MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1998 



The estimated biomass of the Gulf of Alaska 

 walleye pollock stock was less than 0.8 million mt in 

 the late 1960s. However, it increased to a high of 

 almost 3 million mt in 1980-1981, then declined to 

 about 1.5 million mt in 1985 and continued to decline 

 to about 1 million mt in 1997. From 1986 through 

 1997, about 4 to 10 percent of the Gulf of Alaska 

 pollock biomass has been harvested annually. 



With the exception of a bycatch quota, the entire 

 Gulf of Alaska total allowable pollock catch has been 

 allocated to the inshore sector. From 1992 to 1995 

 the total allowable catch was allocated evenly among 

 four seasons that began on 20 January, 1 June, 1 July, 

 and 1 October. In 1996 the number of seasons was 

 reduced to three because of the steady decline in Gulf 

 of Alaska pollock stocks. For 1996 and 1997 the 

 fishery was divided into a winter roe fishery, begin- 

 ning 20 January with an allocation of 25 percent of 

 the total allowable catch, a summer fishery beginning 

 on 1 July with an allocation of 25 percent of the total 

 allowable catch, and a summer/autumn fishery begin 

 ning on 1 September with 50 percent of the total 

 allocation. In 1998 the fishery allocation was changed 

 to a 25:35:40 split. Opening dates remained the 

 same. 



Although the total allowable pollock catch for the 

 Gulf of Alaska was decreased as the pollock biomass 

 declined, the percentage taken from Steller sea lion 

 critical habitat has remained high. The 1995 to 1997 

 average percentages of the Gulf of Alaska pollock 

 catch taken from Steller sea lion critical habitat were 

 about 90 percent for the winter fishery, 73 percent for 

 the summer fishery (June and July), and 58 percent 

 for the summer/autumn fishery (September and 

 October). 



The Service's 3 December 1998 biological opinion 

 states that the Gulf of Alaska region is critical to the 

 survival and recovery of the western population of 

 Steller sea lions, and that the Gulf of Alaska pollock 

 fishery as proposed by the North Pacific Fishery 

 Management Council will continue to be concentrated 

 in time and space. The biological opinion further 

 states that it is not possible to determine whether the 

 proposed Gulf of Alaska pollock fishery is structured 

 in a way that is likely to reduce the potential for 

 localized pollock depletions, particularly during the 



critical winter period for the sea lions. The Service's 

 biological opinion therefore concludes that the fishery 

 as proposed is likely to jeopardize the continued 

 existence of Steller sea lions and adversely modify the 

 species' critical habitat. 



Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives 



As noted above, the Service's 3 December biologi- 

 cal opinion on the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands groun- 

 dfish fishery and Gulf of Alaska groundfish fishery 

 included a series of reasonable and prudent alterna- 

 tives to mitigate the likelihood of jeopardizing the 

 survival of the endangered western population of 

 Steller sea lions. These alternatives sought to distrib- 

 ute fishing effort spatially and temporally. Among 

 other things, they recommended designating pollock 

 trawl exclusion zones and temporally redistributing 

 catch to avoid removing pollock during the critical 

 winter months for sea lion survival. The latter would 

 involve a winter closure of the fishery and a more 

 even distribution of the total allowable catch through- 

 out the remainder of the year. 



In response, at its December 1998 meeting the 

 North Pacific Fishery Management Council recom- 

 mended the following measures for emergency action 

 by the Service in 1999. The total allowable catch 

 allocations referenced below apply to the catch total 

 after removing the 10 percent for Community Devel- 

 opment Quotas. For the Bering Sea/ Aleutian Islands 

 region, the Council recommended the following: 



• closing the Aleutian Islands area to directed 

 pollock fishing; 



• partitioning the fishery into four seasons, begin- 

 ning on 20 January ("AI" season), 20 February 

 ("A2" season), 1 August ("B" season), and 15 

 September ("C" season), with no more than 30 

 percent of the total allowable catch coming from 

 any one season; 



• reducing the winter roe fishery to 40 percent of 

 the total allowable catch; 



• limiting the overall "A" season catch from sea lion 

 critical habitat and the catcher vessel operation 

 area to 62.5 percent of the total allowable catch 

 for each of the four seasons; and 



• expanding areas closed to trawling around rooker- 

 ies and haul-out sites. 



64 



