Standard Format for NOPAT Updates
North Pacific NOPAT Update 2/12
Standard Format for NOPAT Updates
Please us the following format for all Office and regional updates to the NOPAT.
1. General Information on Regional Observer Programs - Provide a brief summary of progress in conducting regional observer programs, including any anticipated problems.
Perspective on 2011
The year 2011 brought the biggest training and deployment workload to FMA, ever. For the 2011 fishing year, 800 observers were trained, briefed, and equipped for deployment to vessels and processing facilities operating in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries. These observers collected data onboard 262 vessels and at 20 processing facilities for a total of 45,188 observer days. This is an increase in effort of approximately 10,000 observer days from 2010 and an increase of 6,000 observer days from our previous high of 39,463 in 2008. The high level of effort was due to new coverage regulations resulting from the Amendment 91 regulations affecting the Bering Sea pollock fishery. See our article in the April-May-June 2011 Quarterly Report () for details regarding the Amendment 91 regulations.
New observer candidates are required to complete a 3-week training class with 120 hours of scheduled class time and additional tutelage by training staff as necessary. In 2011, the FMA Division provided training for 89 new observers in Seattle and 136 new observers in Anchorage at the Observer Training Center through a contract with the University of Alaska.
Returning observers are required to attend an annual 4-day briefing class prior to their first deployment each calendar year. These briefings provide observers with the necessary updates regarding their responsibilities. Prior to subsequent deployments, all observers must attend a 1-day, 2-day or 4-day briefing; the length of the briefing each observer attends is dependent on that individual’s needs. FMA staff briefed 330 observers in Seattle and 192 observers in Anchorage. Every two years, we have experienced observers go through a survival suit exercise and drill in Lake Washington. The dill involves jumping into the water, rafting together, flipping over an upside down liferaft and board that raft.
After each deployment, observers meet with a staff member for debriefing to finalize the data collected. There were 110 debriefings in Anchorage and, due to a larger debriefing staff, 584 debriefings in Seattle. Note that the values for the numbers of briefings and debriefings do not represent a count of individual observers as many observers deploy multiple times throughout the year.
In preparation for the 2011 fishing season, extensive work was performed modifying and updating the 2011 Observer Sampling Manual. Each new year brings some degree of change to observer data collections as part of our efforts to meet the various needs of the end data users. There may be a need to change how data are captured; the amount of data obtained for a specific collection, or the need for a new data collection may arise. For 2011 we modified Pacific cod and pollock specimen collections and added skate vertebrae specimen collections as a standard collection. Skate vertebrae specimens were previously collected as a research project by only specific observers.
Another highlight of 2011 was the addition of a new Supervisor position to our Division. Beginning December 5, Liz Chilton joined FMA as our Field Operations Supervisor. Liz’s extensive experience in Alaska fisheries began in the winter of 1990 when she worked for Alaskan Observers Inc. as a North Pacific groundfish observer, the first year domestic observers were required. After receiving an M.S. in Fisheries Oceanography from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Liz worked for the Observer Program as a debriefer from September 1998 through October 1999. For the following 6 years, Liz worked as a Research Fisheries Biologist at the AFSC, Kodiak Laboratory, for the Groundfish Assessment Program conducting rockfish maturity and natural mortality research as well as serving as Field Party Chief and deck boss on NMFS groundfish bottom trawl surveys conducted every summer in the Gulf of Alaska or the Aleutian Islands. From November 2005 until taking this position with FMA, Liz had worked with the Shellfish Assessment Program at the Kodiak Laboratory designing and conducting fisheries oceanographic research of commercial crab species in the eastern Bering Sea. In addition to her extensive experience in fisheries, Liz spent 2011 participating in the Department of Commerce Aspiring Leadership Development Program. This highly competitive one-year program for Department of Commerce employees provided several hands-on training opportunities including a two month stretch assignment with the NMFS, National Observer Program in Silver Spring. We are very pleased that Liz brings her skills, experience, and enthusiasm to this important new position.
Updates for 2012
We are closing out our contract with the University of Alaska in support of the Observer Training Center and it will close. This Center was originally funded in the early 1990’s by a Congressional earmark implemented via a NOAA grant. The earmark was eliminated, I believe, in 2006 and NMFS continued to fund the project at reduced levels using observer program appropriations and a contractual vehicle. The contract was expensive and we were no longer able to support the cost when the contract came up for renewal. As a result, initial 3 week training services in Anchorage will be eliminated and that effort consolidated in Seattle. Shorter briefing sessions, debriefing and gear issuance will continue through our Anchorage NMFS office to the extent we have staff available. This action reduces services and convenience to our contractors, but it is a necessary action given our fiscal realities.
