Supplement to the Environmental Assessment for Restructuring the Program for Observer Procurement and Deployment in the North Pacific

Under the North Pacific Groundfish and Halibut Observer Program, NMFS deploys observers on vessels and in processing facilities to obtain information necessary to conserve and manage the groundfish and halibut fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Aleutian Islands. This analysis supplements the 2011 Environmental Assessment for Restructuring the Program for Observer Procurement and Deployment in the North Pacific. NMFS prepared this supplement in response to a Court Order to consider whether the restructured Observer Program would yield reliable, high quality data given likely variations in costs and revenues. This supplement analyzes new information since the 2011 Environmental Assessment. NMFS has collected and analyzed observer data, costs, and fee revenue from two complete years under the new program, 2013 and 2014. This technical memorandum contains the same information as the Final Supplemental Environmental Assessment published by NMFS in September 2015.