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2016 newsletters
Updates
2016 Electronic monitoring actions
In March, the Council received an update on individual fishing quota fixed-gear and bottom trawl exempted fishing permit (EFP) activity.
The Council extended the expiration date of the electronic monitoring EFPs for the bottom trawl, non-whiting mid-water trawl, whiting mid-water trawl, and fixed gear catch share fisheries through 2018. The EFPs were to end when fleetwide regulations were put in place. This was expected for whiting midwater trawl fisheries and fixed gear fisheries in the spring of 2018.
In April, the Council modified their final preferred alternative for electronic monitoring for the fixed-gear fishery:
- Individual Vessel Monitoring Plan expiration was changed from 1 year to no expiration;
- Declaration of electronic monitoring use was changed from annual declaration to no limit on frequency – declaration stands until changed;
- Data Transfer Process removed shoreside monitor and retained only vessel operator and crew;
- Video and data processing was clarified that the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission should be eligible to be a 3rd-party video reviewer.
The Council also recommended the following changes based on Groundfish Electronic Monitoring Advisory Committee (GEMPAC) recommendations:
- Remove references to particular modes of communication (i.e., email).
- Discuss in the preamble of the proposed rule National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) standards for electronic monitoring providers to provide free litigation support to NMFS.
- Include a one-page electronic monitoring application process for existing electronic monitoring participants to reduce the paperwork burden for the industry.
- Include a general statement in the regulations that would require electronic monitoring providers to comply with state and Federal warranty statutes.
The Council recommended maintaining the proposed three-year record retention requirement but specified that it be reviewed before transitioning to third-party video reviewers, in order to reduce the time required for electronic monitoring providers to retain records.
Finally, the Council deemed the draft regulations as meeting the intent of the whiting final preferred alternative (see November 2015 Decision Summary for whiting electronic monitoring final preferred alternatives) and for the fixed gear fishery, with the expectation that NMFS would incorporate the final preferred alternatives and other Council recommendations. NMFS’s proposed rule for whiting and fixed gear fisheries was available on Oct 6, 2016.
2015 newsletters
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2015: Council looks at electronic monitoring for whiting and fixed-gear IFQ fleets
The Council received a report, cost analysis, and draft regulations for an electronic monitoring program for the whiting midwater trawl fishery in November. The Council confirmed its final preferred alternatives for the whiting fishery at the same meeting. The Council’s intent was to have regulations applicable fleet-wide in place by the 2017 season (May 15, 2017 or earlier).
Also in November, the Council received an update on potential implementation of an electronic monitoring program for the IFQ fixed gear fleet along with the whiting fishery electronic monitoring program. The Council asked the GEMPAC and GEMTAC to review regulations for the whiting and fixed gear fisheries over the winter.
2014 newsletters
There were no regular newsletters in 2014. Instead, we focused on The Line. Click for full view.
2014: Final preferred alternatives developed
In April 2014 the Council heard an update on the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission study on electronic monitoring, received a new draft analysis of alternatives, and reviewed exempted fishing permit (EFP) applications. The Council approved preliminary EFPs and asked that applicants consider resubmitting applications in June with certain alternations, mainly limiting the number of vessels involved and requiring up to 100 percent observer coverage. The Council also requested that the EFPs address how halibut viability assessments could be conducted without human observers, with the intention that halibut retention not be permitted.
In May 2014 the groundfish electronic monitoring committees met to discuss initial program alternatives and options that had been adopted for analysis. The Groundfish Electronic Monitoring Policy Advisory Committee (GEMPAC) revised and added some options for further Council consideration.
In June, the Council reviewed the draft analysis and modified some of the regulatory options. The Council also received four revised EFPs and recommended that National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) implement them for the whiting midwater trawl, non-whiting midwater trawl, fixed gear, and bottom trawl fisheries in 2015 and 2016. Specifically, the Council recommended the electronic monitoring EFPs be issued to test electronic monitoring in the fisheries on in limited capacity with some additional permit conditions.
In September 2014, the Council reviewed the draft analysis for regulatory development of the electronic monitoring program. It included the new options added by the Council in June. The Council reviewed the GEMPAC report and other advisory body reports, and picked its final preferred alternatives for an electronic monitoring program for all groundfish fisheries operating under the trawl catch shares program, contingent on review before final implementation.
