View Rule

These proposed amendments would move squid in both the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (Amendment 117) and Gulf of Alaska (Amendment 106) Groundfish Fishery Management Plans into the "Ecosystem Component," which is a category of non-target species that are not in need of conservation and management. Newly revised National Standard 1 guidelines include options to identify non-target species in Fishery Management Plans (species caught incidentally during the pursuit of target stocks in a fishery) that do not require conservation and management as ecosystem components. Catch specifications for squid (Overfishing Level, Acceptable Biological Catch, Total Allowable Catch) would no longer be required. In short, squid are not in need of rebuilding, they are not targeted as a food product in Alaska, there are no conservation concerns to avoid, and future uses of squid remain available. Therefore, maintaining squid as a target species in the Fishery Management Plans for conservation and management is not likely to improve or maintain stock condition. Rather than implementing catch specifications, regulations would prohibit directed fishing for squid, require recordkeeping and reporting to monitor and report catch of squid species annually, and establish a squid maximum retainable amount when directed fishing for groundfish species to discourage retention while allowing flexibility to prosecute groundfish fisheries. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council took this action at its meeting in June 2017 with the purpose of identifying the appropriate level of conservation and management required for squid and to accurately classify the squid complex in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska Groundfish Fishery Management Plans based on the best available scientific information.