51 Inshore/Offshore III
Purpose and Need
The TACs for pollock in the BSAI and for pollock and Pacific cod in the GOA have been allocated between the inshore and offshore components of the groundfish fisheries since 1992. Amendments 51/51 were proposed to extend the provisions of Amendment 38 to the BSAI FMP and Amendment 40 to the GOA FMP, which expired on December 31, 1998. Amendments 38 and 40 previously extended BSAI Amendment 18 and GOA Amendment 23, respectively. The original amendments set processor allocations of the pollock TAC in the BSAI and pollock and Pacific cod processor allocations in the GOA, as a response to an early closure in 1989 when several catcher/processors harvested substantial amounts of pollock in the BSAI and GOA and forced an early closure of the GOA pollock fishery. The amendments allocated 35% to the inshore and 65% to the offshore processing sector of the BSAI pollock fishery, and allocated 90% of the cod and 100% of the pollock to the inshore processing sector in the GOA. The Catcher Vessel Operational Area (CVOA) and the Community Development Quota (CDQ) program were also established. The CVOA limited access to pollock within the area to catcher vessels delivering to either inshore or offshore processors. The CDQ program allocated 7.5% of the BSAI pollock TAC to CDQ fisheries. At its meeting in June 1998, the Council took final action to adopt Amendments 51/51 to the FMPs. By proposing these FMP amendments, the Council intended to change the inshore/offshore allocations in the BSAI but continue the existing allocations. The AFA, among other things, allocated the BSAI pollock TACs differently than the Council had recommended. The Council held a special meeting November 10-13, 1998, in part to discuss the effects of AFA on its inshore/offshore proposal and other management programs. In light of the AFA, the Council recommended specific changes to its Amendment 51/51 proposal, and on December 15, 1998, NMFS partially approved BSAI Amendment 51 and fully approved GOA Amendment 51. The decision not to approve parts of BSAI Amendment 51 is consistent with the Council's intent for achieving consistency with the AFA as expressed at its meeting in November 1998. The AFA specifically mandates an allocation of 10% of the pollock TAC to a directed fishing allowance for the CDQ program plus an additional allocation of pollock for incidental catches in all non-pollock fisheries. Of the remaining pollock TAC, the law stipulates the following allocations: 50% to the inshore component, 40% to the offshore component, 10% to the offshore component (motherships). The effective period of the inshore/offshore allocations specified in the AFA is January 1, 1999, through December 31, 2004.
Analysis
A 299-page EA/RIR/IRFA (final draft dated December 9, 1998) was prepared for Amendment 51/51. Five alternatives were considered, including: the no action alternative; a rollover of the existing inshore/ offshore program; several options to revise the BSAI pollock processing inshore/ offshore percentages; a set-aside for catcher vessels less than 125' length overall; and a set-aside for catcher vessels less than 155' length overall. The Council’s preferred alternative was to allocate 39% of the BSAI pollock TAC inshore and 61% offshore (after CDQs are deducted from the BSAI TAC), and to maintain the current GOA allocations of 90% Pacific cod and 100% pollock to the inshore sector. The Council also adopted a 2.5% set-aside for BSAI catcher vessels less than 125' length overall delivering to processors in the inshore sector. While the Council’s preferred BSAI allocation split was not a specified alternative, it was well within the range of BSAI allocation percentages evaluated in the analysis–the analysis evaluated options to allocate 25%, 30%, 40%, and 45% of the BSAI pollock TAC to the inshore sector. With the passage of the AFA, however, the portions of the amendment stipulating BSAI pollock allocations became immaterial, thus only the GOA portions of the amendment and the provisions relevant to the CVOA were approved.
Regulation Summary
As adopted by the Council in June 1998, the BSAI amendment contemplated four changes to the current inshore/offshore allocation regime. In light of the AFA, the BSAI inshore/offshore pollock allocations were disapproved, and the only change (partially) approved related to the Catcher Vessel Operational Area (CVOA). The original Amendment 51 would have changed the existing CVOA rules by excluding from the CVOA all catcher vessels that deliver pollock to the offshore component (catcher/processors and motherships). Motherships had previously been allowed to operate within the CVOA, receiving and processing pollock harvested by catcher vessels. Catcher/processor vessels had not been allowed to harvest pollock in the CVOA during the B season. In recommending the CVOA portion of Amendment 51, the Council attempted to create parity between motherships and catcher/processor vessels. NMFS approved all of the proposed amendment maintaining the CVOA with the exception of that component. This is because the AFA specifies separate allocations of the pollock TACs for the mothership and catcher/ processor sectors, thereby achieving the parity intended by the Council. Hence, the exclusion of catcher vessels from the CVOA that deliver to the offshore component was an unnecessary duplication of an AFA provision, and as such, was inconsistent with National Standard 7. Note that although the approved CVOA provisions are effectively the same as they were for 1996- 98, further restrictions on fishing in the CVOA were implemented in 1999 to mitigate the effects of pollock fishing on Steller sea lions and their critical habitat, within which much of the CVOA lies.
Results
The major provisions of this amendment (primarily the percentage allocations of the TAC for pollock processing) were disapproved given the passage of the AFA.