Federal fisheries regulators meeting in early October in Anchorage approved new halibut catch sharing and vessel observer plans, and cleared the way for replacement or rebuilding freezer longline vessels to greater lengths.
Final action is scheduled at the October meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council in Anchorage on options to allow larger freezer longliners to harvest Pacific cod in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.
Alaska’s wild salmon harvest for the 2012 season stood at 71.3 million fish in early August, up 12.6 million fish over the previous week’s survey, but well below the projected harvest of 132.1 million fish.
Operation Arctic Shield 2012, now under way, is part of the Coast Guard’s plan of expansion, in preparation for planned offshore oil industry activity in Alaska’s Arctic waters, says Commandant Robert Papp Jr.