Council adopts 2027–28 interim groundfish specs, amends chili-pepper ACLs and prioritizes trawl follow-up to reduce monitoring costs
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Summary
The council adopted interim 2027–28 groundfish harvest specifications with selected alternative harvest-control rules for several species and approved an amendment to set chili-pepper ACLs to default levels. It also prioritized trawl program follow-on work (observer/EM, shoreside monitoring and cost recovery) and folded those actions into risk-management and follow-on packages for staff to scope.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council moved on a package of interim harvest specifications for the 2027–2028 biennium and agreed a set of follow-on trawl-program actions to address industry monitoring costs and program efficiency.
On harvest specifications, council staff and the Scientific and Statistical Committee presented provisional OFLs and ABCs and explained alternative harvest-control rules (HCRs) under consideration. Advisory bodies (GAP and GMT) recommended default HCRs for most stocks and alternative HCRs for a handful of species to smooth abrupt ACL changes. After discussion, council member Lynn Mattis moved to adopt the default HCR for most stocks and Alternative 2 HCRs for the species listed in the motion; the GAP/GMT recommendations supported Alternative 2 for canary, chili pepper, petrale, rougheye/blackspotted, shortspine thornyhead and yellowtail north in the short term.
An amendment proposed by Brad Pettinger (seconded by C. Oliver) changed the chili-pepper line: he asked the council to set chili-pepper ACLs to the default (higher) levels shown in the analytical table rather than the lower Alternative 2 values; the council adopted that amendment (the amendment passed with one abstention, then the overall motion as amended passed unanimously). Staff noted these interim specifications will revert to default HCRs in 2029 unless otherwise set.
On trawl (IFQ) follow-on work, staff introduced an itemized list of possible amendments and regulatory changes: (T1) observer and electronic monitoring coverage, (T2) shoreside monitoring, (T3) economic data collection (EDC) streamlining, (T4) the adaptive management program (AMP), (T5) mothership whiting utilization, (T6) accumulation limits, (T7) at-sea bycatch/set-aside management, (E) regulatory cleanups and declaration changes, (IFQ species review), and (T10) cost recovery changes.
GAP prioritized T1 (monitoring/EM), T2 (shoreside monitoring) and T10 (cost recovery) as highest priority, citing immediate cost burdens on vessels and processors; GMT cautioned that reduced monitoring could increase uncertainty, require redesign of program accounting, and impose analytical/operational costs. National Marine Fisheries Service staff recommended that efforts focus on measures to reduce overall program cost while preserving accountability; the Enforcement Consultants recommended retaining monitoring items for analysis and evaluating enforcement implications.
Council member Asia Shumulo moved to add Risk Management (C2) and a Trawl follow-on package (C1) to Table A (the prioritized workload), make Risk Management the new A4 and trawl follow-on A5, focus initial staff work on GAP-identified high-priority items (T1, T2, T10), combine certain B items into the C1 work, and remove the shortbelly prohibition (B5) from Table B. The motion passed; staff were instructed to explore packaging options and to avoid slowing EFP/specs items that are already scheduled.
