Amendment 23 amends the harvest specifications framework in the groundfish fishery management plan to meet new requirements in the Magnuson-Stevens Act regarding annual catch limits and accountability measures, and to be consistent with the revised National Standard 1 guidelines. These revised guidelines introduced or defined new fishery management concepts including overfishing limits, an acceptable biological […]
Amendment 21 established intersector allocations needed to support the trawl catch share program (Amendment 20). It has been modified by a number of sub-amendments, starting with Amendment 21-1. These amendments and work on other changes to Amendment 21 are tracked on the Amendment 20 page in the section on “Catch share program modifications.” Amendment 21-4 […]
Trawl rationalization The Council initiated development of an IFQ program for groundfish trawl fisheries at its September 2003 meeting. IFQs were initially considered as an alternative under the 1991 Amendment 6 groundfish license limitation program. In late 2003, once the Council had committed to program development, and through 2004, various committees began initial work on […]
At its March 2006 meeting, the Council adopted a complete ban on commercial fishing for all species of krill in West Coast federal waters. They also specified essential fish habitat for krill, an action that makes it easier to work with other federal agencies to protect krill. Final rule CPS FMP Amendment 12 environmental assessment, […]
Amendment 15 was an interim measure. The adopted provisions ended when the trawl rationalization program was implemented under Amendment 20. Amendment 15 prohibited sector-specific participation in the shoreside, catcher/processor, and mothership sectors of the Pacific whiting fishery in each sector for which a vessel did not have a historic participation record during the qualifying period. It […]
Amendment 15 allows minimal, or de minimis fisheries in years when the Klamath River Fall Chinook conservation objective is projected not to be met. Alternatives are presented for determining a maximum harvest rate for Klamath fall Chinook that would be allowed under de minimis fisheries. Final rule (effective March 26, 2008) Salmon FMP Amendment 15 final environmental […]
Amendment 19 designated essential fish habitat for Council-managed species. The Council approved FMP Amendment 19 and submitted it to NMFS for review on November 23, 2005. NMFS partially approved the amendment on March 8, 2006. Two provisions were disapproved: the designation of specified oil rigs in Southern California as habitat areas of particular concern and […]
In June 2005, the Council adopted a long-term allocation framework to apportion the annual Pacific sardine harvest guideline among the various non-tribal sectors of the sardine fishery. The resulting Amendment 11 to the CPS Fishery Management Plan (FMP) is intended to achieve optimal utilization of the resource and equitable allocation of harvest opportunity. The National […]
In 2004 NMFS notified the Pacific Council and the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (WPFMC) that they must take action to address overfishing of bigeye tuna. In response, the Council moved to begin work on Amendment 1 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species (HMS). NMFS Southwest […]
The Council adopted five related fishery management plan (FMP) amendments addressing rebuilding plans for overfished groundfish. These amendments, labeled 16-1 through 16-5, are described below. Amendment 16-5: Rebuilding revisions, petrale sole rebuilding plan, and other related measures The Council adopted Amendment 16-5 in June 2010. The amendment proposed to modify all existing overfished species rebuilding […]