Purpose and Need

Western Alaska Native groups expressed concern over the apparent increase in the incidental catch of western Alaska Chinook salmon in the foreign trawl fisheries. Western Alaska Native groups had negotiated with the Japanese trawling interests to limit the number of Chinook salmon caught incidentally in foreign trawl operations to 55,250 in 1982. Amendment 1a made this agreement formal by establishing a prohibited species catch (PSC) limit of 55,250 fish in the eastern Bering Sea foreign trawl fishery. This amount was a 15 percent reduction from the 1981 Chinook salmon PSC of 65,000 fish implemented under the preliminary management plan. Additionally, Amendment 1a established a formula used to distribute the salmon PSC so that if there were changes in TALFF during the year with releases of reserves, the salmon PSC for a country would be adjusted also.

Analysis

No formal analysis of this amendment was located in the files. Note that the final rule states: 

The Administrator of NOAA has determined that this proposed rulemaking is not a “major rule” requiring a regulatory impact analysis under Executive Order 1291, and that the sector of the U.S. fishing industry dealing in groundfish from the Bering sea and Aleutian Islands is too small for the proposed action to have a significant effect on the economy. The Administrator also certifies that approval and implementation of Amendments 1a and 2 will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, and thus do not require the preparation of a regulatory flexibility analysis. 

Regulation Summary

Amendment 1a established foreign chinook salmon PSC limits as follows: During any fishing year, that portion of fishing Area 1 lying between 55o N and 57oN latitude and 165o W and 170o W longitude and all of fishing Area 2 may be closed for the remainder of the periods January 1 through March 31, and October 1 through December 31 to trawl vessels of any nation. This closure will occur when vessels of a nation have intercepted that nation’s portion of the PSC of Chinook salmon. A nation’s initial portion of the Chinook salmon PSC for a fishing year was determined by multiplying 55,250 (the total PSC for Chinook salmon) by the ratio of that nation’s initial groundfish allocation to the total initial TALFF plus reserves for groundfish. 

Results

Bycatch of Chinook salmon in the foreign fishery was greatly reduced in the early 1980's, from a high of about 115,000 fish in 1980 to only 10,000 fish by 1983. An estimated 15,644 chinook salmon were taken as bycatch in foreign trawl fisheries in 1982.