Pacific Council Update: Elec Monitoring for whiting, more halibut for rec anglers
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Peggy Parker Sept. 25, 2014
At their September 2014 meeting in Spokane, WA, the Pacific Council selected final preferred alternatives for an electronic monitoring program for the whiting midwater trawl, non-whiting midwater trawl, fixed gear, and bottom trawl fisheries. Final decisions will be made at the Council’s November meeting in Costa Mesa, CA.
Video cameras rather than logbooks are the preferred option for tracking bycatch, discards, and other non-targeted catches for the whiting midwater trawl fleet, which includes shoreside and mothership vesels. Further, 100% of the video, not just a sampling, will be reviewed by NMFS. All halibut will retained and retention requirements for other species will be maximized.
Logbooks will be relied on for accurate accounting of discards for the longline and pot fleets off California, Oregon, and Washington. Those gear types are also required to fully account for all discards. For unintended halibut catch, the fixed gear fleets will work with the International Pacific Halibut Commission to accurately record halibut deaths by using electronic monitoring and standard mortality percentages.
Logbooks will also be the accounting method of choice for the bottomtrawl groundfish and non-whiting midwater trawlers. For halibut bycatch, a standard mortality rate for trawls of 90% will be applied.
All of the costs of the revised monitoring for discards..
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