To preserve the conservation and accountability aspects of the individual fishing quota program, the Council told NMFS that the electronic monitoring program must accurately capture discard events (i.e., whether discard has occurred), amount of discard (i.e., volume in weight and size of individual fish), disposition of discard (i.e., consider providing survivability credit for released fish, such as halibut), and rare events (e.g., catch and discard of rebuilding rockfish, by species).
In developing performance standards and accountability measures, the Council recommended NMFS consider the economic incentives to misreport or underreport catches and mortalities of overfished rockfish and Pacific halibut.
The Council noted that adequate enforcement, with strong consequences in place for violations, was key to success in ensuring compliance with the electronic monitoring program.
The preferred alternatives and options were tested using the EFPs. Testing began in the spring of 2015 and continued through 2018.
2013 newsletters
In 2013 the Council hosted the Managing Our Nation’s Fisheries 3 conference in Washington, D.C., so we produced fewer newsletters. Click image for full view.
2013: GEMPAC and GEMTAC created, alternatives developed
In 2013 the Council continued to consider the use of electronic monitoring for the trawl catch share program.
The Council decided the program would focus on monitoring the compliance required for individual accountability of catch and discard, as opposed to biological data collection or other scientific monitoring (such protected species interactions).
In April, the Council adopted regulatory objectives, reviewed a 2012 electronic monitoring field study report by Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, and approved recommendations for the 2013 field study. The studies focused on comparison of video and human observer data on retained and discarded catch.
In May, NMFS released its policy for Electronic Technologies and Fishery Dependent Data Collection.
In June, the Council established the Groundfish Electronic Monitoring Policy Advisory Committee (GEMPAC) and the Groundfish Electronic Monitoring Technical Advisory Committee (GEMTAC) to focus on developing alternatives and options for electronic monitoring. The Council established a timeline for considering electronic monitoring, reviewed a white paper on performance standards for an electronic monitoring program, and received a final 2012 field study report from PSMFC.
In August, both of the committees met to further the Council scoping process. The GEMPAC developed a draft set of electronic monitoring program alternatives for the Council’s consideration in September 2013. At the same meeting, the Council asked the GEMPAC to continue developing alternatives. Specifically, the Council asked the GEM Committees to discuss a “phased-in” approach for electronic monitoring, starting with midwater trawl and fixed-gear fisheries, with a separate phase for bottom trawl fisheries. The Council also asked the committees to discuss the use of data logger systems, to discuss alternatives for an electronic monitoring program that includes species that may be discarded under maximize retention fisheries, and to explore ways to minimize discards for safety reasons.
The committees met again in October. The GEMPAC refined the draft alternatives and developed a report with recommendations for Council consideration in November 2013. At that meeting, the Council received a draft set of alternatives for an electronic monitoring program, revised them as recommended by the Enforcement Consultants, and moved forward with further analysis.
The Council also scheduled consideration of special, out-of-cycle exempted fishing permit (EFP) proposals for electronic monitoring, with maximized retention requirements. The Council announced that it would accept EFP applications at the April 2013 meeting. At the GEMPAC meeting in March, applicants received feedback for refinement of their EFP applications prior to submission to the Council.
2013: Electronic Monitoring workshop meeting materials
The following are the materials distributed from the Council workshop on electronic monitoring for vessels participating in the groundfish trawl catch share program. Download them all as one file.
