Pacific Cod Amendment Under Review

December 12, 2006

Release from:
NOAA

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has completed Amendment 85 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area. If approved, it would revise the allocations of total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific cod in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands among various harvest sectors. It would also modify the management of Pacific cod incidental catch in other non-target fisheries, eliminate the groundfish reserve for Pacific cod, and increase the percentage of the TAC apportioned to the Community Development Quota Program. The amendment is designed to reduce uncertainty about the availability of yearly harvests within sectors, and to maintain stability between sectors in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands cod fishery.

Comments on Amendment 85 may be sent to AU48-BSA85-NOA@noaa.gov through February 5, 2007.

For more information, read the Federal Register notice or contact Becky.Carls@noaa.gov.