Eric Olson, Chairman
Chris Oliver, Executive Director
SUBJECT: Title
Adopt final harvest specifications for BSAI groundfish
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ESTIMATED TIME:
10 hours (all Groundfish Specification Items)
ACTION REQUIRED: Recommended Action
Approve the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Report and final BSAI groundfish harvest specifications for 2014 and 2015:
1. Overfishing Level, Acceptable Biological Catch, and Total Allowable Catch for all stocks.
2. Prohibited Species Catch (PSC) limits and seasonal apportionments of Pacific halibut, red king crab, Tanner crab, opilio crab, and herring to target fishery categories.
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BACKGROUND:
At this meeting, the Council will adopt the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Groundfish Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Report and final recommendations on groundfish harvest specifications and PSC limits to manage the 2014 and 2015 BSAI groundfish fisheries. Upon publication in the Federal Register, the 2014/2015 final harvest specifications will replace harvest specifications adopted last year for the start of the 2014 fisheries.
BSAI SAFE Report. The BSAI Groundfish Plan Team met in Seattle on November 18-22, 2013 to prepare the BSAI Groundfish SAFE report. The SAFE report forms the basis for BSAI groundfish harvest specifications for the next two fishing years. The introduction to the BSAI SAFE report was mailed to the Council and Advisory Panel on November 26, 2013; it summarizes the Plan Team recommendations for each stock/complex. The full report, including the Economic SAFE report and Ecosystems Considerations chapter, was distributed to the SSC and is available on the Council website. The Council will review and adopt the full report at this meeting.
The Plan Team's recommendations for final harvest specifications for 2014 and 2015 are attached as Item C-7(a). In October, the Council adopted proposed harvest specifications of OFL and ABC that were based on last year's stock assessments. In this SAFE report, the Plan Team has revised those projections due to the development of new models; collection of new catch, survey, age composition, or size composition data; or use of new methodology for recommending OFLs and ABCs. The November 2013 Joint Team and BSAI Plan Team minutes are attached as Item C-7(b). The SSC and AP recommendations will be provided to the Council during the meeting.