Council to NMFS: Please back off sea lion closures

Here's the motion the North Pacific Fishery Management Council passed today on the Steller sea lion issue.

It's basically an industry-inspired plea to the National Marine Fisheries Service to scale back its plan to close waters in the western Aleutian chain to reserve more fish for the endangered Stellers.

NMFS officials said they'll work with the council recommendation.

We'll see what that means in early October, when the agency will present its final plan to the council.