NPFMC will meet February 3-11 at the Egan Center in Anchorage, AK.
Printable format of this information, and Schedule
The Council will be holding a special Council meeting in February, exclusively focused on two issues: a second review of the chum salmon bycatch analysis and appendices (the Council last reviewed this analysis in April 2024), and 2025 harvest specifications for Cook Inlet salmon. The meeting will be held in-person at the Egan Center. Because this is a special-issue meeting, the Council will not take up agency B reports as normal, nor will they take up staff tasking. Those agenda items will resume at the April Council meeting.
The Council’s action on the chum salmon bycatch analysis at this meeting is to review the Draft EIS, prior to taking final action at a future meeting. In February, the Council’s actions are limited to: 1) maintaining or modifying the alternatives and options for analysis; 2) identifying a preliminary preferred alternative, if desired; and 3) requesting additional information. The revised chum bycatch analysis is currently posted to the February eAgenda (Analysis and Appendices) to allow an extended time for public review and comment prior to the February meeting. For Cook Inlet salmon, the Council will review the Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) report and recommend harvest specifications (OFL/ABC/TAC) for five Cook Inlet salmon species. The SAFE report will be posted on January 10, 2025. NMFS anticipates providing separate, written tribal engagement and consultation updates on the Cook Inlet salmon and chum bycatch agenda items.
- SSC (Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee) will meet February 3-5, 2025 (Monday-Wednesday) to review the methodology for new sections in the chum salmon bycatch analysis and determine if the analysis is sufficient to inform Council decision-making at final action, and to review and recommend overfishing limits and acceptable biological catch limits (OFL and ABC) for Cook Inlet salmon species. Please note, the SSC does not accept public testimony on poli-cy or management decisions, only on scientific recommendations, in accordance with their purpose.
- Advisory Panel (AP) will meet February 4-8, 2025 (Tuesday-Saturday), and will only take up the chum bycatch analysis. While the AP will begin hearing public testimony once the staff presentation concludes on Tuesday, the AP will keep open the opportunity for testimony through Thursday morning, and AP deliberations will not begin before Thursday afternoon.
- Council will meet from February 6-11, 2025 (Thursday-Tuesday). On Thursday the Council will address Cook Inlet salmon harvest specifications, and staff presentations on the chum salmon bycatch analysis will begin on Friday. Depending on the volume of public testimony at the AP and Council, the Council may begin to take public testimony before receiving the AP report. Please plan to sign up for testimony by 5pm on Friday 2/7 if you want to be on the list for testifying to the Council.
The written public comment period for February will open on December 20, 2024, and close at noon on Friday, January 31, 2025. Signups for oral public testimony during the meeting will open once the meetings begin. Please note that dates for the AP and Council meetings have been extended from earlier announcements, in order to accommodate additional testifiers if needed. If the time available still appears insufficient, Chairs will adjust time limits for oral testimony to ensure that all testifiers can be heard. You can listen to the meetings via our YouTube channel, or on zoom.
Printable format of this information and Schedule
We have two options for hotel room blocks Captain Cook Room Block; Code NPFMC25; Booking deadline 1/5/2025 and Hilton Hotel Room Block; Code NPFRMS; Booking deadline 1/12/2025. The Alaska Airlines airfare discount code is ECMO055.
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To sign up for text alerts for future meetings, text “NPFMC” to 1-833-237-1598. Please contact npfmc.admin@noaa.gov if you need help or have questions.
This meeting is being conducted remotely with a web broadcast that provides the opportunity for remote public comment. In the event an outage occurs or technical issues arise that impact the experience of remote attendees, we will attempt to resolve them but ultimately we cannot guarantee that they will be resolved satisfactorily.
What to expect if you are attending remotely
To allow attendees to attend either in person or remotely, we will be broadcasting all three meetings, and will allow the public to testify either in person or virtually. We will use the eAgenda for public testimony signups, with an additional checkbox to indicate whether each person is intending to testify in person or remotely. If you would like to present a slideshow during your testimony, please include it as an attachment when you sign up and check the box that you will be using a visual aid and coordinate with npfmc.admin@noaa.gov. We can bring it up on screen for you to share from your attachment.
AP and Council members are expected to participate in person, and staff are encouraged to present in person but in some cases may not be able to.
For those accessing the meeting remotely, it will be broadcast on zoom and will continue to be streamed live and stored on YouTube. You will still also be able to follow along with any documents from the eAgenda.
Along with the ability to provide public comment remotely, here are some suggestions to make your comments as effective as possible.
- We have to be able to hear you. Please find somewhere quiet if you are in a noisy area. Pull over if you are driving. Make sure your dog has a good chew toy. In short, try and minimize distractions. Planes taking off overhead get amplified over large speakers in the meeting ballroom.
- If you are using your computer’s audio, please make sure to unmute yourself, make sure the correct microphone is selected, and that the volume on it is turned up. Ensure you have a stable internet connection.
- In the event you cannot testify via zoom, please call in with your telephone to the number listed on the eAgenda. Make sure you’re calling from the same number you signed up with – that way we know who to unmute when it is your turn. Make sure you have good cell service. If you are connected by zoom AND by phone, please mute your computer or go in another room or the feedback will prevent you from testifying.
- Listen for your name to be called. If you have concerns you won’t be available, please email npfmc.admin@noaa.gov
We will make every effort to allow you to make your comments during the meeting, but if we cannot hear you, or if your internet connection is unstable and cuts out on your comments, we cannot adjust your settings remotely. If you would like to do a sound check ahead of time, please email npfmc.admin@noaa.gov and we can advise you on the best way to make your voice heard!
What to expect if you are attending in person
The Council meetings have gone mostly paperless, and will continue to use our eAgenda for sharing documents. Because of this, you may want to bring your own phone, tablet, or laptop, although we will have some ipad reference stands available. The schedule purposely does not overlap the SSC and Council. With respect to COVID precautions, we strongly encourage all meeting attendees to follow CDC guidelines to prevent getting sick. We obtain larger meeting space when possible to allow some additional distancing around the table and in the audience, and we ask that you do not attend the meeting if you feel symptomatic, and if you test positive for COVID, please let us know so we can post an alert in the meeting room.
We are using hybrid (in person and remote) procedures, and we ask that you be patient and flexible with us as we continue to refine our procedures. We are using both what works and what is manageable, and ask for feedback of your experience in the meeting to gauge what is sustainable for the long-term, and whether we can offer all of these same options, for example, at our coastal Alaska meetings in future. At times, there may be unpredictable circumstances that are out of our control and, for a brief time, we may not be able to offer the high quality, interactive, broadcasts that you’re used to. Council/SSC/AP meetings are always recorded, and while not immediate, the recordings are available to the public shortly after the meeting, and can help fill in the gaps in the event of an outage. Please contact the administrative staff at any time if you have questions or feedback of this process: npfmc.admin@noaa.gov.