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Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan for Area 2a.

Country/Territory
United States of America
Territorial subdivision
State of Washington
Document type
Miscellaneous
Date
2016
Source
FAO, FAOLEX
Subject
Fisheries
Keyword
Policy/planning Marine fisheries Fishing authorization Marine fishes Allocation/quota Size Artisanal fishing Non-commercial fishing Traditional rights/customary rights Fishery management and conservation Authorization/permit
Geographical area
Americas, Arctic, East Pacific, North America, North Atlantic
Abstract

This Plan of the Pacific Fishery Management Councilshall be applied to the annual Area 2A total allowable catch (TAC) approved by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) each January. The framework shall be implemented in both IPHC Regulations and domestic Regulations (implemented by National Marine Fisheries Service) as published in the Federal Register. The Plan allocates 35 percent of the Area 2A TAC to U.S. treaty Indian tribes in the State of Washington in subarea 2A-1, and 65 percent to non-Indian fisheries in Area 2A. The allocation to non-Indian fisheries is divided into four shares, with the Washington sport fishery (north of the Columbia River) receiving 35.6 percent, the Oregon sport fishery receiving 29.7 percent, the California sport fishery receiving 4.0 percent, and the commercial fishery receiving 30.7 percent. Allocations within the non-Indian commercial and sport fisheries are described in sections (e) and (f) of this Plan. These allocations may be changed if new information becomes available that indicates a change is necessary and/or the Pacific Fishery Management Council takes action to reconsider its allocation recommendations. The treaty Indian allocation is to provide for a tribal commercial fishery and a ceremonial and subsistence fishery. These two fisheries are managed separately; any overages in the commercial fishery do not affect the ceremonial and subsistence fishery. The commercial fishery is managed to achieve an established subquota, while the ceremonial and subsistence fishery is managed for a yearround season. The tribes will estimate the ceremonial and subsistence harvest expectations in January of each year, and the remainder of the allocation will be for the tribal commercial fishery.Commercial fishing of halibut consistes of: incidental halibut catch in the salmon troll fishery; directed fishery targeting halibut; incidental catch in the sablefish fishery. The Regional Administrator, NMFS West Coast Region, after consultation with the Chairman of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the IPHC Executive Director, and the Fisheries Director(s) of the affected state(s), or their designees, is authorized to modify regulations during the season (inseason adjustments). Flexible inseason management provisions include, but are not limited to, the following:(a) modification of sport fishing periods; (b) modification of sport fishing bag limits; (c) modification of sport fishing size limits; (d) modification of sport fishing days per calendar week; and (e) modification of subarea quotas. Inseason actions taken by NMFS will be published in the Federal Register. Each year, NMFS will publish a proposed rule with any regulatory modifications necessary to implement the Plan for the following year, with a request for public comments.

Full text
English
Website
www.pcouncil.org