NPFMC Plans Special Council Meeting in Anchorage

Members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council are planning a special council meeting in February at the Egan Center in downtown Anchorage to focus on two issues: a second review of a chum salmon bycatch analysis that the council last reviewed in April, and harvest specifications for Cook Inlet salmon.

The council is scheduled to meet Feb. 6-12 to address Cook Inlet salmon harvest specifications and begin staff presentations on the chum salmon bycatch analysis on Feb. 7.

The council noted that because this is a special issue meeting it won’t take up a full range of agency reports as it usually does, nor does it plan to take up staff tasking. Instead, the agenda items are to be resumed at the April council meeting, which is also scheduled to be held at Anchorage’s Egan Center.

The council said it anticipates that the chum bycatch analysis would be posted to the February eAgenda on Dec. 20, to allow an extended time for public review and comment prior to the February meeting.

Dates for the advisory panel and council meetings have also been extended from previous announcements. As of the release of the council’s December newsletter on Dec. 13, the Scientific and Statistical Committee is scheduled to meet Feb. 3-5 to review the methodology for new sections in the chum salmon bycatch analysis, and to review and recommend overfishing limits and acceptable biological catch limits for Cook Inlet salmon species.

The advisory panel is scheduled to meet Feb. 4-8 and take up only the chum bycatch analysis.

During the December meeting, the council also affirmed the timeline for climate resilience planning, updated by staff, to provide a snapshot of recent progress and upcoming milestones for the NPFMC climate work funded under the federal Inflation Reduction Act.

This timeline is slated to be updated regularly to support future council discussions.

Source: https://fishermensnews.com/npfmc-plans-special-council-meeting-in-anchorage/