Fisheries Management
Stocks and Quotas
Bycatch Reduction

Fisheries Management Methods

• The National Marine Fisheries Service and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game use many fishery management methods and techniques
• An important method is Total Allowable Catch (TAC) – set as a firm limit, beyond which fishing must stop
• Balancing finite fish stocks with improvements in catching efficiency must be regulated by:
  • Time-and-area closures: These methods allow fishing during certain times or in certain areas, but not in others
  • Restrictions on size of boats: Certain fisheries have limits on the size of fishing boats
  • Restrictions on type of fishing gear: Virtually every fishery has limitations on fishing gear, such as the size, design, and use of each type of gear
  • Gear prohibition: Certain gear types are completely prohibited, such as pelagic longlines, sunken gillnets, and fish traps
• Alaska also limits the number of harvesters in a fishery through “license limitation” or “limited entry”
• Additionally, Alaska uses rationalization (also known as “rights-based” management), which grants ownership rights to a given fraction of an annual Total Allowable Catch, and “inseason” modification to adapt to the realities of the run, the weather, and other parameters

Stocks Assessment and Quota Establishment

• Using the latest available scientific research, Alaska establishes the levels that can be caught without damaging the health of each individual species or their habitat
• Every year, scientists from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the International Pacific Halibut Commission conduct and analyze research on the fisheries resources
• In addition, research is conducted on the climatic, environmental, and socio-economic factors that affect the fisheries
• These studies consider the effects of the ecosystem on the stock, and the effects of the stock and the fisheries on the ecosystem
• Controlling the amount of fish harvested through quota establishment is key in preventing overfishing
• The tools of this quota system are:
  • Total Allowable Catches for groundfish, halibut, and most crab, and escapement of salmon in a run
  • “Escapement” means the annual estimated number of spawning salmon that escape capture in a fishery
  • In every case, the top priority is to ensure the long-term sustainability of the fisheries

Bycatch Reduction

• “Bycatch” means the unintended capture of non-target species, including other
  fish species, marine mammals or sea birds
• Significant, effective bycatch reduction programs are enforced in all Alaska
  fisheries
• When a predetermined amount of a prohibited species is taken, that fishery is
  closed, regardless of whether it has reached the Total Allowable Catch – a strong
  incentive to “fish clean”
• To protect marine mammals, biologists and staff administer the Marine Mammal
  Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Fur Seal Act, and the Magnuson-
  Stevens Fishery Conservation Act to develop regulations and management
  measures to protect, conserve and restore populations
• Additionally, all vessels fishing for Pacific cod or Alaska Pollock must
  participate in the National Marine Fisheries Service Vessel Monitoring System,
  which transmits each vessel’s location, by satellite, to the National Marine
  Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement (OLE)
  • This allows for monitoring fishing restrictions in Steller sea lion areas
• And the Alaska staff of the National Marine Fisheries Service have been
  proactively addressing sea bird incidental take in longline (hook-and-line)
  fisheries off Alaska since 1989
  
  Download
• Sustainability Brochure (PDF download)
• Sustainability White Paper (PDF download)