Twenty Years in Review
1976
- President Ford signs Fishery Conservation and Management Act on April 13
- First Council meeting October 5-8 in Juneau; Elmer Rasmuson elected chairman
- SSC chartered November 24, meets December 1,elects Lee Alverson chairman
- AP chartered December 1, meets December 2-5, elects Jack Cotant chairman
- FMPs considered for groundfish, herring, king and Tanner crab, shrimp, scallops, and Dungeness crab
- Troll salmon assigned to Pacific Council; NPFMC requests joint responsibility
- Japan, Korea, Poland and USSR fished off Alaska in 1976 catching 1.5 to 1.6 million mt
- Domestic groundfish catch was about 2,000 mt, mainly sablefish
1977
- Permanent headquarters opened in Anchorage; nine Council meetings in 1977
- Jim Branson named first executive director
- Keith Specking elected AP chairman in March
- Harold Lokken elected chairman effective October 6
- Gulf of Alaska groundfish, Tanner crab, and salmon plans sent to Secretary
- Plan teams appointed for most fisheries
- Groundfish reserve release system established
- First pollock joint venture (Korean-KMIDC) request reviewed, but delayed until 1978
1978
- Seven meetings held in 1978
- Troll salmon plan revised, resubmitted to Secretary
- Bairdi Tanner crab goes all American, but TALFF allowed for opilio
- Bering Sea groundfish plan developed
- Steve Pennoyer elected SSC chairman in September
- Clem Tillion elected Council chairman in October
- First joint venture (KMIDC) off Alaska begins on November 7, delivers 45 mt
- Gulf of Alaska groundfish and Alaska Tanner crab FMPs implemented December 1
- Domestic groundfish catch off Alaska reaches 4,500 mt
- Processor preference amendment passed, establishing DAP, JVP and TALFF
1979
- Eight meetings held in 1979
- Bering Sea pollock OY raised to one million metric tons
- Joint ventures with USSR and Korea approved
- U.S. processors seek closures to joint ventures around shore plants
- Council attempts closing 12 miles around Akun/Akutan to joint ventures; overturned by Secretary
- Council adopts herring-savings area closed to foreign trawling in BSAI
- Foreign directed fishing on herring eliminated
- BSAI groundfish plan approved
- Don McKernan passes away during China trip in early May
- Over 500 foreign vessels fish off Alaska; Japan, USSR, Korea, Poland, Taiwan and Mexico
- Public hearings held on need for halibut limited entry
- Opilio crab TALFF further reduced for Japanese
- Joint ventures harvest 1,500 mt; DAP harvests about 7,500 mt
1980
- Seven meetings held in 1980
- After Afghanistan invasion, President ends Soviet directed fishing
- Joint ventures approved with Soviets and South Koreans
- Council recommends ban on handtrolling for salmon in EEZ
- Bob Alverson elected AP chairman
- Don Rosenberg elected new SSC chairman
- PSC limits approved for halibut, crab and salmon in GOA foreign groundfish fisheries
- BSAI groundfish team suggests system-wide OY with individual species TACs
- Kodiak Lechner Line closure to foreign trawling to prevent gear conflicts with U.S. crabbers
- Foreign trawlers intercept 100,000 chinook salmon in Bering Sea
- Japanese high seas gillnet fishery catches 700,000 chinooks
- Herring plan for BSAI approved
- American Fisheries Promotion Act passes Congress; provides fish and chips policy
1981
- Eight meetings held in 1981
- Joint ventures approved for Japan, Korea, West Germany, Poland and Taiwan
- Polish fishing fleets gain port privileges in Seward
- No foreign fisheries for opilio Tanner crab allowed
- Southeast troll chinook OY reduced 15% to 272,000 fish
- Council restricts foreign trawling in Eastern Gulf
- Two million metric ton cap set for BSAI groundfish plan
- NMFS Regional Director gains field order authority to close areas
- Voluntary joint venture logbook approved
- Bering Sea king crab declines sharply
- Japan trawler associations agree to limit chinook interceptions; 65,000 chinook cap set
- Inconsistencies arise between state and federal regulations over Tanner crab management
- BSAI king crab Joint Statement of Principles adopted by Council and Alaska Board of Fisheries
