude:  increase the sablefish trip limits from 300 lbs/day, or one landing per week up to 700 lbs, not to exceed 1,400 lbs/2 months to 300 lbs/day, or one landing per week up to 800 lbs, not to exceed 1,600 lbs/2 months as soon as possible through the end of the year.
3. Limited entry fixed gear fishery north of 34°27′ N latitude: increase the shortspine thornyhead trip limits from 2,000 lb/2 months to 2,500 lb/2 months for periods 4,  5, and 6.
4. Limited entry fixed gear fishery south of 34° 27′ N. latitude: increase the shelf rockfish trip limits from 3,000 lb/2 months to 4,000 lb/2 months as soon as possible, through the end of the year.
5. Limited entry fixed gear fishery south of 34°27′ N. latitude: increase bocaccio rockfish trip limits from 300 lb/2 months to 500 lb/2 months as soon as possible, through the end of the year.
6. Open access fixed gear trip limits south of 34°27′ N latitude:  increase bocaccio trip limits from 100 lb/2 months to 200 lb/2 months as soon as possible, through the end of the year.

Posted in Groundfish, Groundfish

Thursday, June 27th, 2013

The Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) will hold an online Pre-Assessment Workshop webinar to provide an overview of the data sources, data trends and population models that will be used in the upcoming Pacific coast groundfish stock assessments for Pacific sanddab and cowcod (rockfish). The online SWFSC Pre-Assessment Workshop webinar is open to the public, although space for online access is limited to the first 20 participants.

The SWFSC Pre-Assessment Workshop webinar will commence at 1 p.m. PST, Monday, July 15, 2013, and continue until 4 p.m. or as necessary to
complete business for the day.

To attend the SWFSC Pre-Assessment webinar, please reserve your seat by emailing Dr. John Field (John.Field@noaa.gov). Once registered, participants will receive a confirmation email message that contains detailed information about viewing the event and joining the audio conference (toll free number). Participants can join the webinar as audio-only, but the total number of participants for both the webinar and the audio portions is limited. Participants must register at least 5 days prior to the webinar meeting. System requirements for attending the online webinar are as follows: PC-based attendees: Windows® 2000, XP SP#, 2003 Server, Vista 32-bit/64-bit, Windows® 7 32-bit/64-bit, 2008 Server 64-bit; Intel Core2 Duo CPU 2.XX GHz or AMD processor. (2 GB of RAM recommended), JavaScript and Cookies enabled, Active X enabled and unblocked for Microsoft Internet Explorer (recommended) and Java 6.0 or above, Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6, 7 or 8 (8 is recommended), Mozilla Firefox 3.x or 4.0b, Chrome 5, 6, or 7; Mac®-based attendees: Mac OS® X 10.5 or 10.6; Other platforms supported: Linux, Solaris Solaris 10, HP–UX 11.11 and AIX 5.3; and Mobile attendees: iPhone® or iPad® (iOS 3+), Android TM (v 2.1+) and Cius devices. If you experience technical difficulties connecting to the webinar meeting, it may be helpful to try using a different browser if possible.

Public Listening Stations

Public listening stations for the SWFSC Pre-Assessment Workshop webinar will also be available at the following locations:

1. Conference Room (188)
   Fisheries Ecology Division
   Southwest Fisheries Science Center
   110 Shaffer Road
   Santa Cruz, CA 95060
2. Auditorium
   National Marine Fisheries Service
   Northwest Fisheries Science Center
   2725 Montlake Blvd. East
   Seattle, WA 98112
   telephone: (206) 860–3200
3. Conference Room 101
   National Marine Fisheries Service
   Northwest Fisheries Science Center
   2032 SE OSU Drive
   Newport, OR 97365
   telephone: (541) 867–0500
4. Large Conference Room
   Pacific Fishery Management Council
   7700 NE Ambassador Place, Suite 101
   Portland, OR 97220–1384
   telephone: (503) 820–2280
5. Pacific meeting room
   Southwest Fisheries Science Center
   8901 La Jolla Shores Drive
   La Jolla, CA, 92037
   telephone: (858) 334–2847

To attend the webinar at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center listening stations in La Jolla, CA, Santa Cruz, CA, Seattle, WA or Newport, OR, members of the general public who are not National Marine Fisheries Service employees need to provide photo identification. Foreign nationals, where a foreign national is an individual who is not a citizen of the United States, not a legal permanent resident (meaning not a ‘‘permanent resident alien’’ or ‘‘Green Card’’ holder), and not a ‘‘protected individual’’ under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), intending to attend the webinar at any of the Southwest or Northwest Fisheries Science Centers must notify Ms. Stacey Miller, (541) 867–0562, at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center at least 2 weeks prior to the webinar.

Public Comments During the Webinar

Public comments during the webinar will be received from attendees at one of the public listening stations as well as by participants who have preregistered and are listening from remote locations.

Webinar Objectives

The specific objectives of the SWFSC Pre-Assessment Workshop webinar are to: (1) Present and describe data that may be included in the stock assessment modeling for Pacific sanddab and cowcod; (2) discuss the interpretation of data given historical and current fishing practices and changes in fishing regulations; (3) discuss approaches for improving stock assessment modeling efforts; and (4) identify data gaps and future research possibilities. No management actions will be decided in this workshop.

Additional Contact Information

If you have further questions, please contact: Dr. John Field, NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center; telephone: (831) 420–3907, email: John.Field@noaa.gov.

This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for auxiliary aids should be directed to Ms. Stacey Miller at (541) 867–0562 at least 5 days prior to the webinar date.

Posted in Groundfish, Groundfish