Trawlers lose

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit challenging new regulations tightening halibut trawl bycatch limits in the Bering Sea.

Here's the 39-page decision.

Another big day in court

As previously reported, a Bering Sea bottom trawl fleet, operating under the banner Groundfish Forum, is suing in an effort to kill new regulations to tighten halibut bycatch limits.

The fleet argues it's being unfairly singled out and faces potential financial ruin.

The National Marine Fisheries Service — as well as several fishing, processing and conservation players in the halibut sector — are defending the regulations.

The case has been cooking for several months and is now set for an important round of oral argument beginning at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in federal court in Anchorage.

To listen, dial (571) 353-2301 and use call ID 275666327.

Trawlers to court: Please hurry

A trawl fleet challenging tighter halibut bycatch limits is pleading with the Alaska federal court to issue a decision by Nov. 1.

That's the latest the trawlers can "reasonably make decisions regarding which and how many vessels to activate, how many people to employ, and what supplies to purchase for the 2025 fishing year," says this motion to expedite.

Halibut bycatch case attracts Sullivan, Peltola

A court fight over halibut trawl bycatch is escalating.

Two members of Congress from Alaska, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic Rep. Peltola, are looking to weigh in on the case of Groundfish Forum v. National Marine Fisheries Service.

The lawmakers appear to be siding with regulators who imposed tighter halibut bycatch limits in the Bering Sea. A 17-vessel fleet, operating under the banner Groundfish Forum, has sued NMFS arguing the action is financially ruinous.

An escalating fight over halibut bycatch

We told you in December how a trawl fleet known as the Amendment 80 sector was suing over tighter halibut bycatch limits.

Now, halibut harvesters are looking to jump into the case in support of the tighter limits.

Facing halibut crackdown, trawlers sue

As expected, a Bering Sea bottom trawl fleet has sued the National Marine Fisheries Service over an action to tighten halibut bycatch limits.

The 17-vessel fleet, operating under the banner Groundfish Forum, contends the NMFS action could cost the fleet in excess of $100 million annually and could bankrupt some vessels.

The suit says Groundfish Forum members are "already being forced to mothball fishing vessels for the 2024 season."

Here's the 42-page lawsuit, filed in Alaska federal court.

Cracking down on halibut bycatch

The National Marine Fisheries Service is amending regulations to tighten halibut bycatch limits on Bering Sea bottom trawlers known as the Amendment 80 fleet.

Now that NMFS is taking this final action, we'll wait to see whether the fleet sues the agency.

Halibut box closes in on trawl fleet

The National Marine Fisheries Service has approved a measure to tighten limits on halibut trawl bycatch in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.

The action is aimed at a fleet of nearly 20 factory trawlers known as the Amendment 80 sector.

The measure replaces the fleet's current static bycatch limit with one based on halibut abundance. It took years to develop and comes over the fleet's strenuous objections.

Here are three letters from companies who urged NMFS not to approve the measure:

Fishermen's Finest

North Star Fishing

United States Seafoods

Now that the government is finalizing the halibut measure, it'll be interesting to see if the Amendment 80 fleet challenges the action in court.

Observer issues 'fully and satisfactorily resolved'

The Alaska Seafood Cooperative, representing Bering Sea flatfish trawlers, submitted the following response to yesterday's post: Observers report taking abuse over halibut.

Every May, NMFS' Fishery Monitoring and Analysis Division (FMA) releases a report describing various aspects of observer deployment in fisheries off Alaska. Topics include coverage levels and distribution in the partial coverage fleet, coverage rates given certain budget constraints, and general monitoring compliance among different sectors of the fleet. This latter section was highlighted yesterday in a post on Deckboss.