- BSAI herring plan withdrawn from Secretarial review to make technical modifications
- Extensive prohibited species reduction schedule approved for foreign fisheries
- Voluntary bycatch measures promoted for domestic groundfish fishermen
- Council considers Fishery Development Zone for exclusive use for domestic fishermen
- Joint ventures catch 95,000 mt in 1981; DAP groundfish catch is 12,000 mt
- Overall observer coverage was 10% in 1981
1982
- Six meetings in 1982
- Southeast chinook OY reduced to 255,500 salmon
- Halibut moratorium recommended; reaffirmed after passage of North Pacific Halibut Act
- IPHC conference board urges Council to consider fisherman share system
- Joint venture review policy approved
- Observer coverage rises to 33% in foreign and joint venture fisheries
- Council restricts sablefish gear to hook and line in Southeast Alaska (Secretary disapproves)
- Fishery Development Zone north of Unimak Pass approved for Secretarial review
- Joint ventures grow to ten operations using 31 U.S. and 18 foreign vessles; harvest 180,000 mt
1983
- Six meetings held in 1983
- Draft U.S./Canada salmon treaty presented
- Halibut moratorium reaffirmed by Council for three years, but disapproved by Secretary
- First resource assessment document (later called SAFEs) prepared for BSAI groundfish
- Council reaffirms Fishery Development Zone north of Unimak Pass
- Jim Campbell elected Council chairman
- Herring plan resubmitted to Secretarial review
- BSAI king crab plan approved; delegates management to the State of Alaska
- Total joint venture catch increases to 350,000 mt by 50 U.S. trawlers
1984
- Six meetings held in 1984 (five or six held each year thereafter)
- Japanese Longline Gillnet Association agrees to restrictions on GOA sablefish fishing
- Pollock optimum yield in Gulf of Alaska peaks
- Secretary disapproves Fishery Development Zone; foreigners agree to voluntary restraints
- Council shelves herring plan pending further research
- New policies adopted on annual management cycles and processing of proposals
- Nine comprehensive management goals approved
- AP restructured
- New policies adopted on review of foreign and joint venture permit requests
- DAP reaches 50,000 mt; JVs harvest 580,000 mt using 80 U.S. trawlers
- Foreign directed harvest declines to 1.1 million mt
1985
- Only minor directed foreign fishing for pollock and cod allowed in Gulf of Alaska
- Foreign trawling ends within 20 miles of Aleutians
- Foreign cod longlining restricted to north of 55 N and west of 170 W, ice conditions permitting
- Council urges rapid ratification of proposed U.S. - Canada Salmon Treaty
- Emergency rule requested to allow only longlines for sablefish east of 147 W
- Japanese agree to large purchases of joint venture fish in return for directed allocations
- Joint ventures approved for Japan, Korea, Poland, Portugal, and Iceland
- Taiwan announces new controls on high seas squid fishery to reduce salmon bycatch
- Council prohibits intentional discard of fishing gear by U.S. fishermen
- NMFS requested to reserve groundfish bycatch needs in managing GOA target fisheries
- Larry Cotter elected AP chairman
- Council restricts use of pots and trawls for sablefish in GOA (Amendment 14)
- Secretary offers sablefish limited entry cutoff of September 26, 1985
- Weekly catch reports required for catcher processors
- Council votes to retain 2 million mt cap in BSAI groundfish fisheries
- Council meets in Girdwood to overhaul GOA groundfish plan
- Gulf of Alaska pollock continues decline
- DAP reaches 105,000 mt; JVs take 880,000 mt using 100 U.S. trawlers
- Foreign harvest drops to less than one million mt
1986
- Foreign fishing confined mainly to Bering Sea
- Japanese allocation withheld pending reductions in salmon interceptions
- BSAI bairdi Tanner crab at lowest level since 1975; fishery closed
- Emergency action to close Kodiak areas to trawling to protect king crab
- Yellowfin sole/flounder joint venture trawling closed at 160-162 W, south of 58N in Bering Sea to protect king crab; PSC limits set for halibut, king crab and Tanner crab in newly established Zones 1, 2, and 3; these constitute first major PSC restrictions on domestic trawlers
