Environmental Assessment for Proposed Amendment 13 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Scallop Fishery off Alaska September 2011

This environmental assessment analyses a range of alternatives to implement Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) in the Alaskan Scallop Fishery to meet regulatory requirements. Four alternatives are examined: Alternative 1: Status Quo; Alternative 2: Set ACL equal to the overfishing level (OFL); Alternative 3: Set ACL equal to 90% of the OFL; and Alternative 4: Set ACL equal to 75% of the OFL. For alternatives 2-4, two options are considered, establishing a statewide ACL and establishing ACLs by region. Three additional options are included for the treatment of non-target scallop stocks: option 1: remove non-target stocks from the FMP; option 2: move non-target scallop stocks to an ecosystem component category under the FMP (and do not establish ACLs for these stocks); and option 3: set ACLs for non-target scallop stocks. The Council’s preferred alternative selected Alternative 3, with statewide management (option 2), a re-estimated OFL to include known discards, and option 2 for non-target stocks to move them into the ecosystem component. The impacts of the alternatives upon scallop resources, fishery participants, habitat, marine mammals, and other groundfish resources are discussed in the analysis. 2011 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) Submitted Public Domain 1861