The first iteration of the Cordell Bank Groundfish Conservation Area (GCA) was implemented during the 2004 Harvest Specifications and Management Measures specifically to prohibit recreational groundfish fishing as a measure to protect rockfish species that were declared overfished in the preceding years (69 FR 11063). It was eventually expanded as part of the 2005-06 Biennial […]
The Council began its second review of the Limited Entry Fixed Gear (LEFG) permit stacking program (i.e., primary tier fishery) in September 2020. In June 2022, the Council completed its review with adoption of the final report, including research and data needs and recommendation for program changes. In March 2023, under Workload and New Management Measure […]
On July 9, 2019, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) notified the Council that the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine is overfished as the estimated stock size fell below the minimum stock size threshold of 50,000 metric tons. The Council is obligated to develop a rebuilding plan, which must be implemented within two years of the […]
What did the Council recommend? The Council recommended that vessels participating in the non-Tribal directed commercial Pacific halibut (DC) halibut fishery that only retain halibut must carry and operate a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) unit and deploy streamer lines when setting gear. Specifically, the Council recommended: For waters north of 42 degrees north latitude (Oregon […]
At its June 2023 meeting, the Council took final action on essential fish habitat (EFH) provisions for CPS stocks. The Council adopted a new CPS FMP Appendix, which includes updated EFH identification and descriptions, life history summaries, fishing and non-fishing impacts, research and information needs, and new maps. The Council highlighted the need for additional […]
A Draft Restoration Plan and NEPA Evaluation for the YFD-70 Dry Dock (“Draft Restoration Plan”) was released by NOAA for public comment in December 2022 and the public comment period closed March 15, 2023. The Draft Restoration Plan is the result of a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process that began after the dry dock […]
Whale entanglement reports off the U.S. West Coast have increased since 2013 with humpback whales being the most common species entangled across all gear types and origins. Recent increases of entanglements in West Coast fisheries pose significant challenges for fisheries management because of the current difficulty to differentiate among gear types that could be the […]
As a follow-on to the Climate and Communities Initiative, in September 2022 the Council endorsed the near-term schedule presented by the Ad Hoc Ecosystem Workgroup (EWG). This would begin with the Ecosystem and Climate Information for Species, Fisheries, and FMPs Initiative, which frequently called Initiative 4 (since it is the fourth initiative undertaken since FEP adoption. […]
Based on issues identified in its first review of the trawl catch share program (review of Amendment 20 to the FMP), the Council undertook a number of follow-on actions (see Section 5.0 of the review document, completed in November 2017). One of these issues was related to gear switching in the shoreside individual fishing quoa […]