Trip Report - North Pacific Fisheries Management Council - Portland, Oregon Feb 4-9, 2019

Unalaska City Council Member David M. Gregor@~ The reason for attending this meeting had to do with the Council taking up the issue of Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands {BSAI) Pacific Cod- Trawl Fishery. This fishery is one ofthe few left in the BSAI area that has not been rationalized. This has resulted in a number of negative consequences to the City of Unalaska, Shore-Based Processors and The Unalaska Support Sector, because of the Mother-shipping activities that has resulted in decreased deliveries of raw fish to our shore-based processors and the loss of taxes. The other issue is the fishery is turning into a short derby type fishery with safety, halibut bycatch, and over/ crowding as critical concerns,

I departed Unalaska on Friday Feb pt for Anchorage and departed Anchorage for Portland on Sunday Feb 3rd.

The Council process for Fishery Management is a three-part process consisting of the SSC, The Advisory Panel and The Council itself. All three discuss the same agenda with the sse and Advisory Council proposing Motions that the Council ultimately takes official action upon. The SSC starts first followed by the Advisory Panel and finally the Council meets to take their final action. During the week all three can be meeting at once.

Monday morning Feb 4, the Science and Statistical Committee started their meeting. This Committee is made up of scientists with professional knowledge of the Fishery. Most of the morning was spent on administrative issues related to membership on the sse. Late in the morning the sse took up the issue we were there to follow- Agenda Item C4- BSAI Pcod Trawl CV. The Committee listened to two reports from Consultants hired by the Council to study the Pcod issue. The first was a document called t he "Regulatory Impact Review for Proposed Amendment to the Fishery Management Plans for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutjans Islands and Gulf of Alaska." This paper provided the analysis of proposed Alternatives the Council had put forth at their last meeting. The paper detailed how each alternative would affect the various fishery groups, processors and communities. The second presentation was entitled "Initial Review Draft Social Impact Assessment: Catcher-Processor Mothership Restrictions in the Bering Sea and Aleutian islands and Gulf of Alaska and Latent License Limitation in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Island Non-CDQ Trawl catcher Vessel Pacific Cod Sector." This paper discussed in more detail the Mother-shipping issue as well as the latent license issues and how each alternative would affect Communities and fishers. sse members asked a number of questions and public testimony was largely in favor of restrictions on the Mother-Shipping issue so that communities and shore based processors were protected from losing deliveries of P Cod.

This P Cod Trawl issues went on for the afternoon on Monday and throughout the morning on Tuesday. The sse passed along a motion to the Council on Tuesday afternoon supporting the limitation of Mother-Shipping of P cod.

Tuesday afternoon shifted to the Advisory Panel where the C4 Issue of P Cod Trawl was to be discussed. The Advisory Panel consists of 15 members of the Fishing Community and Fishing Organizations from Alaska, Washington and Oregon. This group was provided with the same presentations on the IRI and lSI papers given to the SSC. This group asked may questions and discussed the alternatives. Much Public Testimony from all aspects of the Fishery was provided. Some focused on the Mother-Shipping issue but most of the questions and public testimony was centered around the Race for Fish that has

become the norm for the P Cod Trawl Fishery. The fishermen who fished the season reported that this fishery has gone from 90 days three years ago to 13 days this year. They reported the by-catch of Halibut was extremely bad, that because of the race for fish they had to fish in bad weather and the grounds were very crowded. Most fishermen report they caught about 25% of what they normally caught because so many more vessels were in the fishery and that many of these boats were able to deliver on the grounds instead of running into Unalaska or Akutan to deliver. This caused the Quota to be taken very quickly with no regard to safety and bycatch.

After much discussion Sinclair Wilt put forth a motion to address this issue by Bifurcating Alternatives 1,2,3 and 6 from Alternatives 4 and 5. This in effect separated the Mother-shipping issues from the Race for Fish issue. The Advisory Panel support this motion because they knew that there would not be enough time to consider all of the issues together. They wanted to take care of the Mother-Shipping now as more study and analysis was completed on the Race for Fish issue- Rationalization.

The AP finished up with C4 at noon on Wednesday so it was off to the Official Council Meeting with had begun Wednesday morning. After lunch on Wednesday the Council started in on agenda Item C4-BSAI Pcod Trawl. Again, the two reports were presented and discussed by the Council until the end of the day. On Thursday morning Public testimony was started with more than 25 people signed up. Vice Mayor Dennis Robinson and I sat at the table to provide Unalaska's input on this issue. Public Testimony went on for most of the afternoon. By the end of the day the Council made their final motion to bifurcate Alternatives 1,2,3 and 6 from Alternatives 4 and 5. The council approved the releasing of the analysis for public review and provided changes to the purpose and needs statement.