While the FMA report covered certain compliance issues with the Amendment 80 sector, the effectiveness of efforts by the FMA, NMFS, and industry to address some misunderstandings that spawned those complaints should be understood. Late in 2014, the Alaska Seafood Cooperative (AKSC) became aware of a small number of observer complaints relating to halibut accounting within our sector. In addition to discussing these issues, dialogue with Martin Loefflad and Chris Rilling from FMA brought to light some conflicts between observer protocols and the needs of captains for timely information concerning halibut bycatch to effectively avoid halibut. During the meeting, an acceptable solution was reached, and observers now provide raw data to captains. This information is now available in a much more timely manner.

As many may know, AKSC and its members have been collaborating with NMFS on a program to release halibut as soon as possible from a vessel's deck to improve survival. NMFS issued an exempted fishing permit (EFP) for all AKSC member vessels because of their confidence that the issues that led to the complaints are fully and satisfactorily resolved. Absent satisfactory resolution of the issues, vessels would have been prohibited from participating in the EFP.

AKSC is appreciative of NMFS' willingness to proactively work with our co-op and member companies to resolve issues with observers quickly and efficiently. This allows companies to proactively address operational issues that arise under the observer program. The effectiveness of conversations with NMFS is evident, as observers have had no such complaints in 2015.

Observers report taking abuse over halibut

The National Marine Fisheries Service has issued its 2014 annual report for the North Pacific fishery observer program.

The report is loaded with interested reading, not the least of which is on pages 87-88.

The agency notes a "significant trend" involving catcher-processor vessels and observer reports of harassment, intimidation and other issues.

Multiple investigations have been initiated, NMFS says. The report continues:

These investigations include allegations of physical sample bias including removing halibut from observer samples, or physically preventing a halibut from entering an observer's sample during collection. Additional allegations include hostile work environment due to industry behavior and remarks to the observer in an attempt to influence how they sample the catch to reduce the number of halibut in their sampling.

The report further says officials issued two "outreach letters" to the Amendment 80 trawl fleet and the freezer longline fleet.

These letters identified trends involving intimidation, harassment, hostile work environment, sample bias and attempted coercion regarding halibut bycatch sampling methods as well as catch weighing and record keeping and reporting requirements.

BycatchFacts.org

A trawl group, Groundfish Forum, has launched a special website as part of efforts to fend off tighter halibut bycatch limits.

Two council members barred from halibut vote

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, at its June 1-9 meeting in Sitka, will consider reducing halibut bycatch limits in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish fishery.

Two council members, however, will not be allowed to vote on this high-profile issue.

Simon Kinneen and David Long work for groundfish harvesters that could be significantly impacted by the council's halibut bycatch decision, according to federal recusal determinations.

See pages 9-11 for the Kinneen and Long determinations.

Council tightens Gulf halibut bycatch limits

Here's the final motion the North Pacific Fishery Management Council passed regarding Gulf of Alaska halibut bycatch.

The action, subject to U.S. commerce secretary approval, would impose a 15 percent reduction in the annual halibut bycatch limit for the trawl and longline catcher vessel fleets targeting groundfish. The longline catcher-processor sector would see a 7 percent reduction.

The cuts would be phased in over three years, starting in 2014.

The council, meeting in Kodiak, passed the motion Friday on a 10-1 vote.

Unhand that halibut!

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is meeting in Kodiak this week, and the big item on the agenda is halibut bycatch.

With halibut biomass declining in the North Pacific, the council is under considerable pressure to do something to curb waste of the premium fish.

Thus, it would appear inevitable that Gulf of Alaska commercial fleets are going to have to swallow some painful measures to reduce the bycatch, or incidental take, of halibut while pursuing other species such as pollock and cod.

As a "prohibited species," halibut caught incidentally must be thrown overboard, whether alive or dead.

As it stands, the Gulf trawl fleet has an annual limit of 2,000 metric tons of halibut bycatch, while the longline fleet has a 300-ton limit.

The council is expected to consider cutting these limits by 5 to 15 percent.

As you might imagine, a groundswell of voices is urging the council to take the most stringent action against the industry.

Here is one example. And another.

One state legislator is even encouraging people to call the governor to put heat on council members.