- Council requests $250,000 for pilot domestic observer program; NMFS declines
- Sablefish management committee appointed to evaluate management approaches
- Federal Tanner crab regulations suspended because of inconsistencies with state regulations
- Americanization Committee appointed to study ways to accelerate groundfish Americanization
- State of Alaska declines delegation of crab management; too much federal oversight
- Nancy Munro elected AP chairman
- NOAA's Blue Ribbon Panel provides fishery management recommendations
- Council endorses cutoff of September 24, 1986 for reflagging foreign processing ships
- Proposal for nonprofit foundation to fund fishery research and data gathering
- U.S. crab vessels fishing in disputed zone are harrassed by Soviets
- Council endorses efforts for joint U.S. - USSR access to disputed zone
- Council passes BSAI crab and halibut PSC measures for domestic groundfish fleet
- Crab management plan revised; includes just BSAI fisheries
- Joint venture catch exceeds 1.2 million metric tons
- DAP catch reaches 136,000 mt; foreign catch declines to 491,000 mt
1987
- No foreign directed fishing in GOA
- Last year for foreign directed fishing in BSAI
- Phil Mundy elected SSC chairman
- Bycatch and crab management committees established
- Council begins developing sablefish limited entry and requests proposals from public
- Anti-reflagging bills introduced into Congress
- Plan Amendment Advisory Groups (PAAGs) established to review groundfish proposals
- NMFS requests Council to make halibut allocative decisions
- Two million metric ton cap in BSAI groundfish reaffirmed
- BSAI joint venture pollock split 40/60 between roe and non-roe seasons, but later relaxed at industry request
- First reports surface of foreign fishing by Japan, Korea, China and Poland in the Donut Hole
- Rich Marasco elected SSC chairman in October
- Nancy Munro elected AP chairman
- Pilot domestic observer program with four observers gets underway
- Future of Groundfish (FOG) Committee established
- DAP catch rises to 407,000 mt; joint ventures catch nearly 1.4 million mt
- Foreign directed catch falls to 70,000 mt in 1987, compared to 491,000 mt in 1986
- Anti-driftnet and MARPOL Annex V legislation passed in Congress
1988
- Last year for foreign joint ventures in GOA
- No foreign allocations of BSAI groundfish, Council retains 2 million mt cap
- Five workshops on sablefish management; analysis narrowed to IFQs and licenses
- Anti-reflagging Act of 1987 signed by President; cutoff date of July 28, 1987
- Foreign trawlers videotaped violating U.S. zone; U.S. Coast Guard steps up surveillance
- U.S. State Department initiates bilateral talks with Soviets on controlling Donut Hole fisheries
- Council calls for immediate cessation of fishing in Donut Hole
- NOAA GC nixes separate plan to favor the U.S. support industry
- Pilot domestic groundfish observer program continues at low level
- Jim Branson retires; Clarence Pautzke becomes executive director
- John Peterson elected Council chairman in September
- Future of Groundfish Committee reports, but Council declines June 30, 1988 cutoff date
- NMFS publishes proposed rule designating Steller sea lions as depleted
- Non-profit fishery research foundation concept shelved
- Council approves major revisions to BSAI bycatch regulations
- Habitat policy approved
- U.S.-U.S.S.R comprehensive fisheries agreement signed in Moscow on May 31
- DAP harvests reach 804,000 mt in 1988; joint venture harvests decline to 1.3 million metric tons
- No foreign harvest off Alaska
1989
-
First meeting of US-USSR Intergovernmental Consultative Committee on February 6-10
- Cut-off date of January 16, 1989 for vessels "in the pipeline" approved but later withdrawn
- Fisheries Planning Committee appointed to consider groundfish, halibut and crab
- Council urges Secretary of Commerce to fund domestic observer program
- New BSAI crab plan approved: delegates authority to State; sets up PacNW Committee
- Pollock roe stripping emerges as major issue
