March 17 - New observer program regs - North Pacific

[Liz Mitchell]

We have rescheduled our upcoming OAC meeting to March 17 at the Alaska Fishery Science Center (Building 4, Rm 1055) in Seattle. I apologize if not all OAC members can make this meeting, I think it is the best we can do prior to the April Council meeting, given conflicting schedules.

We are planning a one-day meeting to review and provide final recommendations on the regulatory amendment package that will make technical and operational fixes to the Observer Program. Recall that the OAC made preliminary recommendations on this package at its May 2007 meeting. That report is here: http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/curre...Creport507.pdf

At the Dec 2007 Council meeting, the initial review draft analysis was reviewed by the SSC and AP, but the Council ran out of time and was unable to take up this agenda item. Initial review of this analysis by the Council will occur at the upcoming Feb 08 Council meeting in Seattle. Please check our website for the most recent version of the analysis (it should be posted by Jan. 11). The OAC will thus provide final recommendations prior to the Council taking final action on this package in April.

It is also likely that the OAC will receive a presentation from NMFS on the larger data request made in May. If you recall, the Council picked up the OAC's request that NMFS provide a breakout of the percentage of harvest observed for each year 2004 – 2006 for the subset of observed vessels >60’ LOA, in order to evaluate the effective rate of coverage in particular target fisheries.

Please let me know if you have any questions. We will provide a formal agenda shortly, and any necessary materials will be sent to you ahead of time by email.

Thanks,
Nicole