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Northern Fur Seals
Fur Seal Committee
In 2003, the Council appointed a Fur Seal Committee to
track the development of the 2004 Pribilof Islands
subsistence fur seal harvest regulations EIS and to
monitor fur seal issues.
Fur Seal Committee Meeting Minutes
December 2003
January 2004
September 2004
Presentation to the Fur Seal Committee
by Rolf Ream, NMML, December, 2003
Northern Fur Seal Conservation
Plan
NMFS has released for public review a draft Conservation
Plan for the northern fur seal.
Northern Right Whale
NMFS has issued a proposed and final rule to designate
critical habitat for the population of northern right
whales that inhabit the North Pacific Ocean. The Council
compiled a report on harvests and values of groundfish,
crab and halibut harvested in the right whale critical habitat
areas of the eastern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. Maps
of the designated critical habitat areas are on the NMFS
web site as well as other links to additional northern
right whale information.
Seabirds
In 2004, the Council recommended and NMFS implemented
regulations to minimize interactions between seabirds and
longline vessels greater than 55 ft LOA. These regulations
and additional information on seabirds and commercial
fisheries is available on the NMFS AK Region web site. At
the June 2006 Council meeting, the Council passed a motion
to initiate analysis of possible changes to regulations that
would eliminate mandatory deterrence devices in “inside
waters” of southeast Alaska, Prince William Sound, and Cook
Inlet and implement deterrence methods for small vessels
fishing “outside waters” throughout Alaska. That analysis
will be reviewed by the Council at its December 2006 meeting.
Council motion from
the 12/06 meeting.
Council motion from the 2/2007 meeting.
Seabird Avoidance
Measures;2/08 Council motion
from the June 2008 meeting.
The Council has encouraged
research on integrated weight groundline gear and trawl “third
wire” interaction with seabirds. A Council discussion
paper on trawl third wire gear was prepared in April
2004. At its June 2004 meeting, the Council approved an
Exempted Fishing Permit for IWG research.
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Short-tailed
Albatross
The Council also encourages research on fishery interactions
with the endangered short-tailed albatross. Alaskan
groundfish fisheries may interact with short-tailed
albatross and the possibility of incidental take is reviewed
in a programmatic Biological Opinion and a TAC-setting
Biological Opinion which provides an incidental take
statement for short-tailed albatross; both BiOps were
prepared by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. A
short-tailed albatross draft Recovery Plan is available
from the USFWS.
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Kittlitz’s
Murrelet
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has designated the
Kittlitz’s murrelet as a candidate species for possible
listing under the Endangered Species Act. Abundance of this
species has declined considerably in the past 10-15 years.
It is unknown the extent to which this small seabird
interacts with offshore fisheries. The Council will receive
periodic reports on this seabird. Additional information is
available from the USFWS (http://alaska.fws.gov/media/murrelet/).
Northern Sea Otter
The southwest Alaska stock of northern sea otter was listed as
threatened under the Endangered Species Act on August 9, 2005
(70 Federal Register 46366). On February 23, 2006,
NMFS submitted to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) a
request for reinitiation of Section 7 consultation on
the effects of Federal groundfish and State parallel
groundfish fisheries on the northern sea otter and a
Biological Assessment. On May 15, the USFWS responded
to the NMFS request for consultation and concluded that no
further consultation with NMFS is required; NMFS concurred in
a letter dated May 25, 2006. The Council will continue
to monitor sea otter issues.
Cook Inlet Beluga Whales
NMFS is conducting a status review of the Cook Inlet beluga
whale to gather information that may be relevant to a proposed
listing of the species as threatened or endangered under the
Endangered Species Act (see Federal Register notice
March 24, 2006). NMFS is concerned over the decline in
abundance of Cook Inlet belugas from an historic level of over
1000 animals to several hundred in recent years. On April 20,
2006, Trustees for Alaska filed a petition with the
Secretary of Commerce to list the Cook Inlet beluga whale as
endangered under the ESA and that its critical habitat be
designated concurrently with its listing. The Council will
receive periodic briefings on this issue.
Salmon
Salmon bycatch in
Alaskan groundfish fisheries is authorized in the BSAI under
terms of the Incidental Take Statement in the 2000
Biological Opinion authorizing the groundfish fisheries of the
BSAI and GOA; the bycatch limit is 55,000 Chinook salmon.
This limit was set to minimize the potential take of
threatened or endangered salmonid Evolutionarily Significant
Units (ESUs) which are native to streams in Oregon and
Washington but may occur during their marine phase in waters
of the GOA and BSAI. ESA Section 7 consultation was triggered
in 2005 when this limit was exceeded in the 2004 fisheries.
This consultation between the NMFS AK Region and NMFS NW
Region resulted in a July 27, 2005 letter in which the
NW Region recommended continued monitoring of BSAI Chinook
bycatch. The Northwest Region supports the Council’s efforts
to develop alternative ways to reduce salmon bycatch in the
BSAI groundfish fisheries.
Other Protected Resources Issues
Updated information on the Humane
Society lawsuit on Steller sea lion and northern fur seal
research permitting is available from the NMFS web site (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/eis/steller.htm).
NMFS is currently preparing a draft EIS.
Archive of Additional Steller Sea
Lion and Protected Resources Information
Past Council documents,
information, analyses, and other data on protected resources
can be found in this archive. This includes previous RPA
Committee and Steller Sea Lion Mitigation Committee meeting
announcements and minutes, trailing amendments, and
presentations. |
