NOAA Fisheries Releases Crab Rationalization EIS

NOAA Fisheries has released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Fisheries. The document reveals expected environmental, social, and economic impacts of alternative crab rationalization programs in Bering Sea and Aleutian Island crab fisheries. NOAA Fisheries is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the Department of Commerce.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries are instituting a program to remove excess capacity in the crab fisheries and diminish the race for crab, stabilizing the industry and increasing safety. In January 2004, Congress amended the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to establish the crab rationalization program, which allocates crab resources to participants in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands king and Tanner crab fisheries.

"Releasing this EIS to the public is a big step for us in getting the Bering Sea Aleutian Island Crab Rationalization Program on the ground," said NOAA Fisheries' Alaska Region Administrator Dr. James Balsiger. "Congress has decided on this program and we would like to see crab fishermen operating under it in the fall of 2005."

The EIS evaluates the environmental, social, and economic consequences of four alternatives: (1) status quo; (2) three-pie voluntary cooperative program (the preferred alternative); (3) an individual fishing quota program; and (4) a cooperative program. The alternative programs under consideration are a complex set of elements that are designed to balance the interests of several identifiable groups that depend on these fisheries. These groups include harvesters, processors, communities and crew.

The EIS also serves as the primary environmental review document supporting the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands king and Tanner crabs. It summarizes and analyzes the best available scientific information about crab resources and the benthic environment in the Bering Sea and Aleutians Islands areas and assesses the environmental impacts resulting from fishery management actions.

NOAA Fisheries plans to issue the Record of Decision on this EIS in December, 2004.

The EIS can be found on the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region Web site at www.fakr.noaa.gov. Printed or CD copies of the EIS may be ordered through the EIS order form.

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation's living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat.