Groundfish Management Meetings Planned

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) is considering recommending new management measures for the Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries. Gulf of Alaska fishermen have expressed increasing concerns about the economic stability of the groundfish fisheries. In response, the Council is considering new groundfish management policies, popularly called ‘rationalization'.

The Council may consider allocating fishing or processing privileges such as: individual fishing quotas (IFQs); individual processing quotas (IPQs); allocations to communities; and fishing cooperatives. Alternatively, the Council may choose to recommend modification of the existing License Limitation Program (LLP), or maintain the existing management structure. A variety of management approaches have been discussed by the Council and its committees during the past three years.

The Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to examine the potential scope, alternatives, and effects of the proposed policies. NMFS will hold a series of public scoping meetings to gather additional information on all these issues at the following locations.

Day	Time	City	Location
August 17	9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon	Sand Point, AK	Aleutians East Borough Office, 100 Mossberry Lane
August 18	9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon	King Cove, AK	King Cove Harbor House, 100 Harbor Road
August 23	1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.	Kodiak, AK	Fishery Industrial Tech. Ctr., 118 Trident Way
September 16	5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.	Cordova, AK	Cordova City Library Meeting Room, 622 1st St.
September 24	2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Homer, AK	Best Western Bidarka Inn, 575 Sterling Hwy
September 26	3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.	Petersburg, AK	City Council Chambers, 12 Nordic Drive
October 1	6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.	Seattle, WA	Doubletree Hotel–SEA Airport, 18740 Pacific Hwy.

Fishermen, processors, and any one interested in potential changes in Gulf of Alaska fisheries management is invited to attend these meetings to learn more and to provide input on the range of alternatives and issues to be addressed in the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.

Additional background information is available through the NMFS Website at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov, the Council website http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc, or by calling Glenn Merrill at (907) 586-7228.

In addition to these public scoping meetings, the public can provide comments at regularly scheduled Council and Gulf of Alaska Work Group meetings. The next Gulf of Alaska Work Group meeting is August 21 in Anchorage, the next Council meeting is September 30-October 7 in Seattle. NMFS is accepting written comment on this proposed action through November 15, 2002. Please see the NMFS website for additional information on sending comments.