82 Framework for Management of the Aleutian Islands Subarea Directed Pollock Fishery
Purpose and Need
The passing of the 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act allocated future directed fishing allowances of pollock in the Aleutian Islands to Aleut Corporation in order to encourage the economic development of the coastal community of Adak. Section 803 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act granted Aleut Corporation and its agents sole authority to harvest the allowance of pollock. The section further specified that the Aleut Corporation could only contract with vessels under 60 feet LOA or AFA vessels to harvest their allowance in the area. Following the passing of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004, the Council passed a motion requesting an analysis of alternatives that would bring the BSAI FMP into compliance with the newly established Public Law. The Council revisited Amendment 82 later that year in October, and decided that the 10% allocation of TAC to Aleut Corporation was a sufficient allowance that conformed with the existing provision in the FMP that allocated 10% of the AI TAC to CDQ groups
Analysis
A 356-page EA and 37-page RIR analysis were prepared for Amendment 82. The range of alternatives analyzed followed a set of decision elements and associated alternatives. The six decision elements included allocation size, allocation mechanism, monitoring vessel activity, small vessels, economic development report mandate, and Chinook salmon bycatch management. Within each decision element between two and five alternatives were considered. For allocation size the Council’s preferred alternative was to allocate a combined Aleutian Islands ICA and DFA equal to either the ABC or 40,000 t, whichever was less, and, beginning in 2005, an AI pollock TAC of either 15,000 t or 40% of the AI pollock ABC, whichever was less. The Council also preferred the alternatives to fund the AI pollock TAC by a reduction in the EBS pollock TAC, increase monitoring with several components, take no steps to delay entry of vessels less than 60 feet LOA, require Aleut Corporation to submit an annual economic development report, and not have Chinook salmon bycatch in the AI pollock fishery count against BSAI Chinook salmon bycatch caps. The analysis also contained a RFA certification that the action would not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Regulation Summary
Amendment 82 brought the BSAI FMP into compliance with Section 803 of the Consolidated Appropriates Act of 2004 by allocating a portion of the Aleutian Islands directed pollock fishery to the Aleut Corporation. The allocated TAC can only be harvested by AFA vessels and vessels 60 feet or less LOA. Allocation by vessel size was implemented gradually, with no more than 25 percent of the directed pollock fishery allocated to vessels 60 feet or less LOA between 2005 and 2008, no more than 50 percent between 2009 and 2012. Beginning in 2013, 50 percent of the AI directed pollock fishery was allocated to said vessels. The TAC of pollock to be harvested by the Aleut Corporation is equal to the amount already specified in the BSAI FMP unless the ABC is less than the regulatory allocation, in which case the harvest cannot exceed ABC.
Results
Two catcher processor vessels attempted directed fishing for pollock in February 2005, but failed to find commercially harvestable quantities outside of Steller sea lion critical habitat closure areas and in the end removed less than 200 t of pollock. In addition, bycatch rates of Pacific ocean perch were prohibitively high in areas where pollock aggregations were observed. The 2005 fishery is thought to have resulted in a net loss of revenue for participating vessels. In 2009 the directed pollock fishery in the Aleutian Islands region took 403 t, and 1,326 t were taken as bycatch in other fisheries, predominantly the Pacific cod and rockfish fisheries. In 2010 through 2012, financial problems with the Adak processing plant greatly hindered the directed fishery. In 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 50 t, 0 t, 0 t, and 0 t were harvested in the directed fishery. As of October 6, 2014, 0 t had been taken in the directed fishery for 2014. In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, 1,285 t, 1,208 t, 975 t, 2,964 t, and 2,375 t were harvested as bycatch in other fisheries. In 2015, as of October 24, 899 t had been taken as bycatch in other fisheries. The catch increase in recent years has primarily been in the arrowtooth flounder fishery, as a result of changing fishing tactics to fish shallower than in previous years to avoid Greenland turbot bycatch.