(SitNews) - NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region today announced release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Steller sea lion protection measures for groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. The proposed action addresses two needs: to protect endangered Steller sea lions, and to minimize economic impacts on the groundfish fisheries in the Aleutian Islands, to the extent practicable.

The western distinct population segment of Steller sea lions is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, and the population in the Aleutian Islands is declining. Principal prey species for Steller sea lions in the Aleutian Islands include Atka mackerel, Pacific cod and pollock.

The FEIS analyzes proposed Steller sea lion protection measures for the Aleutian Islands Atka mackerel, Pacific cod and pollock fisheries to mitigate the potential impacts of fishing activity on Steller sea lions. Those measures include limiting harvest and managing the location, gear type, and timing of fishing activity in the Aleutian Islands in sea lion critical habitat, as methods to protect prey resources near haulouts and rookeries and within foraging areas.

The FEIS includes six alternatives. Alternative 1 is the status quo option, which would keep current Steller sea lion protection measures in place. Alternatives 2-6 were developed through a collaborative process with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, its Steller Sea Lion Mitigation Committee, and in consideration of public input on the Draft EIS.

At its October 2013 meeting, the Council selected Alternative 5 as the preferred alternative, after consideration of comments received on the Draft EIS, advice from the Advisory Panel and public comment.

Alternative 5 would:

• Allow more fishing than under Alternative 1, but retains and modifies important Steller sea lion protection measures already in place, as required by the ESA.
• Protect specific areas that are important to Steller sea lions, and include specific harvest limits on the amount of fishing within Steller sea lion critical habitat in order to protect Steller sea lion prey availability.
• Maintain a cautionary approach to fishing for Steller sea lion prey species in critical habitat by spatially, and temporally dispersing catch to prevent localized depletion of these important prey resources.
• Minimize economic impacts on fishery participants relative to Alternative 1, because it would allow more fishing.

In April 2014, NOAA Fisheries released a biological opinion on the Council’s preferred alternative (Alternative 5). The biological opinion found that the proposed changes to the management of the groundfish fisheries in the Aleutian Islands—as specified in Alternative 5—are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the endangered western population of Steller sea lions or adversely modify Steller sea lion critical habitat.

Based on this ESA determination, Alternative 5 is also the agency’s preferred alternative.

NOAA Fisheries intends to conduct proposed and final rulemaking to implement Steller sea lion protection measures. NOAA Fisheries expects to implement the new regulations in January 2015.

This FEIS also identifies future research to enable NOAA Fisheries to better understand the interactions between fisheries and Steller sea lions.

On the Web:

Full FEIS and associated documents
http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/
sustainablefisheries/sslpm/eis/default.htm

Source of News: 

NOAA Fisheries in Alaska
alaskafisheries.noaa.gov or
www.afsc.noaa.gov.

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Ketchikan, Alaska

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