Purpose and Need

Amendment 10 was proposed primarily in response to concerns that commercial trawl fishing was contributing to the mortality of crabs through their incidental capture and mutilation from trawl gear.  At its January 1986 meeting, the Council determined that stocks of Bering Sea Tanner and king crab were low in abundance, and that trawling for groundfish, especially yellowfin sole and other flounders, was threatening both the crab and halibut stocks. Although regulations governing foreign trawl fishing (Amendment 9 banned foreign trawling in the Aleutian Islands) provided certain closed areas and prohibited species catch (PSC) limits for Pacific halibut, Tanner crab, and king crab, domestic trawl fishing vessels and joint ventures (domestic catchers delivering to foreign catcher/processors) had not been similarly restricted.  

In response, the Council approved an emergency rule to close an area north of the Alaska Peninsula to all trawling, with the exception of trawling for Pacific cod (with a PSC limit of 12,000 red king crab). The closed area was expected to protect about 70% of the mature female red king crab spawning stock. The emergency rule also established PSC limits for C. bairdi, red and blue king crab, and halibut that, when reached, would close a directed fishery. The rule also required that domestic vessels carry NMFS observers in certain areas and comply with a data gathering program. The Secretary implemented the emergency rule, with the deletion of blue king crab and halibut, on June 3, 1986, and it was extended until December 2, 1986.

Analysis

79-page RIR/IRFA (final draft dated November 1986) was prepared for Amendment 10.  Six alternatives were considered for the proposed area closing, including no action. The alternatives included variations on the closed area, PSC limits, and bycatch limitation zones. The other actions were evaluated on the basis of the preferred alternative and the no action alternative. 

Regulation Summary

The final regulations contained the following four parts: 

1) Closed the area north of the Alaska Peninsula, south of 58 N. latitude, west of 160 W longitude, and east of 162 W longitude to all trawling year-round and established the following PSC limits and bycatch limitation zones: 

Applicable to all domestic vessels in directed fisheries for yellowfin sole and other flatfish in the specified zone:

a) 80,000 C. bairdi in bycatch limitation Zone 1
b) 135,000 red king crab in Zone 1
c) 326,000 C. bairdi in Zone 2;  

Applicable to foreign directed fishing for yellowfin sole and other flatfish: 64,000 C. bairdi in Zones 1 and 2 combined;

Applicable to domestic vessels in directed fisheries for yellowfin sole and other flatfish and delivering to foreign processing vessels (i.e. joint ventures): 828,000 halibut in the entire BSAI. 

2) Required written weekly catch reports from all catcher/processors and motherships regardless of when the catch is landed (BSAI Amendment 9 implemented the same requirement for catcher/processors holding their catch for more than 2 weeks); 

3)  Provided authority to the Secretary to make inseason changes to gear regulations, season, and harvest quotas; and

4) Provided the Secretary with inseason authority to reapportion surplus groundfish within the domestic allowable harvest.

Results

This action caused a substantial change in the distribution of groundfish fishing effort, especially the joint venture yellowfin sole and other flatfish fisheries. The benefits, in the form of bycatch savings that occurred during the 1986 fishery under the emergency rule compared to the 1985 fishery, were significant. The bycatch rates for red king crab, C. bairdi, and halibut declined by 90%, 44%, and 17%, respectively. The C. opilio bycatch rate, however, increased by a factor of 10 when the fleet moved out of Zone 1. Imposition of the emergency rule saved an estimated 1,162,000 red king crab, 221,000 C. bairdi, and 64,000 halibut, and a loss of juvenile 4,492,000 C. opilio, providing an estimated net benefit of $6.7 - $14.6 million in ex-vessel revenue. 

Since 1986, crab stocks have continued to fluctuate. For example, the opilio stock peaked in 1991 and again in 1998, then declined. A rebuilding plan is being developed for both the C. opilio and Tanner (Bairdi) crab stocks. The red king crab fishery was closed in 1994 and 1995, but has since provided a small fishery.  Crab and halibut PSC limits were further revised under BSAI Amendments 12a, 16, 19, 21, 25, and 37.