Draft for Secretarial Review - Environmental Assessment / Regulatory Impact Review / Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for a Regulatory Amendment to Implement Guideline Harvest Level Measures (GHL) in the Halibut Charter Fisheries in International Pacific Halibut Commission Regulatory Area 2C

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  United States. National Marine Fisheries Service ; North Pacific Fishery Management Council ; International Pacific Halibut Commission ; Alaska. Department of Fish and Game
• NOAA Program & Office:
  NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ; AKR (Alaska Region)
• Description:
  This analysis assesses the potential biological, social, and economic impacts of implementing regulations to control harvests in the charter halibut fisheries in International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) Area 2C (Southeast Alaska). It employs the best information available, in this case, 2006 Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) Saltwater Charter Vessel Logbook data. The proposed action was initiated in October 2005, when the Council first reviewed ADF&G data that indicated that the 2004 guideline harvest level (GHL) had been exceeded. In response, the Council developed an analysis of alternatives for implementing management measures to reduce harvests to below the GHL. The Council selected a five-fish annual limit as its preferred alternative in April 2006. Upon request by NMFS, the Council rescinded its preferred alternative in December 2006, due to its high implementation and enforcement costs. At the same meeting, the ADF&G charter halibut harvest estimate for 2005 and post-season projection for 2006 indicated that the GHL also had been exceeded in those two years. The Council requested a revised analysis of additional management measures. The Council added several options during its initial review of this analysis in April 2007, which resulted in the alternatives included in the public review draft. The Secretarial review draft includes a Secretarial action for a 2-halibut bag limit, with one of the two fish required to be 32 inches or less on June 1, 2007, as part of the status quo. It has been streamlined and reorganized to reflect this new information.
• Document Type:
  Environmental Assessment
• Place as Subject:
  Bering Sea ; Aleutian Islands (Alaska) ; Alaska
• Rights Information:
  Public Domain
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/23934/noaa_23934_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1020.80 KB]
• Collection(s):
  National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f5937fd299b4ff34400f7209c42219f0faa46332b4f3eff343e2501340c785f4defe7e0e92180099679e97473d61cd4e0ac3fe1d1afd8d759a1391c742dad158