An emergency order opening parallel fisheries in state waters in 2008 concurrent with federal groundfish fisheries could provide an added boost to coastal Alaska economies.
The emergency order was announced Dec. 31 by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on the eve of the federal groundfish fisheries opening. The order means that hundreds of smaller vessels can participate in the lucrative fisheries dominated by larger harvesters.
Vessels under 60 feet in length generally harvest less than 5 percent of the total allowable federal harvest, but they may represent 50 percent or more of the total fleet, said Tom Pearson, a groundfish fisheries biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Kodiak. Most of these vessels deliver to their shoreside communities, he said.
The emergency order includes groundfish fisheries in Kodiak, Chignik, the Alaska Peninsula, the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, and the Chukchi Beaufort areas, he said.
The parallel fisheries refer to all groundfish fisheries for which the state has not developed specific fishery management plans. These include pollock, Pacific cod, rockfish, Atka mackerel, all flatfish species except halibut, plus a variety of other groundfish species.
Within the state waters, vessels need only a Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission permit card from the state, plus vessel registration, but not the license limitation program permit required for state waters, said Wayne Donaldson, a state commercial fisheries biologist at Kodiak.
The state has issued emergency orders for the parallel fishery over the last 10 years, he said. Prior to that, many boats that were not part of the federal license limitation program were unable to participate in the groundfish fisheries.
At its December meeting in Anchorage, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council set the total allowable catch for pollock in the Gulf of Alaska at 60,180 metric tons, down from 68,307 metric tons in 2007, and the Pacific cod harvest at 50,269 metric tons, down from 52,264 metric tons a year ago.
For the Eastern Bering Sea, the pollock harvest was set at 1 million metric tons, down from 1,394,000 metric tons a year ago, but remained stable at 19,000 metric tons for the Aleutian Islands. Pacific cod harvests for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands were set at 170,720 metric tons, the same as a year ago
The NPFMC did, however, greatly increase the allowable harvest of Yellowfin sole, arrowtooth flounder, northern rock sole, flathead sole, Alaska plaice, other flatfish and Pacific Ocean perch.
