Pacific Fishery Management Council

• Main Authors: Ms. Dorothy, M. Lowman
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Bering Sea; Canada; Hake; Pacific
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.642.1687; http://www.pcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/F5b_SUP_IPHC_Rpt_Ltr_to_PFMC_JUNE2014BB.pdf

submission of proposed electronic monitoring experimental fishing permit (EFP) applications. We have the following comments for your consideration. 1. For all of the proposals, any provision involving retention of halibut by non-hook gear requires permission from the IPHC. Authority to define legal gear for halibut retention rests solely with the Halibut Convention between Canada and the United States. As you know, the Commission has previously granted this permission as part of the EFP for the hake fishery, largely because of the small quantities involved. 2. The staff welcomes the initiative to integrate multiple tools (EM, observers, historical data) to estimate halibut mortality rates. We note that multiple methods to determine those rates are presented in the proposals, some with more detail and potential applicability than others. There is precedent for using assumed discard mortality rates (DMR), in some Alaskan fisheries. These DMRs are calculated annually from observer data and a three-year average used in bycatch management (see attached paper). However, the data are continually updated via annual observer coverage at 100 % for most fisheries in the Bering Sea. This continuous and comprehensive data collection is a fundamental difference between the proposed EFP (to