Amendment 80 Halibut Prohibited Species Catch (PSC) Management Plan

Revised: 12/12/2016 OMB Control No. 0648-0678 Expiration Date: 12/31/2019

A80

AMENDMENT 80 HALIBUT PSC MANAGEMENT PLAN

R egional Administrator NMFS Alaska Region P.O. Box 21668 Juneau, AK 99802-1668 Fax: (907) 586-7557 Online: https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/webapps/efish/login

The Council requested that Amendment 80 cooperatives provide a Halibut PSC Management Plan to inform the Council of their progress on voluntary, non-regulatory methods used within their fishery cooperatives to avoid halibut bycatch in the BSAI groundfish fisheries. Since 2011, all vessels and companies participating in the Amendment 80 sector have been affiliated with one of two Amendment 80 cooperatives, the Alaska Seafood Cooperative or the Alaska Groundfish Cooperative.

The Council requested participants to describe methods their fleets or cooperatives are currently developing or have already undertaken to implement measures in their cooperative and inter-cooperative agreements to minimize the incidental catch of halibut. The voluntary information is expected to provide the fleet with more flexibility to adapt fishing operations to changing environmental and market conditions than would result from placing the information as a regulatory requirement.

Deadline: The annual A80 Halibut PSC Management Plan for the prior calendar year must be received by the Regional Administrator not later than 1700 hours, A.l.t. on March 1 of each year.

When complete, submit the annual A80 Halibut PSC Management Plan:

♦ Online at: https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/webapps/efish/login

♦ By fax to: (907) 586-7557

♦ or by mail to: Regional Administrator

NMFS Alaska Region

P.O. Box 21668

Juneau, AK 99802-1668

The plans should be designed not just to accommodate the revised hard caps, but to bring savings to levels below the hard cap. The Council has asked that the cooperatives’ Plans include the following information.

Amendment 80 Halibut PSC Management Plan

Halibut avoidance practices on the grounds

Increased communication between participating harvesters

Sharing data for performance tracking

Use and development of excluders

Deck sorting

Performance measurement and assessment at the boat and company level

Incentives for continuous efforts to minimize bycatch

Consequences for substandard performance

Estimated time to complete: 12 hours per report.

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PUBLIC REPORTING BURDEN STATEMENT

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 12 hours per response, including the time for reviewing the instructions, searching the existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to Assistant Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802-1668.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Before completing this form, please note the following: 1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act, unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB Control Number; 2) This information is mandatory and is required to manage commercial fishing efforts under 50 CFR part 679 and under section 402(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1801, et seq.) as amended by Public Law 109-479; 3) Responses to this information request are confidential under section 402(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. They are also confidential under NOAA Administrative Order 216-100, which sets forth procedures to protect confidentiality of fishery statistics.

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