- Rapid GOA pollock harvests raise inshore-offshore concerns; proposed solutions solicited
- Council adopts problem statement for inshore-offshore and initiates scoping process
- Directed fishing definitions established for groundfish fisheries
- Industry and NOAA provide $250,000 for observers
- Council adopts policy encouraging full utilization
- Comprehensive mandatory industry-paid observer program approved to start in 1990
- BSAI sablefish split between fixed and mobile gears approved for 1990
- North Bristol Bay areas closed to protect walrus
Trawl closures renewed for three years around Kodiak to protect king crab
- Halibut mortality cap in GOA split between fixed and trawl gear
- Council urges Congress to withhold Korea GIFA to resolve driftnet interceptions of salmon
- Council urges restrictions on fish imports from Taiwan to address high seas salmon interceptions
- Donut fisheries escalate with early closure of joint ventures in U.S. waters in March
- Don Collinsworth elected Council chairman in September
- New salmon plan approved deferring to State of Alaska and Pacific Salmon Commission
- Emergency action to prohibit pollock roe stripping
- Emergency action to distribute halibut PSC quarterly in the GOA in 1990
- DAP harvest 1.35 million mt; joint ventures take 531,000 mt
1990
- Last year for foreign joint ventures anywhere off Alaska
- Sea lion populations continue decline; Council notifies fishermen to be careful
- Moratorium developed with January 19, 1990 cut-off date (later changed to September 15, 1990)
- Emergency action taken to limit herring bycatch in BSAI trawl fisheries
- Ban on pollock roestripping approved; roe/non-roe seasons set for BSAI
- GOA pollock fishery divided into quarterly allocations to benefit sea lions
- BSAI PSC caps apportioned to specific fisheries and seasons
- Council recommends penalty box (later disapproved) for high bycatch fishermen
- Overfishing definitions added to plans
- Specifications procedure approved to establish interim harvest levels to start each year's fishery
- State of Alaska delegated demersal shelf rockfish management in Eastern Gulf of Alaska
- Regional Director given hotspot authority
- Herring PSC limits and savings areas established
- Allowable gear defined in regulations, including definition of pelagic trawl gear
- Council adopts policy to prohibit all fishing activity in the Donut Hole, including by U.S. trawlers
- North Pacific Council allowed to meet out of Alaska and to establish observer fee program
1991
- Groundfish fishery goes all American off Alaska; DAP harvests reach 2.4 million mt
- New Bogoslof subarea defined for pollock harvests
- Pacific cod quota apportioned seasonally in the BSAI
- Rick Lauber elected Council chairman
- John Woodruff elected AP chairman
- Bill Clark elected SSC chairman
- BSAI flatfish season changed to May 1
- VIP program replaces penalty box program which was disapproved by Secretary
- Council begins development of observer fee program
- Inshore-offshore allocations approved for 1992; includes CDQs
- Sea lion protective measures adopted for 1992; no-trawl zones around rookeries and haulouts
- Council approves hotspot authority for groundfish plans
- Walrus protection areas approved around Round Islands, the Twins, and Cape Peirce
- IFQ system approved for sablefish and halibut fixed gear fishery
- Council approves restrictions on U.S. operations in Donut Hole for 1992
1992
- Regulations prepared to monitor the influx of Russian halibut
- Inshore-offshore allocations begin; pollock CDQs begin late in 1992
- Trawl test areas approved
- Final action taken on vessel moratorium for groundfish and crab fisheries
- Council adopts cutoff date of June 24, 1992 for consideration for future limited access
- Trawl closures around Kodiak renewed to protect king crab
- Research plan approved to support observer coverage
- Council approves halibut PSC limit for non-trawl fisheries
- Comprehensive Rationalization Committee formed to review management options
- Pollock B season delayed from June 1 to August 15, starting in 1993
- Exclusive registration for trawlers approved by Council
