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Council adopts flexible limited-entry fixed-gear PPA, allows single non-trawl endorsement
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Summary
The Pacific Fishery Management Council on March 20 adopted the Groundfish Advisory Panel’s preferred approach to limited‑entry fixed‑gear regulation, endorsing a single non‑trawl limited‑entry endorsement that would allow registered vessels to use any legal non‑trawl gear to harvest their quotas and directing staff to prepare regulatory language.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council on March 20 adopted a preliminary preferred alternative (PPA) to simplify and expand gear flexibility for limited‑entry fixed‑gear vessels, and advanced related administrative changes including permit-price reporting, removal of a “base‑permit” administrative requirement and the elimination of a specific noon start time for the sablefish primary season.
What the council decided: The council voted to accept the Groundfish Advisory Panel’s package as its PPA, which included permitting vessels registered to a limited‑entry non‑trawl endorsement to use “any legal non‑trawl gear” — effectively creating a single limited‑entry non‑trawl endorsement (the GAP’s preferred option, described by GAP and GMT as Alternative 3 in the analysis). Council member Heather Hall moved the GAP recommendation and the motion passed unanimously.
Why it matters: Under the adopted PPA, a limited‑entry permit holder registered to the endorsement would be able to fish with pot gear, hook‑and‑line gears, and other legal non‑trawl methods up to the permit’s applicable quotas. Proponents said the change will give fishers flexibility to respond to changing markets, bycatch conditions and marine mammal interactions, and to improve quota attainment; opponents and advisors raised questions about monitoring and potential effort shifts.
Administrative changes adopted as PPA: The council also advanced a set of administrative items: (1) removal of the “base permit” designation used in earlier regulations; (2) removal of the specific noon start/cutoff time language for the sablefish primary season, because electronic fish tickets and longer seasons have made the clocked start time unnecessary; and (3) a requirement that permit sale prices be reported on permit transfer forms so regulators and managers can track permit values over time. Those changes were included in the GAP/GMT‑recommended package and adopted as PPAs.
Marine‑mammal and habitat concerns: The analysis examined potential effects on marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds and bottom habitat. Council staff told members that impacts would depend on how many vessels shift from longline to pot gears and whether they adopt “slinky” or heavier traditional pots. The analysis concluded that the modeled outcomes were unlikely to cause significant new risks to protected species when the pot options were constrained by existing gear‑marking and entanglement risk‑reduction measures; the Habitats Committee asked analysts to explicitly examine slinky‑pot footprints and potential lost‑gear risks in the next round of work.
Votes and next steps: Council staff will draft regulatory language for the PPA and return a package for the council’s June meeting (including analysis of any refinements). The council also directed staff to add a pot‑gear code to reporting forms to track use of slinky pots. The motion to adopt the GAP recommendations was moved by Heather Hall and seconded by Asia Schmidillo; the motion passed unanimously. The council will continue rule drafting with NOAA counsel and agency staff ahead of formal rulemaking.
Ending: The decision provides greater gear flexibility for limited‑entry fixed‑gear vessels and advances modest administrative reforms intended to reduce regulatory friction, while directing analysts to refine monitoring and habitat protections as the rule language is drafted.