There was very broad support for the motion and this will in effect change the regulations so that Mother-shipping of P Cod during the BSAI Trawl Fishery will no longer be allowed. This is a big win for Coastal Communities that rely on Fish Tax Revenues to balance their budgets and a win for the Shore side processing sector who will now receive their historical deliveries of P Cod during this fishery. After the public review period is over the Council will again take up this issue at the next meeting. More analysis will have been completed and the Preferred Alternative will be selected which we hope will accomplish the above. It will be important to follow this issue and to continue to attend these meetings to ensure Unalaska's interests are taken into consideration when the final rule is proposed in June of 2019.

Friday was a wrap up day where I listened in on several other issues including some crab proposals, Halibut issues and Crab e-logbook issues. These Fishery Management Council meetings are very important to our Community. People who make decisions regarding Unalaska should learn about how this body governs the fisheries that are so critical to the economic health of our community.

I appreciate the opportunity to attend this meeting and to learn more about these important issues. I departed Portland on Saturday morning for Anchorage and returned to Unalaska on Monday Feb 11th

in time for the City Council meeting on Tuesday the 12th of February.

Attachments: Tentative Schedule of North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Final Council Motions 1 and 2. Council Motion Agenda Item C-4.

For more information on the Council Process or their discussions please visit www.npfmc.org

Agenda SCHEDULE (updated 21112019) FEBRUARY 2019

sse AP Council Cambridge/Oxford Crystal Ballroom Mayfair Ballroom

Monday Feb. 4 Election of officers 8:00am Admin discussion

8a-12p Halibut C4 BSAI Pcod trawl CV Note, several of the Stakeholder Cmte-

1:00pm C4 BSAI Pcod (cant) 8 reports have been Crystal Ballroom

Res. priorities process postponed or curtailed

Work on minutes due to the Federal

Tuesday Feb. 5 8:00am C1 BSAI Crab Election of officers government shutdown. As

8:00am Admin discussion a result, the Council may 5.30-7pm 5-K grant C3 Fixed gear rockfish move more quickly results presentation, 1:00 pm sse workshop on 1:00pm C1 BSAI crab specs, PT through their agenda than Cambridge/Oxford Rm

ROMS/NPZ models C4 BSAI Pcod trawl CV is listed on this schedule

Work on minutes

Wednesday Feb. 6 8:00am 07 Mammal status (T) 8:00am C4 BSAI Pcod CV (cant) 8:00am B reports

83 AFSC report CS I FQ lease provisions

1:00pm Work on minutes 1:00pm 01 Crab partial deliv. 1:00 pm C1 BSAI Crab specs, PT 02 Crab elogbook C3 Fixed gear rockfish

Thursday Feb. 7 8:00am 03 Halibut ABM report 8:00am C3 Rockfish (cant)

C4 BSAI Pcod trawl CV

1:00 pm OS Gfish objectives 1:00pm C4 BSAI Pcod CV (cant)

E staff tasking

Friday Feb. 8 8:00am continue as necessary 8:00am CS IFQ lease provisions

1:30pm D1 Crab partial deliv. D2 Crab elogbook

f4:00 pm Executive Session (Finance Cmte in Regency Bdrm)

Saturday Feb. 9 8:00am 03 Halibut ABM report

1:00pm 03 Halibut ABM (cont) OS Gfish objectives

Sunday Feb. 10 8:00am E Staff tasking

1:00pm continue as necessary

Monday Feb. 11

NOTE: The above agenda items may not be taken in the order in which they appear and are subject to change as necessary. All meetings are open to the public (with the exception of Executive Sessions).

Final Council Motions 1 and 2 C-4 BSAI Pacific cod Trawl CV February 7, 2019

MOTION1

Move to bifurcate Alternatives 1 ,2,3, and 6 from Alternatives 4 and 5.

MOTION2

The Council recommends releasing the analysis for public review with Alternatives 1, 2, 3, and 6 (renumber Alternative 6 as Alternative 4). Changes to the purpose and need statement are noted below. Deleted text is in strikethrough; new text is in bold and underline.