- Careful release procedures of halibut by groundfish longliners approved for 1993
1993
- Development of scallop plan begins; January 20, 1993 set as control date
- Experimental permit recommended for processing halibut and salmon bycatch for food banks
- Aleutian Island management area subdivided into three subareas for allocating TACs
- John Bruce elected AP chairman
- Terry Quinn elected SSC chairman
- BSAI Pacific cod allocated among jig, trawl and fixed gears for 1994-1996
- Sea lion zones around certain rookeries extended seasonally to 20 nm
- Two observers plus bins or scales required on CDQ catcher processors
- Modified block proposal approved for sablefish and halibut IFQ program
- Council establishes September 23, 1993 control date for halibut charter fleet
- Fourteen-year rebuilding plan approved for GOA Pacific ocean perch
- Council again urges U.S. State Department to conclude agreements to end fishing in Donut Hole
- BSAI flatfish season changes back to January 20 from May 1 in 1994
1994
- Council directs major effort at analysis of groundfish and crab license limitation
- Norton Sound established as super-exclusive king crab registration area
- Emergency action to reduce chum bycatch in BSAI
- Pribilof trawl closure approved
- Scallop plan and 3-year moratorium approved with April 24, 1994 cutoff for future limited entry
- Pollock "A" season in BSAI changed to January 26 beginning in 1995
- Secretary disapproves Council's moratorium and Council resubmits revised provisions
- Council approves Governor's recommended sablefish and halibut CDQs for 1995-1997
- Committee assigned to develop full utilization and harvest priority proposals
- Distribution of bycaught salmon to food banks made voluntary
- Mesh size regulations on trawl codends approved (never implemented)
- Council takes emergency action to establish no-trawl zone in Bristol Bay to protect king crab for 1995
1995
- Seamount restrictions approved requiring transponders and reporting
- Crab rebuilding committee established
- EEZ closed to scallop fishery after "Mr. Big" incident
- Chum and chinook salmon bycatch controls approved for BSAI
- Fee program for observers partially implemented in 1995; full implementation delayed to 1997
- Sablefish and halibut IFQ program implemented for first time
- In June, Council adopts federal plan for scallops and three-year moratorium
- Electronic reporting requirements approved for processor vessels
- Inshore-offshore allocations and pollock CDQ program reauthorized for 1996-1998
- License limitation program approved for crab and groundfish
- Further trawl closures approved to protect Bristol Bay king crab
- Council agrees to move forward with full utilization analysis
- Oscar Dyson paases away in October
- Council repeals fee plan for observers in December to work out third party program
- First reports on vessel bycatch accounts
- Catch sharing plan for Area 4 halibut approved
1996
- Keith Criddle elected SSC chairman
- Don Bevan passes away in May
- Bristol Bay trawl closure to protect king crab extended by emergency action
- Sablefish/halibut IFQ buydown and sweep-up amendments approved
- Formal IFQ annual proposal cycle adopted
- Council reviews pollock IFQ discussion paper and includes crab in IFQ study
- Vessel bycatch account analysis given to Council
- Grid-sorting of halibut bycatch remains voluntary
- Third and fourth quarter GOA pollock TAC apportionments combined into single release
- Pollock "B"season in BSAI delayed to September 1
- Pot longlines authorized for sablefish in the Bering Sea
- New king crab closures in Bristol Bay approved
- New PSC caps for king and Tanner crab approved
- New Pacific cod allocations to fixed, trawl and jig gear approved for BSAI
- Halibut charterboat analysis begins
- New, more conservative overfishing definitions adopted for groundfish plans
- Improved retention and utilization regulations approved; to be implemented starting in 1998
- National Research Council completes study; Bering Sea ecosystems committee formed
- Comprehensive report provided on performance of sablefish/halibut IFQ system
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