In a move that throws a curveball into the volatile halibut bycatch issue, two Alaska representatives have been disqualified from voting when the matter comes before the North Pacific Fishery Management Council when it meets June 1-9 in Sitka.
Seafood.com reports that Simon Kineen and David Long both must recuse themselves because of their employment by groundfish companies, creating a financial conflict of interest. Ironically, both had voted on the side of halibut small boat fishermen in December.
The move deprives Alaska representatives of their majority in the fish council on the issue, pitting Seattle flatfish factory trawlers against small Alaska longline halibut boats.
The December vote for an emergency transfer of halibut bycatch to Pribilof Islands fishermen failed by a 5-5 tie vote, with both Kineen and Long voting in favor. The Washington and Oregon representatives, now with a council majority on this one issue, were opposed. Alaska holds a six-vote majority, though in December one Alaska representative, Ed Dersham, was absent.
Two of the NPFMC's 11 voting members on the council were notified last week that they will need to recuse themselves, due to financial conflict of interest, on the halibut bycatch vote slated for the first week in June. Kineen, vice president, quota and acquisitions manager for the Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation community development quota (CDQ) group; and Long, captain and fish master for the factory trawler-owning Glacier Fish Company, will be able to participate in all aspects of the council's deliberations relating to halibut bycatch, but must recuse themselves from voting.
Both have the option to state for the record how they would have voted.
A group of Alaska state legislators and the Alaska Marine Conservation Council have called for a 50 percent halibut bycatch reduction, to help the halibut fleet in a time of declining quotas. The Unalaska City Council supports a more modest 10 percent cut, citing the town's dependence on flatfish, mackerel, and perch for jobs and city revenues.
The notice came after a stepwise process investigating the action before the council to determine which components of which fishery would be affected, then to cross-match financial investment as declared on the financial statements filed annually with the Council by each member with the threshold level of involvement of 10 percent.
All seven of the industry members were investigated according to Lauren Smoker of NOAA's General Council office in Juneau. The remaining four voting members are state representatives from Alaska, Washington, and Oregon, and the federal representative from NMFS. Each of the state and federal representatives may appoint -- and often do -- alternates to vote for them in cases of recusals or conflicting schedules. No alternates are provided for the governor-appointed industry members.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act states that an interest "greater than 10 percent" in the total harvest or sector of a fishery, the marketing or processing of the total harvest, or full or partial ownership of more than 10 percent of the vessels using the same gear type within the fishery or sector of the fishery, would trigger a recusal.
A key factor in the investigation is how the council action, including all of its alternatives and options, is worded. In the case of halibut bycatch caps, the action's preferred Alternative 2 includes options for all gear types and all species in the Bering Sea groundfish fishery.
That means that the harvest threshold is 10 percent of the aggregate of all groundfish caught in the Bering Sea last year. That gives each council member the best chance of not tripping the recusal trigger, because 10 percent of the aggregate is a much higher threshold than, for instance, 10 percent of the flatfish fishery harvest would be.
For both Long and Kineen, according to their financial statements filed last January, their interests in total harvested quota exceed that threshold. The investigation used 2014 landings data.
This story first appeared in The Bristol Bay Times/Dutch Harbor Fisherman and is republished here with permission.