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Groundfish industry urges council to fast‑track 'specs flex' tools to stabilize fisheries
Summary
Industry and advisory groups told the council that recent stock assessment outcomes have produced steep cuts that do not match fishermen's observations and urged adoption of flexibility tools (carryover, phase‑in, green/red lights, p* adjustments) and greater use of fishermen‑collected data to stabilize groundfish fisheries.
A coalition of commercial, recreational and processor representatives urged the Pacific Fishery Management Council to prioritize a set of management flexibility tools to soften steep harvest reductions that followed recent groundfish stock assessments.
Speakers from the groundfish advisory panels and industry groups presented a public letter signed by 42 companies and organizations calling on the council to "unshade" the SpecFlex (harvest specifications flexibility) item on the council’s June workload and to schedule follow‑up meetings so potential regulatory relief could be considered for implementation in 2026. The coalition asked the council to consider carryover, phased‑in ABC reductions, green‑light options to implement positive assessments sooner, widening p* to increase ABC where appropriate, and improved use of local and traditional knowledge and citizen science in stock…
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