G40 Extend Inshore/Offshore Pollock and Pacific Cod Allocations
Purpose and Need
GOA Amendment 40 (BSAI Amendment 38) extended the provisions of GOA Amendment 23 and BSAI Amendment 18, which expired on December 31, 1995. Amendments 23 and 18 (57 FR 23321; June 3, 1992) set inshore and offshore processor allocations of pollock in the BSAI and pollock and Pacific cod in the GOA, respectively, 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.
GOA Amendment 23 provided for an allocation of 90% of the Pacific cod TAC and 100% of the pollock TAC in the GOA to the inshore sector.
Amendment 40 was necessary to extend the inshore/offshore allocations set in Amendment 23 through December 31, 1998. The purpose of the amendments was to keep the fishery from turning back into the “free-for-all” it represented previously. Since the original inshore/offshore allocation, the Council had been working toward developing a long-term, comprehensive plan for rationalizing all the groundfish and crab fisheries in and off of Alaska. By the end of 1995, when it was evident that the plan would not be ready for implementation before the inshore/offshore allocations expired, the Council determined it was necessary to extend the provisions of Amendments 23 and 18 for an additional three years in order to maintain stability in the industry, facilitate further development of the comprehensive management regime, and allow for the realization of the goals and objectives of the pollock CDQ program.
Analysis
A 268-page EA/RIR/IRFA (final draft dated August 1, 1995) and several appendices were prepared for this amendment. Two alternatives were considered: 1) no action, and 2) continuation of the current program for a period of three additional years (1996-1998), including the pollock CDQ program as an inseverable element of the overall package. The analysis reiterated the Council’s intent not to consider alternative inshore/offshore allocation percentages, as that would likely require significant new and complex economic analyses, create unnecessary delays in implementing an allocation scheme, and be inconsistent with the overall intent to develop a more long-term solution through the Comprehensive Management Plan process.
Regulation Summary
The provisions of GOA Amendment 23 became the basis of Amendment 40. Thus, in the GOA, the apportionment of pollock would be allocated entirely for processing by the inshore sector, and the apportionment of Pacific cod would be allocated 90% for the inshore sector, 10% for the offshore sector.
Results
This amendment retained the existing inshore/offshore pollock processing allocations for an additional three-year period, through 1998. Stability within and among industry sectors, and associated communities and participants, was maintained by this amendment. In 1999, Amendment 51 extended the provisions of Amendment 40 through 2001.
GOA Amendment 62 replaced inshore/offshore language in the FMP. Amendment 62 removed references to BSAI inshore/offshore from the GOA FMP; and removed the December 31, 2004, sunset date for GOA inshore/offshore allocations from the GOA FMP.