link to AFSC home page

link to AFSC home page link to NMFS home page link to NOAA home page

Resource Ecology & Fisheries Management (REFM) Division

AFSC Quarterly
Research Reports
Jan-Mar 2006
Contents
Feature
ABL Reports
FMA Reports
NMML Reports
RACE Reports
REFM Reports
Quarterly Index
Quarterly Home

Economics & Social Sciences Research Program

Alaska Community Profiles Released as Technical Memorandum

Community Profiles for North Pacific Fisheries - Alaska by Sepez, Tilt, Package, Lazrus, and Vaccaro has been released as NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-AFSC-160. This project was described in detail in the feature article of the AFSC Quarterly Report for April-May-June 2004 (http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/Quarterly/amj2004/amj04feat.pdf).

The final document contains short profiles (5-10 pages) of 136 Alaska communities involved in the fisheries in the North Pacific. A color version of the document is available for download (18 MB) on the AFSC's Technical Memorandum section of its web site at http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/Publications/techmemos.htm. Bound hard copies (black and white) are available, as are CDs containing the color .pdf version. Send requests to Christina.Package@noaa.gov.

Communities involved in North Pacific fisheries, but not located in Alaska, are currently being profiled in a separate project using a similar format. Community Profiles for West Coast and North Pacific Fisheries - Washington, Oregon, California, and Other U.S. States by Norman, Sepez, Lazrus, Milne, Package, Russell, Grant, Petersen, Primo, Styles, Tilt and Vaccaro profiles 125 West Coast communities involved in fishing. A draft of this document is currently available for review and comment at http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/research/divisions/sd/communityprofiles/index.cfm.

A variety of laws require the consideration of human communities, including but not limited to Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The profiles have been part of our effort to facilitate implementation of these laws, and improve available baseline information on a broader range of affected communities. Profiles from the Alaska document have already been utilized in EISs, FMPs, and as background to various analyses. Agency profiling efforts in other regions are using our approach as a template for their own efforts.

The Alaska profiles are given in a narrative format that includes three sections: People and Place, Infrastructure, and Involvement in North Pacific Fisheries.

People and Place includes information on location, demographics (including age and gender structure of the population, racial and ethnic make up), education, housing, and local history.

Community Infrastructure covers current economic activity, governance (including city classification, taxation, Native organizations, and proximity to fisheries management and immigration offices) and facilities (transportation options and connectivity, water, waste, electricity, schools, police, and public accommodations).

Involvement in North Pacific Fisheries details community activities in commercial fishing (processing, permit holdings, and aid receipts), recreational fishing, and subsistence fishing. To define communities, we relied on the U.S. Census place-level geographies where possible, grouping communities only when constrained by fisheries data, yielding 130 individual profiles. Regional characteristics and issues are briefly described in regional introductions.

The communities were selected by a process which assessed involvement in commercial fisheries using quantitative data from the year 2000, in order to coordinate with 2000 Census data. The quantitative indicators looked at communities that have commercial fisheries landings (indicators: landings, number of processors, number of vessels delivering to a community), communities that are the registered homeports of vessels participating in the fisheries, and communities that are home to documented participants in the fisheries (indicators: crew license holders, state and federal permit holders, and vessel owners). Where appropriate, the indicators were assessed as a ratio to the community's population. Selection of a community was triggered by its surpassing a certain threshold in any one of the indicator categories, or in an aggregated category made up of the individual indicators.

By Jennifer Sepez and Christina Package


Salmon Bycatch in the Bering Sea Pollock Fishery

Alan Haynie has begun research to try to better understand and predict fisher reaction to salmon bycatch measures in the Bering Sea pollock fishery. In response to increased salmon bycatch in the pollock fishery over the last 5 years, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council passed Amendment 84 which will allow pollock cooperatives to be exempt from salmon savings areas beginning 1 August. In order to qualify for the exemption, cooperatives must be a party to an intercooperative agreement (ICA) which requires that vessels stay out of "hotspots" when they are declared by SeaState, a third-party hired by industry to manage the spatial closures.

In order to provide comment to the Scientific and Statistical Committee at the April Council meeting, Alan analyzed the incentives contained within the ICA and examined how vessels have responded to hotspot closures. In preparation for additional Council considerations of individual bycatch incentive programs, Alan also has been conducting research on how different bycatch quota or fee systems might be applied to better manage salmon bycatch.

By Alan Haynie
 

<<< previous

next >>>


            Home | FOIA | Privacy | USA.gov | Accessibility      doc logo