Halibut, crab, forage fish infractions alleged

More from the NOAA Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement:

The operator of the trawl vessel MARCY J was assessed an $8,000 penalty for several consecutive trawl landings during which high numbers of Pacific halibut (a prohibited species in groundfish fisheries) were not sorted from the catch and discarded at sea.

AKD (Alaska Enforcement Division) is investigating a crab boat for landing Bering Sea snow crab on a north region IFQ permit at a south region processor. Ice conditions are reported to have been a factor in this delivery. (The vessel was not named. — The Brig)

During the 2008 GOA pollock "A" season, a high percentage of the fleet experienced large "overages" of "forage species," specifically eulachon. After researching the issues involved, NOAA OLE issued written warnings for these overages. Following the fishery, OLE conducted an extensive outreach effort with the trawl fleet and industry groups, advising warnings would not be given if these overages continued during 2009, and requesting appropriate industry response. During the 2009 "A" season, vessel operators reported they had developed gear modifications and other responses, and the numbers of forage species overages were significantly reduced. A shoreside processor is being investigated for purchasing overages of forage species, and processing the fish into products other than fish meal.