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NMFS SETS CONTROL DATE FOR DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY IN FUTURE NON-SALMON LIMITED ENTRY FISHERIES
The National Marine Fisheries Service has fulfilled the intent of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) NOT to consider 1999 harvest activity as "traditional harvest levels" when developing American Fisheries Act protection measures or other limited access programs for the year 2000 and beyond.
On January 13, 1999, NMFS filed an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register, establishing this date for use as a basis for determining historical or traditional participation in non-salmon fisheries under jurisdiction of the Council, including the crab fisheries. "Participants in these fisheries during 1999 will not be assured of receiving participation credit for future access to those fisheries," said Steven Pennoyer, NMFS Administrator of the Alaska Region, "if a management regime that limits the number of participants is developed by the Council and implemented under the authority of the American Fisheries Act or under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act."
During the Council's December 1998 meeting, various sectors of the fishing industry voiced concern about the potential for speculative entry into fisheries in 1999. Changes in the Bering Sea pollock fishery under the American Fisheries Act could bring about enhanced efficiencies that lead to increases in participation in other fisheries. This notice is intended to promote public awareness that potential eligibility criteria for future access to the affected fisheries may be developed and to discourage new entrants into those fisheries based on economic speculation while the Council considers further controls on access to those fisheries. The notice is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on January 19, 1999.
Further information is available by contacting the Sustainable Fisheries Division, NMFS, at 907-586-7228.
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