Eric Olson, Chairman
Chris Oliver, Executive Director
SUBJECT: Title
Norton Sound RKC LLPs - Discussion Paper
end
ESTIMATED TIME:
2 hours
ACTION REQUIRED: Recommended Action
Review discussion paper and take action as appropriate
Body
BACKGROUND:
In October 2013, the Council received public testimony from a participant of the Norton Sound red king crab (NSRKC) fishery, requesting that the Council take action to discourage over-capitalization of this fishery. Specifically, Council was asked to consider requiring LLP licenses for vessel 32 feet (ft) length overall (LOA) and under, as well as applying a recency requirement for the existing pool of LLP licenses. The testimony suggested that at least one reported NSRKC landing in the past five years should be required in order to maintain a license.
This issue was scheduled for the June 2014 meeting held in Nome, in order to allow stakeholders from Norton Sound surrounding region a chance to provide additional public input. Council members expressed the utility of a baseline description of the fishery to augment stakeholder input. Therefore, this discussion paper provides a reference that describes the characteristic of the stock, the fishery, harvest levels and participation over time. A draft was presented to the Crab Plan Team in May 2014 and comments were incorporated into the discussion paper.
The discussion paper illustrates that of the 62 existing crab LLP licenses used between 2008 and 2012, six unique licenses were used on vessels greater than 32 ft LOA. Despite the current exemption for vessels 32 ft and under, some of the licenses with a MLOA of greater than 32 ft were used for vessels less than 32 ft LOA. Consequently, a total of 24 of the 62 existing licenses were used on vessels that made a landing in the NSRKC fishery during the five year period. Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of vessels less than or equal to 32 ft LOA participating in the fisher...
Click here for full text