3Ps Groundfish Advisory Commitee in St. John's December 14
December 14, 2017
12/14/2017
DFO’s 3Ps Groundfish Advisory Committee took place earlier today in St. John’s. Bill Broderick, Roland Hedderson, Alfred Fitzpatrick, Brian Careen, Kevin Best, Jeff Roberts, Corey Hepditch, Rodney Pike, and Dan Baker attended on behalf of the union.
Based on the current biomass levels, the FFAW’s recommendation was to rollover the total allowable catch (TAC) 6500t. The FFAW also recommended that the offshore not participate in the fishery. Not surprisingly, the offshore representatives did not agree with this recommendation.
The FFAW delegation recommended changes to the reallocation structure, which would require harvesters to have landed 75% of their original IQ before receiving reallocation.
DFO is planning to reopen Pass Island, with observers, in the next day or so. Halibut bycatch management was also briefly discussed. During that discussion, we reminded the committee that we should have our historic share of 6% by catch.