| Workshop Agenda Item | Attachment | Title |
| A.2 | Attachment 1 | Terms of Reference for the Pacific Council Workshop on Electronic Monitoring for Vessels Participating in the Groundfish Trawl Catch Share Program |
| A.2 | Attachment 2 | Proposed agenda, Electronic Monitoring Workshop |
| B.1 | Attachment 1 | Electronic Monitoring in the Shore-Side Hake Fishery 2004 to 2010 |
| B.2.a | Attachment 1 | National Fish and Wildlife Grants, to the Fishermen’s Marketing Association |
| B.2.b | Attachment 1 | Electronic Monitoring Pilot Study Report for West Coast Groundfish Trawl ITQ Program |
| B.2.b | Attachment 2 | Introduction to Economic Model and Summary of Monitoring Concepts for the West Coast Groundfish FIQ Program |
| B.2.c | Attachment 1 | Sea State, February 13, 2013, EM Workshop Presentation Description |
| B.2.d | Attachment 1 | PSMFC Project – 2012 Season Results |
| B.3 | Attachment 1 | Electronic Monitoring in Alaska – Synopsis for Agenda Item B.3 |
| B.4 | Supplemental Attachment 1 | Northeast Region Pilot Program (Melissa Hooper) |
| C.1 | Attachment 1 | Electronic Monitoring – Background, Purpose and Need, Goals and Objectives |
| D.1.a | Attachment 1 | Preliminary Thoughts on Observer Functions and the Corresponding Abilities of Electronic Monitoring (Northwest Fishery Science Center (NWFSC) Response) |
| D.1.b&c | Attachment 1 | Preliminary Thoughts on Observer Functions and the Corresponding Abilities of Electronic Monitoring (Northwest Division Office of Law Enforcement(NW OLE), NOAA General Counsel Enforcement Litigation (NOAA GCEL), and Northwest Region (NWR)) |
| D.1.c | Supplemental Attachment 2 | Legal and Enforcement Considerations |
| D.2.a | Attachment 1 | Electric Monitoring Strawmen for Consideration |
| D.2.a | Attachment 2 | Creating an Incentive Based Environment for Good Behavior Consideration of a Cooperative Agreement Program for Furthering Electronic Monitoring Compliance |
| E.1 | Attachment 1 | Pacific States Field Study – Detection of Rare Events |
| E.2 | Attachment 1 | Pacific States Field Study –2013 Study Design |
| F | Attachment 1 | DRAFT Possible Regulation Amendment Process for Consideration of Electronic Monitoring |
| Back-Ground | Background | Electronic Monitoring Annotated Agenda CCC Meeting – February 21, 2013 Silver Spring, MD [also includes whitepapers] |
| Back-Ground | Background | “Estimating weight and identifying species through electronic monitoring: A preliminary comparison of electronic and observer-based reporting” |
| Back-Ground | Background | Cover letter and Fisheries Monitoring Roadmap |
| Back-Ground | Supplemental Background – News Article | Press Democrat: Feds see early signs of Pacific fishery recovery |
| Back-Ground | Supplemental Background | “A maximized retention and monitoring program for the Pacific whiting shoreside fishery implementing Amendment 10 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement” |
Presentations
2012 newsletters
2012 in brief
Salmon. The 2012 salmon season was a good one, with California and Oregon fishermen, in particular, benefiting from higher-than-usual salmon abundance for Sacramento and Klamath River fall Chinook. Strait of Juan de Fuca coho were rebuilt, and a rebuilding plan was adopted for Sacramento River fall Chinook. The Council continued working on an essential fish habitat (EFH) amendment to the salmon fishery management plan, and adopted alternatives for the review. A hatchery program review recommended changes to hatchery practices. A lower Columbia River endangered salmon and steelhead recovery plan was issued.
Groundfish. A review found that the trawl quota share program was meeting many of its objectives. The Council began work on a review of groundfish EFH and adopted phase I of the groundfish EFH report. A workshop was held on reducing barotrauma in rockfish, and the Council began discussing barotrauma mitigation. NMFS allowed a carryover of shorebased groundfish quota from 2011 to 2012. The Council discussed whiting reallocation, electronic monitoring, quota pounds for widow rockfish, trawl gear restrictions, and other topics as part of trawl rationalization trailing actions. A workgroup recommended changes to the biennial groundfish management process. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended mandatory streamer lines for longline vessels to avoid bycatch of birds.
Highly migratory species: The U.S. and Canada failed to agree on an albacore fishing treaty, and scheduled further negotiations. The Council looked into whether changes could be made to the closure dates for or the southern boundary of the Pacific Leatherback Conservation Area to enhance fishing opportunity in the California drift gillnet fishery.
Halibut. In response to unusually high harvests of Pacific halibut off Southern Oregon and Northern California, the Council explored how best to incorporate the area south of the Oregon/California border into halibut management. Halibut discards dropped 87 percent in the limited entry bottom trawl fishery, probably as a result of the catch share program and the use of new halibut excluders.
Coastal pelagic species: The Council reaffirmed its commitment to protect unmanaged forage fish, and explored ways to do so.
Habitat: West Coast states geared up to address marine debris from the Japanese tsunami. The Habitat Committee discussed the Comparative Survival Study in the Columbia river. A draft Fishery Ecosystem Plan was approved.
Admin: NMFS announced a proposal to revise National Standard 1 guidelines. The Council staff began planning the Managing Our Nation’s Fisheries 3 conference, to be held in Washington, D.C. in 2013. The Council commented on the REFI Act, a bill to refinance the groundfish buyback loan.
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