During development of Amendment 80 to the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Fishery Management Plan and associated rule making, the Council was silent on the ability of catcher processors defined in Amendment 80 to act as mothers hips in limited access fisheries. Recent increases of Amendment 80 catcher processors acting as motherships has resulted in an increase in the amount of Pacific cod delivered to Amendment 80 catcher processors, an increase in the number of catcher vessels delivering Pacific cod to mothers hips, and a decrease in the amount of Pacific cod delivered to shoreside processing facilities. One American Fisheries Act catcher processor Ita!!' consistently operaJed as mothers/rip in tlte directed BSAI Pacific cod fishery. The Council is concerned about the impacts of the recent increases and potential for future growth in offshore deliveries of Pacific cod to Amendment 80 vessels or other vessels operating as mothers hips, and the potential impacts those increases could have on shoreside processors, communities, and participating catcher vessels. The Council intends to address the activity of vessels acting as motherships.

In eddUien, l.~ere ere helh AFA end nen AFA l-icenses endorsed to fish in the BSA:l trawl eedjishet'j including exempt and neR C:Xcffl[Jt AFA ·;ressels. Ir.:f'<mt~atien shews e letge number efAFA endorsed vessels are ntJt participating, hut whese catch histe1y eent-rih~:~les tf:J the AFA Pacific etJd sideheanl i11 the Bering Sea tnnl>'l eedfo;he.·y. Despite a high .level ofl8tency, the pace f?fthefishet,. has inereaaed shertcniug the se8Sell, re·ulting in deereased ahiUty te I'HtlXim~e the Wll~:~e t:rflhefi9hery and ~wge#l>ae/y i:mpaelingfis•'l.te:y partieipanJs. AdtJ.itienal entrants eaukl CJ«Jeet·bate theae ffisues and lihteeten the 11iahility efthefi.sheq. The Geuneil is eensideriug ep:ien5 tf:J b~ tiwjisiiety, \tdth the intent afpremoling sefcty «lid iJWFC«Sing the value ofthefishery.

Final Council Motion Agenda Item C-4 BSAI Cod Trawl Catcher Vessel February 7, 2019

The BSAI trawl catcher vessel Pacific cod fishery is facing multiple issues simultaneously that are negatively impacting the sustained viability and rational prosecution of the fishery for all its participants. These factors include: decreasing Pacific cod TACs, an increase in the number of participating LLP licenses, the potential for

additional new participants, a race among existing participants (often in unsafe conditions), and an increasingly shortened season. The Council initiates action to address the numerous concerns being encountered by the fishery and consider adopting the following purpose and need statement and analytic process:

Purpose and Need Statement

Over the last several years, total allowable catch for Pacific cod in the Bering Sea-Aleutian Island has steadily

decreased. At the same time, the number of LLP licenses used by trawl catcher vessels to participate in the BSAI

non-CDQ trawl Pacific cod fishery has increased. The pace of the fishery has contributed to an increasingly

compressed season, resulting in decreased ability to maximize the value of the fishery and negatively impacting

all fishery participants (catcher vessels, motherships, shoreside processors, and communities). This race for fish

also discourages fishing practices that can minimize bycatch. The potential for continued re-entry of additional

entrants could exacerbate these unfavorable conditions and threaten the sustained viability of the fishery. The

Council is considering the development of management tools to improve the prosecution of the fishery, including

the development of a cooperative-based program, with the intent of promoting safety and increasing the value of

the fishery.

To address the Purpose and Need Statement, the Council should develop a scoping document that could be incorporated into a comprehensive BSAI cod trawl catcher vessel management program that includes:

• Allocation ofBSAI Pacific cod quota share to BSAI LLP licenses

• Establishing trawl catcher vessel cooperative(s) for Pacific cod

• Recognition of historical AF A cooperative-based cod harvest arrangements since the implementation of pollock cooperatives under the AF A

• Recognition of historical harvest of AF A cod exempt boats

• Recognition ofhistorical harvest ofnon-AFA boats

• Protections for harvesters, processors, and communities

• Use caps, transfer requirements, and other administrative requirements that apply to quota programs.

• Establishing sideboards to protect limited access GOA and BSAI fisheries

• Consideration of management changes on catcher vessel crew

• Implications for bycatch management, including halibut savings to benefit the health of halibut resource.

The Council establishes a control date of February 7th 2019, that may be used as a reference date for any future management action to address trawl catcher vessel participation in the BSAI Pacific cod fishery.