North Pacific Fishery Management Council
Abstract.—The Magnuson-Stevens Act emphasizes the importance of minimizing bycatch, to the extent practicable, as part of the goal to achieve sustainable fisheries. Measures to reduce Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) bycatch for the eastern Bering Sea walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma trawl fi...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.154.9523 http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/sci_papers/StramIanelli2009.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract.—The Magnuson-Stevens Act emphasizes the importance of minimizing bycatch, to the extent practicable, as part of the goal to achieve sustainable fisheries. Measures to reduce Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) bycatch for the eastern Bering Sea walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma trawl fisheries have been developed and implemented, resulting in specific closed (no-fishing) areas when established bycatch limits for Pacific salmon are exceeded. These closure areas were designed based on analyses of groundfish observer data collected from 1990–1995, yet in recent years Pacific salmon bycatch in the pollock fishery has consistently exceeded the limits. As a result, large areas were closed to the fishery, and the spatial pattern of fishing by the pollock fleet was altered. An analysis of the effectiveness of the closed-area management system was reviewed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) in 2005, and indicated that when areas were closed, salmon bycatch rates were often higher than observed earlier inside the closure areas. Thus, as an interim measure, the Council adopted a program in October 2005 to exempt vessels from the existing closed-area regulations so that near-real time inseason |
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