Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Council Governance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pacific Council updates advisory‑panel roster, dissolves four ad hoc committees and creates executive committee
Summary
The council appointed members to several advisory subpanels, directed staff to re‑advertise vacant seats, disbanded several ad hoc committees (including Equity & Environmental Justice and National Standard Guidelines committees) and established a standing Executive Committee with a charge to facilitate decision making between full meetings.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council on March 11 made several administrative appointments and reorganized advisory and ad hoc committees to reflect current workload and recent executive‑order constraints.
Why it matters: Advisory‑panel membership affects the council’s technical and public input. The council also dissolved ad hoc committees that staff and the council judged to have completed their charge or to present a legal or funding risk under a recent executive order. The new Executive Committee is intended to provide a small, council‑member body to facilitate urgent decision making between full council meetings.
Body
Advisory‑panel appointments The council appointed new members to the Ecosystem Advisory Subpanel (EAS) and Groundfish Advisory Subpanel (GAP) and confirmed appointments to the Highly Migratory Species Advisory Subpanel (HMSAS). Specific appointments recorded in the meeting were: - Ecosystem Advisory Subpanel (Oregon at‑large): Scott McMullen and Mark Allen Lovewell. - Groundfish Advisory Subpanel: Chris Cooper (at‑large trawl), Andy Martin (Oregon charter boat operator); staff were directed to re‑advertise the vacant GAP tribal seat. - Highly Migratory Species Advisory Subpanel: Jocelyn Cardoza (commercial south of Point Conception nominee), Chad McClintock, Tim Mokashi, Tim Gillespie and John Yokomizu were noted as nominees/appointees in supplemental materials and the council confirmed appointments discussed in the briefing book.
Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) roster update The Northwest Fisheries Science Center recommended moving Dr. Dan Holland from an at‑large SSC seat to the Northwest Fisheries Science Center seat. The council directed staff to update the roster accordingly. Three at‑large SSC seats remain vacant; the council asked staff to re‑advertise.
Dissolution of ad hoc committees Council staff recommended dissolving ad hoc committees that had completed their assigned work or that were no longer necessary. The council voted to dissolve the following committees: cost recovery committee; Groundfish Electronic Monitoring Policy Advisory Committee (GEMPAC); Groundfish Electronic Monitoring Technical Advisory Committee (GEMTAC); Equity and Environmental Justice (EEJ) Committee; and the National Standards 4, 8 and 9 Committee. Members and advisory speakers discussed the importance of continuing EEJ priorities, but the council cited an executive order and funding constraints as the reason for formally disbanding that committee now and signaled intent to reinstate similar work as appropriate through other processes.
Creation of an Executive Committee After discussion, the council established a standing Executive Committee and adopted a draft charge. Membership will be council members only and include one representative from each of the four state agencies, one tribal member, one NOAA Fisheries member and the council chair or vice chair (to provide rotational leadership if the chair is unavailable). The council instructed staff to finalize the roster and the committee’s charge and to return materials in April.
Ending Council staff said they will update the official roster and re‑advertise the remaining vacancies with the outreach adjustments discussed in the meeting. The council also directed staff to reflect committee dissolutions in council operating procedures and to include the new Executive Committee as a standing committee in future materials.
