MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1998 



mackerel stocks, and in June 1998 recommended to 

 the Secretary of Commerce that the fishery be split 

 evenly into two seasons (an "A" season and a "B" 

 season) in each of the three management areas. The 

 Council further recommended that the fishery catch be 

 shifted in areas 542 and 543 until a split of 40:60 

 inside and outside critical habitat is reached in 2002. 

 Additional recommendations included a year-round 

 ban on all trawling within 20 nmi around Seguam 

 rookery in area 541, the mandatory use of an automat- 

 ed vessel monitoring system for all vessels participat- 

 ing in the fishery, the exemption of the Atka mackerel 

 jig fishery, exemption of the Community Development 

 Quota fisheries from the recommended A-season/B- 

 season split, A/B seasons corresponding to the pollock 

 fishery discussed below, annual review of the amend- 

 ment, and cooperative research by the Service and 

 other parties to determine the effects of the measures. 



By letter of 7 October 1998 the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service requested the Commission's com- 

 ments on a proposed rule to implement the Council's 

 recommendations. In its letter of 29 October 1998 to 

 the Service, the Commission recommended that the 

 Service adopt the recommendations as described and - 

 that the vessel monitoring system be implemented as 

 soon as possible. 



The 3 December 1998 biological opinion conclud- 

 ed that as proposed the Atka mackerel fishery under 

 the amended Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands groundfish 

 fishery management plan would not appreciably 

 reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of 

 the Steller sea lion provided the proposed conservation 

 measures noted above are fully implemented by 2002. 

 Barring new information or other changes that will 

 require reinitiation of consultation, the biological 

 opinion will remain in effect through 2002. 



Walleye Pollock Fishery under the 

 Bering Sea/ Aleutian Islands 

 Groundfish Fishery Management Plan 



The walleye pollock fishery occurs throughout 

 much of the Bering Sea but is most concentrated in 

 the eastern Bering Sea shelf and along the shelf break 

 from the Aleutian Islands to the U.S. -Russia border 

 and in waters north of Unimak Island in the eastern 



Aleutian Islands. Although the stock structure of 

 walleye pollock in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands is 

 not well defined, three stocks are recognized for 

 management purposes (Figure 7). They are the 

 eastern Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Aleutian 

 Basin stocks. 



To spread the fishing effort out seasonally, in 1990 

 the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands total allowable catch 

 for pollock in these three management areas was 

 divided and allocated into a winter "A" season roe 

 fishery that began in January and ran through mid- 

 April and a summer "B" surimi-fillet season that 

 began in June and continued until the total allowable 

 catch was taken. The "A" season was allocated 40 

 percent of the total allowable catch. In 1993 the "A" 

 season allocation was increased to 45 percent, and the 

 starting date for the "B" season was moved to 15 

 August. In 1996 the "B" season starting date was 

 further delayed to 1 September. 



To spread the fishery out geographically, the 

 fishery also was divided into an onshore and an 

 offshore sector. Fish that are processed aboard 

 vessels at sea constitute the offshore sector, and fish 

 that are taken ashore for processing constitute the 

 onshore sector. Vessels participating in the offshore 

 fishery are generally larger and capable of catching 

 more fish in a shorter period of time than the smaller 

 vessels that fish the onshore sector. The rapid remov- 

 al of pollock by the large vessels in the offshore 

 fishery may result in a temporary localized depletion 

 of fish available to dependent marine predators 

 including Steller sea lions. Furthermore, the rapid 

 removal of the total allowable catch over a short 

 period of time is likely to be more disruptive to the 

 ecosystem than the removal of fish over a greater time 

 period. The smaller vessels associated with the 

 inshore sector, on the other hand, have limited storage 

 capacity and range. Vessels associated with the 

 inshore fishery therefore tend to concentrate close to 

 shore and in habitat essential to Steller sea lions, 

 which also may result in localized pollock depletion. 



Since the mid-1980s the amount and overall 

 percentage of the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands pollock 

 total allowable catch within designated Steller sea lion 

 critical habitat has doubled. From 1992 through 

 1997, 53 to 89 percent (between 250,000 mt and 



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