Surprise appointments to the North Pacific Council

The secretary of commerce today appointed Forrest Bowers to an Alaska seat and Chad See to a Washington seat on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Both are surprises as neither was the top choice of their respective governors.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy had nominated Märit Carlson-Van Dort as his lead pick, with Bowers and Israel Payton as his second and third choices. Carlson-Van Dort chairs the Alaska Board of Fisheries. Bowers is a longtime state employee in the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, currently working as acting commercial fisheries director.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson nominated crab fleet representative Jamie Goen for a second term on the council, but the commerce secretary instead appointed Chad See, Ferguson's second choice. See is executive director of the Freezer Longline Coalition.

Rep. Begich wants North Pacific Council revamp

Congressman Nick Begich, R-Alaska, has introduced a bill to restructure the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

The Anchorage-based council makes recommendations for managing ocean fisheries off Alaska. Its 11 voting members come from Alaska, Washington and Oregon, and most members are representatives of government agencies or commercial fishing interests.

Begich's bill, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council Representation Enhancement Act of 2026, would guide Alaska's appointments to the council.

The legislation would "require that voting members include at least one representative each from recreational, small-scale commercial, rural subsistence, and urban subsistence user groups," says this press release from Begich's office.

Oregon's new man on the North Pacific Council

Details in this letter.

More council news

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson has nominated Jamie Goen for a second term on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Here's the governor's nomination letter.

Council nomination news

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has nominated Märit Carlson-Van Dort for a seat on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Here's the governor's nomination letter.

Council moves to limit Bering trawl chum bycatch

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, meeting in Anchorage, just voted 8-3 in favor of a complex motion setting an overall bycatch cap of 45,000 Western Alaska chum salmon in the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery.

The action concludes what was a passionately debated issue before the council.

We'll update this post with further details and public reaction. See the comments section.

Gulf gets more cod

Details in this press release from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

An anxious moment for Bering Sea pollock trawlers

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is meeting for a week starting Thursday in Anchorage, and the main item on the agenda is possible action to crack down on chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery.

Trawlers are worried over the possibility the council might recommend limits, or caps, on the number of chum the fleet could take each season. Once met, such caps could result in closure of the fishery, leaving valuable pollock quota stranded in the water.

The council is under enormous pressure from Western Alaska villagers, environmental groups and others to impose caps on the trawl fleet, which has been broadly blamed for poor chum returns and subsistence fishing restrictions.

"The salmon situation in our communities has become an existential crisis," the Bethel-based Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission said in a letter to the council.

The pollock industry is adamantly opposed to caps, arguing they wouldn't do much to help improve Western Alaska chum runs. For one thing, they argue, many of the chum caught as bycatch in the pollock trawl fishery actually come from Japanese and Russian hatcheries, not Alaska rivers.

Trawl interests urge the council to select a different option, one that would build upon steps the fleet already has begun to avoid chum — particularly Western Alaska chums. These steps include fleet communication, avoidance of chum "hot spots," genetic identification of chum to determine their origin, and the use of salmon excluders in nets.

"It is obvious that the pollock fishery's bycatch is not driving Western Alaska chum declines," United Catcher Boats, a Seattle-based fleet organization, said in a letter to the council. UCB noted complex factors such as changing ocean conditions.

The chum bycatch issue is expected to draw a ton of public comment at the meeting. Council members likely won't have an easy time deciding this one.

The council's new skipper

Diana Evans today was named the new executive director of the Anchorage-based North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

She had been serving as interim executive director following the October retirement of longtime council chief David Witherell.

Evans becomes only the fifth executive director, and the first woman, to lead the council, which manages ocean fisheries off Alaska and includes 11 voting members from Alaska, Washington and Oregon.

The council's first executive director, hired in 1977, was Jim Branson. Following him, in order, were Clarence Pautzke, Chris Oliver and Witherell.

Evans will manage a staff of 14 employees and an annual budget of $5 million.

Another pollockpalooza next year

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, meeting in Anchorage, today voted 11-0 in support of Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands catch quotas for 2026.

As usual, the quota — or total allowable catch — for Bering Sea pollock is gargantuan at 1,375,000 metric tons.

That's only slightly below this year's TAC of 1,389,000 tons.

Setting groundfish quotas was tricky this year as the federal government shutdown, which lasted from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, disrupted the normal scientific stock assessment process.

Personnel file

Diana Evans has been named interim executive director of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council following the retirement of David Witherell.

Council meeting still on, but it'll be weird

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will go ahead with its December meeting, but it appears the government shutdown could hamper things significantly.

Here's an update the council just posted.

The council's December meeting is always one of its biggest of the year, as that's when groundfish quotas for the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska are set.

Witherell to retire as North Pacific Council skipper

Here's the press release.

Bits and pieces

• The latest issue of The Wheel Watch, newsletter of the Seattle-based Fishing Vessel Owners' Association, reports the following: "HOT, HOT, HOT is the halibut market!" Prices are at $8.50 to more than $9 a pound in Seward, compared to around $6.50 a pound last year. Prices in Dutch Harbor are $6.50 to $6.75.

• The Wheel Watch further reports the North Pacific Fishery Management Council will consider changing the legal age to own individual fishing quotas from 18 years old to 16. "This has been an issue as first-generation holders pass and leave their QS (quota share) to children or grandchildren," the newsletter says.

• A prominent voice on the North Pacific Council has retired. Bill Tweit was the Washington state representative on the council for 20 years, and was vice chair. His replacement is Nate Pamplin, another Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife official.

Drobnica, Kimball to continue on council

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced the reappointment of Angel Drobnica and Nicole Kimball to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Drobnica and Kimball were Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy's choices for the seats.

Cook Inlet notes

Here are a couple of items concerning salmon management in the Cook Inlet Exclusive Economic Zone.

• Anchorage federal Judge Sharon Gleason has dismissed a driftnetter lawsuit challenging the 2024 federal takeover of salmon fisheries in the EEZ. Here's the judge's 32-page decision and order.

• Eugenio Piñeiro-Soler, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service, is chiding the North Pacific Fishery Management Council for advising it doesn't intend to recommend catch limits for the 2026 Cook Inlet EEZ salmon fishery.

Council starved for cash?

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council says it will hold its October meeting by webinar, rather than in person in Anchorage, due to funding uncertainty.

Upcoming

Here are a couple of significant Outside events to watch.

• On June 4 in Washington, D.C., the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold a hearing on "Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness." More details here.

• The North Pacific Fishery Management Council will meet June 5-10 in Newport, Oregon. The council, based in Anchorage, manages fisheries off Alaska and includes voting members from Alaska, Washington and Oregon.

Recommended reading

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has sent Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick a three-page letter stressing the importance of maintaining NOAA marine surveys and the council process.

"Without these surveys, scientists would be required to account for substantially increased uncertainty by lowering catch limits for U.S. fishermen," the letter says.

Continuity on the council

Two Alaska members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council — the chair, Angel Drobnica, and Nicole Kimball — will see their three-year terms end in August.

After that, who will occupy the two seats?

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy is good with Drobnica and Kimball continuing on the council. Here's his letter to the U.S. commerce secretary nominating them for new terms.

Drobnica is director of fisheries and government relations for the Juneau-based Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association.

Kimball, of Anchorage, is vice president, Alaska operations, for the Pacific Seafood Processors Association.