HR 6: Urging the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to amend the groundfish fisheries management plan for the Gulf of Alaska to allow for an annually adjusted cap of prohibited species catch based on an abundance of bycatch species, and expeditiously to implement a Chinook bycatch cap to limit the number of Chinook salmon harvested as bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska.
00 HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 6 01 Urging the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to amend the groundfish 02 fisheries management plan for the Gulf of Alaska to allow for an annually adjusted cap 03 of prohibited species catch based on an abundance of bycatch species, and expeditiously 04 to implement a Chinook bycatch cap to limit the number of Chinook salmon harvested 05 as bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska. 06 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 07 WHEREAS theNorth Pacific Fisheries Management Council is the federal regulatory 08 body with oversight of fisheries in federal waters; and 09 WHEREAS the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council currently sets a fixed 10 cap of 2,000 metric tons of halibut bycatch for a trawl fishery and 300 metric tons for a 11 longline fishery, regardless of bycatch species abundance; and 12 WHEREAS the current groundfish fishery management plan for the Gulf of Alaska 13 does not limit the number of Chinook salmon that can be taken as bycatch; and 14 WHEREAS the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council has not revised the 15 groundfish fisheries management prohibited species catch plan for nearly two decades; and
01 WHEREAS Gulf of Alaska halibut populations have been steadily decreasing over 02 the past decade; and 03 WHEREAS the total allowable catch for commercial and sport halibut fishermen has 04 been adjusted to correspond with the decrease in halibut populations; and 05 WHEREAS the percentage of prohibited species caught has dramatically increased 06 relative to the total allowable catch for targeted halibut sport and commercial fisheries; and 07 WHEREAS the 2007 and 2010 Chinook salmon incidental catch rate in the Gulf of 08 Alaska reached historical highs of 40,320 and 51,258, respectively; 09 BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives urges the North Pacific 10 Fisheries Management Council expeditiously to amend the Gulf of Alaska groundfish 11 fisheries management plans to allow for prohibited species catch limits based on the 12 abundance of those species; and be it 13 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives urges the North Pacific 14 Fisheries Management Council expeditiously to implement a Chinook bycatch cap to limit the 15 number of Chinook salmon harvested as bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska; and be it 16 FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives requests the Governor to 17 encourage his appointees to the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council to ensure that 18 these matters are addressed by the council with the utmost expeditiousness. 19 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 20 the United States; the Honorable Gary F. Locke, United States Secretary of Commerce; the 21 Honorable Cora Campbell, Commissioner, Department of Fish and Game; James W. Balsiger, 22 Regional Administrator, Alaska Region, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 23 Fisheries Service; Eric Olsen, Chairman, North Pacific Fisheries Management Council; and 24 the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the 25 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.