(a) The Department
of Fish and Game (department) and the Board of Fisheries (board) are charged
with the duty to conserve and develop Alaska's salmon fisheries on the
sustained yield principle. Therefore, the establishment of salmon escapement
goals is the responsibility of both the board and the department working
collaboratively. The purpose of this policy is to establish the concepts,
criteria, and procedures for establishing and modifying salmon escapement goals
and to establish a process that facilitates public review of allocative issues
associated with escapement goals.
(b) The board recognizes the department's
responsibility to
(1) document existing
salmon escapement goals for all salmon stocks that are currently managed for an
escapement goal;
(2) establish
biological escapement goals (BEG) for salmon stocks for which the department
can reliably enumerate salmon escapement levels, as well as total annual
returns;
(3) establish sustainable
escapement goals (SEG) for salmon stocks for which the department can reliably
estimate escapement levels when there is not sufficient information to
enumerate total annual returns and the range of escapements that are used to
develop a BEG;
(4) establish
sustained escapement thresholds (SET) as provided in
5
AAC 39.222 (Policy for the Management of Sustainable
Salmon Fisheries);
(5) establish
escapement goals for aggregates of individual spawning populations with similar
productivity and vulnerability to fisheries and for salmon stocks managed as
units;
(6) review an existing, or
propose a new, BEG, SEG and SET on a schedule that conforms, to the extent
practicable, to the board's regular cycle of consideration of area regulatory
proposals;
(7) prepare a scientific
analysis with supporting data whenever a new BEG, SEG, or SET, or a
modification to an existing BEG, SEG, or SET is proposed and, in its
discretion, to conduct independent peer reviews of its BEG, SEG, and SET
analyses;
(8) notify the public
whenever a new BEG, SEG, or SET is established or an existing BEG, SEG, or SET
is modified;
(9) whenever
allocative impacts arise from any management actions necessary to achieve a new
or modified BEG, SEG or SET, report to the board on a schedule that conforms,
to the extent practicable, to the board's regular cycle of consideration of
area regulatory proposals so that it can address allocation issues.
(c) In recognition of its joint
responsibilities, and in consultation with the department, the board will
(1) take regulatory actions as may be
necessary to address allocation issues arising from implementation of a new or
modified BEG, SEG, and SET;
(2)
during its regulatory process, review a BEG, SEG, or SET determined by the
department and, with the assistance of the department, determine the
appropriateness of establishing an optimal escapement goal (OEG); the board
will provide an explanation of the reasons for establishing an OEG and provide,
to the extent practicable, and with the assistance of the department, an
estimate of expected differences in yield of any salmon stock, relative to
maximum sustained yield, resulting from implementation of an OEG.
(d) Unless the context requires
otherwise, the terms used in this section have the same meaning given those
terms in 5 AAC
39.222(f).
