Acting Administrator

• Main Authors: National Marine, Fisheries Service, Robert D. Mecum, Ben Muse
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Bering Sea; Gulf of Alaska; Alaska; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.211.7323; http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/analyses/specs/eis/final.pdf

Abstract: The EIS provides decision-makers and the public with an evaluation of the environmental, social, and economic effects of alternative harvest strategies for the federally managed groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management areas. The EIS examines alternative harvest strategies that comply with Federal regulations, the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area, the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska, and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. These alternative harvest strategies are applied to the best available scientific information to derive the total allowable catch estimates for the groundfish fisheries. This document addresses the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. (Blank Page) fishing year with ecosystem needs (such as non-target fish stocks, marine mammals, seabirds, and habitat). Alternatives Chapter 2 describes and compares five alternative harvest strategies. The five alternatives are summarized as follows: Alternative 1: Set TACs to produce harvest levels equal to the maximum permissible ABCs, unless the sum of the TACs is constrained by the Optimum Yield (OY) established in the FMPs.