North Pacific fishery council will consider new proposals at only two meetings a year

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted 10-1 Sunday to consider starting new fishery management actions at only two of its meetings each year, a change one testifier warned "sounds like a muzzle."

Throughout the meeting, council members and the public raised concerns about limited staff at the council and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Rachel Baker, who made the motion, said the council often doesn't know its capacity when it takes on new work, especially with its October and December meetings so close together. Weighing new ideas twice a year, with the full list in front of it, would make for "more focused and transparent decision-making," she said.

The council's chair and executive director will look at giving the public more time to testify at meetings where no new actions start. The council also committed to an annual strategic planning discussion and will revisit the change after one year.

Glenn Merrill, testifying for Glacier Fish Company and Northstar Fishing Company, backed the idea. Duncan Fields of Cape Barnabas Inc., who made the muzzle comment, said the change came at a bad time, with the council under intense scrutiny, and asked that it at least be revisited in two years. Hannah Heimbach of the Under 60 Cod Harvesters said limiting new issues "could end up eroding the public process" without fixing staff shortages. Council member Ritchie cast the lone no vote over the limit on new actions.

The same motion named four unranked priorities for staff: a pelagic trawl gear performance standard, Gulf of Alaska Tanner crab protections, changes to Bering Sea herring bycatch limits and new criteria for "lead level 2" observers. The council added the observer item 7-4 after testimony that vessels are struggling to find observers with that endorsement. "We need availability of more lead Level 2 observers for our fleet," said Rob Worm of Alaska Leader Fisheries. Council member Vanderhoeven said vessels she knows of haven't yet been stuck at the dock for lack of one, "but it's getting really close."

The council dropped four previously assigned tasks: electronic monitoring for the Gulf of Alaska rockfish program, pot gear regulatory consistency, NMFS-approved motion scales in the sablefish fishery and the timing of charter halibut management measures.