Nominations Open for Salmon Bycatch Committee

Photo courtesy of NPFMC.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is seeking nominations for a new Salmon Bycatch Committee. This committee is focused upon issues that affect the Council’s management of salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. Agency experts and Council staff will support the committee. The Council would like broad and balanced representation from in-river users of chum and Chinook salmon such as Tribal representatives, subsistence fishermen and local community members from western Alaskan regions (e.g., Yukon, Kuskokwim, and Norton Sound/Bering Strait) as well as the Bering Sea pollock fishing industry and impacted CDQ groups and communities. The committee’s role will be to address the Council’s request for feedback on the following:

• a discussion paper on chum salmon bycatch that will be reviewed during the December 2022 Council meeting;

• the findings and recommendations from the State of Alaska’s Bycatch Review Task Force and the work of the Western Alaska salmon subcommittee;

• current information, including Local, Traditional, and Subsistence knowledge, and needed research to determine what is driving western Alaska salmon declines.

The duration of the committee and its scope of work is currently focused on these tasks but may be modified per Council direction. Nomination letters should include the candidate’s relevant background and interest as well as, if applicable, endorsement from local, regional or industry organizations. Letters can be emailed to npfmc.admin@noaa.gov. Nominations will be open until noon September 30, 2022, and appointments will be announced at the October 2022 Council meeting.