Effective 12:01 AM Firday June 15, 2012 Expiration Date 11:59 PM Saturday June 30, 2012

EXPLANATION

This emergency order prohibits sport fishing within one mile of shore in the salt waters of Cook Inlet south of the latitude of the mouth of the Ninilchik River to the latitude of Bluff Point beginning 12:01a.m., Friday, June 15, 2012, through 11:59 p.m., Saturday, June 30, 2012.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council and its advisory committees will hold public meetings, June 4-12, 2012 in Kodiak, AK.

The meetings will be held Monday, June 4, 2012 through Tuesday, June 12, 2012. For specific dates and times of the meetings.

The meetings will be held at the Kodiak Harbor Convention Center, 236 Rezanof Drive, Kodiak, AK.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council  submitted Amendments 10, 11, and 12 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Salmon Fisheries in the EEZ off the Coast of Alaska (FMP) to NMFS for review.

If approved, Amendment 10 would provide authority for NMFS to recover the administrative costs of processing applications for any future permits that may be required under this FMP, except for exempted
fishing permits and prohibited species donation permits.

If approved, Amendment 11 would revise the timeline associated with the Council's process to identify Habitat Areas of Particular Concern so that the process coincides with the Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) 5-year review, revise habitat research priority objectives, and update EFH conservation recommendations for, and the analysis of the impacts of, non-fishing activities.

If approved, Amendment 12 would comprehensively revise and update the FMP to reflect the Council's salmon management policy and Federal law. Amendments 10, 11, and 12 are intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable laws.

Please visit the site below for actions taken at the IPHC annual meeting that will affect quota’s your area. For more information please click below

http://www.iphc.washington.edu/news-releases/256-nr20120130.html

The Pacific Council and its advisory entities will meet June 18-25, 2013. The Pacific Council meeting will begin on Thursday, June 20, 2013 at 8 a.m., reconvening each day through Tuesday, June 25, 2013. 

All meetings are open to the public, except a closed session will be held at the end of the scheduled agenda on Thursday, June 20, to address litigation and personnel matters. The Pacific Council will meet as late as necessary each day to complete its scheduled business.

NOAA Fisheries announced several senior leadership changes that align with the changes we are making to our West Coast operations. First, our current Northwest Regional Administrator, Will Stelle, will take on the responsibility of regional administrator for the agency's Northwest and Southwest regional offices as the agency works on forming its new West Coast Regional Office. At the same time, Rod McInnis, our Southwest Regional Administrator, has accepted a new position at Fisheries headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, as the Acting Director of NOAA Fisheries Office of International Affairs.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific Council) will convene a conference call of its Ecosystem Advisory Subpanel (EAS). A listening station will be available at the Pacific Council offices for interested members of the public, and there may be opportunities to attend the meeting remotely.

The conference call will be held Friday, June 14, 2013, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) ad hoc South of Humbug Pacific Halibut Workgroup (Workgroup) will hold a webinar to review analysis of recreational management measures designed to reduce Pacific halibut catch in southern Oregon and northern California (i.e., south of Humbug Mountain).

The webinar will be held Wednesday, June 12, 2013 from 9 a.m. until business for the day has been completed.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Highly Migratory Species Management Team (HMSMT) will hold a meeting, which is open to the public. The HMSMT work session will begin at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 28; 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 29; and 8:30 a.m. Thursday, May 30, 2013. On each day, the meeting will continue until business is completed.

Through this final rule NMFS establishes fishery management measures for the 2013 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California and the 2014 salmon seasons opening earlier than May 1, 2014. Specific fishery management measures vary by fishery and by area. 

The measures establish fishing areas, seasons, quotas, legal gear, recreational fishing days and catch limits, possession and landing restrictions, and minimum lengths for salmon taken in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) (3-200 NM) off Washington, Oregon, and California. The management measures are intended to prevent overfishing and to apportion the ocean harvest equitably among treaty Indian, non-treaty commercial, and recreational fisheries. The measures are also intended to allow a portion of the salmon runs to escape the ocean fisheries in order to provide for spawning escapement and inside fisheries (fisheries occurring in state internal waters). This document also announces the availability of an environmental assessment (EA) that analyzes the environmental impacts of implementing the 2013 ocean salmon management measures.

This final rule is effective from 0001 hours Pacific Daylight Time, May 1, 2013, until the effective date of the 2014 management measures, as published in the Federal Register. Comments regarding the reporting burden estimate or any other aspect of the collection-of-information requirements in these management measures may be submitted at any time.