Purpose and Need

The purpose of this amendment was to provide more opportunity for a local small-vessel jig gear fleet to fish for Atka mackerel in late spring and summer months without direct competition from the large, high-capacity trawl fleet that typically harvests the Eastern BSAI Atka mackerel TAC early in the fishing year. Jig gear harvests of Atka mackerel have been constrained to late spring and summer months in the BS near the port of Dutch Harbor because of the physical limitations of a small boat fleet.  In 1997, the directed fishery for Atka mackerel in the Eastern BSAI was closed February 4.  Atka mackerel became a prohibited species on February 28 when the fast-paced trawl fisheries harvested the TAC.  As a result, the jig gear fleet did not have an opportunity to fish for this species in 1997. Based on Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) fish tickets, 15 and 19 vessels using jig gear in the BS harvested 36 and 13 metric tons (mt) of Atka mackerel in 1994 and 1995, respectively.  These amounts equate to 0.22 percent and 0.09 percent of the Atka mackerel harvest in the Eastern BSAI during these 2 years. Information from jig gear fishermen indicates that most of the Atka mackerel harvested by the jig gear fleet is used as bait in the jig gear fishery for Pacific cod, although interest exists to develop a fresh fish product for this species. 

Analysis

CA 35-page EA/RIR/FRFA (final draft dated November 1997) was prepared for this amendment.  Three alternatives including the status quo were considered.  The other alternative that was not chosen would have established a jig gear only fishery for Atka mackerel in the eastern AI and Bering Sea.  The alternative chosen allowed vessels using jig gear to harvest more Atka mackerel than they had previously ever harvested, but still allowed most of the TAC to be harvested, thereby minimizing impacts to vessels targeting mackerel with other gear.

Regulation Summary

The Council adopted Amendment 34 to the FMP at its June 1997 meeting in response to concerns about the fast-paced nature of the Atka mackerel trawl fishery and the resulting preemption of the small-scale jig gear fishery.  The Council's action would allocate up to 2 percent of the Atka mackerel TAC specified for the Eastern AI/BS to vessels using jig gear.   The Council also voted to specify the jig gear allocation annually during the groundfish specifications process based on recent and anticipated harvests.  This action was taken in consideration of the small amount of Atka mackerel annually harvested in recent years and to respond to trawl industry concerns about allocating more Atka mackerel to the jig gear fleet than could be harvested. Amendment 34 allowed for a ramp up provision, such that 1-percent of the Eastern AI/BS Atka mackerel TAC would be allocated to vessels using jig gear to begin the program. Once the jig gear fleet proved it could harvest that amount of TAC, the allocation could be increased to 2%.

Results

Since the amendment was approved, the jig gear fishery has not harvested any Atka mackerel TAC to speak of.  The adjacent table shows the harvest of Atka mackerel in the Eastern Aleutian Islands / Bering Sea area in recent years