We have been frustrated over the past year by the workforce management services provided to NMFS by NOAA. In short, the NOAA Western Region has been unable to effectively process hiring requests and I understand they have had their delegating examining (external advertisement) authority pulled back to HQ. It is not clear if this is a temporary condition. When these changes were occurring, jobs which were in progress were stopped, and a large backlog created. For example, we have been attempting to fill our important Dutch Harbor field office position since July. That job was advertised, but no certificate was issued as it was put on indefinite hold. We anticipate having to re-advertise whenever this action gets acted on. We have staffed the Dutch Harbor field position temporarily with Seattle staff but that is not feasible under current travel caps. In our view, this is a critical office that provides health and safety support to observers in the field. We have now filled the position temporarily with a contractor and hope to fill the job when WFM can advertise it. This is one example – we are carrying several vacancies and WFM dysfunction is now impacting the services we provide.
Our one successful hire this year was an important addition to our analytical staff. We hired Farron Wallace from the state of Washington where he had a long career working on stock assessments and a range of other North Pacific fishery issues. He has background and an interest in electronic monitoring and I expect he will take on some of our developments in this area. He currently serves on the North Pacific Council’s Science and Statistical Committee (SSC) as the vice chair. Farron starts with us, barring any WFM glitches, on February 13th.
On the fisheries front, we are working to implement a bycatch cap of Chinook salmon in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) pollock fisheries. In contrast to the Bering Sea, the GOA fishery is not rationalized, and our coverage is approximately 30 percent. We are working closely with the industry to provide them information from observers to aid their efforts to monitor the fisheries and stay under the cap. Managing caps, from both a NMFS and industry perspective, is challenging in open access fisheries. The model we applied for salmon bycatch management in the Bering Sea (a census of salmon) cannot be replicated in the GOA because of resource constraints. But, the need for a census approach is more limited because we do not have the complexities of coop management with fine scale allocations and tradable caps.
It is worth noting that our coordinated implementation of a census in the Bering Sea pollock fishery is viewed by many in Alaska as a model for approaching change within the agency. This involved considerable internal coordination efforts by the Observer Program, AKR and OLE, followed by several outreach efforts to the impacted industry to bring them into compliance, or to tweak the program in ways that work for industry and NMFS. A rather complex program was implemented without major problems, and industry has been able to manage the rationalized fishery in a way that reduces bycatch.
We have also been wrestling with the voluntary cooperative program in the Bering Sea Freezer longliner sector, which the industry has implemented. We are working with AKR on a regulatory package which will provide better tools for monitoring such as requirements for experienced observers and an allowance for flow scale technology to weigh catch at sea. Note, however, that flow scales are not without their own problems. OLE announced in February that they have issued a NOVA to American Seafoods for flow scale tampering. In short, catch share programs increase the demand for high quality data, and these demands can translate into increased pressure and harassment of observers. We have seen a spike in this activity on this fleet and we are working with OLE and industry to keep it in check.
On the safety front, we continue to track the development of the guidelines for National Standard 10 which addresses the safety of human life at sea, and we have had three serious safety events already this year. In one case, observer and crew experienced an engine room fire, and mustered on deck in survival suits for several hours when the fire was contained. A second event saw the evacuation of non-essential personnel from a catcher- processor to a USCG cutter which was disabled while a record storm was bearing down on them. The observers were sequestered with crew on the cutter, and there was some interaction with an on-board film crew that is worth noting. Third, we had a very serious sinking which resulted in an observer in the water alone under extreme conditions. Prior training and a USCG helicopter diverted to the scene prevented a very bad end to this particular story. The sinking is under investigation so I will defer to the USCG as to cause. This last event reinforced the value of periodic refresher training.
We continue to work on re-structuring the North Pacific Observer Program and I will provide more details on this issue in section 5 of this report.
2. International Activities - Provide a brief summary of any international observer program activities, including assistance, outreach, trainings, etc.
We are having two visiting Korean scientists at the AFSC attend refresher training (four days) for observers. We have also received queries from industry and NGO’s regarding a Russian application for MSC certification of their pollock fishery, but we had not had formal interaction with their government in this regard. Last, we are planning to participate in an assessment and monitoring workshop put on jointly by the North Pacific Council and International Pacific Halibut Commission in April of this year.
3. Eligibility Standards – Each program will make a determination as to what performance standards an observer must meet to successfully demonstrate the ability to collect quality data. Effectiveness of these requirements will be measured by each regional program through formal debriefing processes designed to evaluate observer performance in relation to data quality. An annual report identifying deficiencies and suggested improvements will be provided to the NOP.
Provide a brief update identifying any deficiencies and suggested improvements in the performance standards an observer must meet to successfully demonstrate the ability to collect quality data. Please include the following statement if there are no deficiencies – “No deficiencies have been identified in the performance standards an observer must meet to successfully demonstrate the ability to collect quality data and no improvements are required.”
No deficiencies have been identified in the performance standards an observer must meet to successfully demonstrate the ability to collect quality data and no improvements are currently required.
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4. Safety Training Standards – Each Regional Observer program will monitor the effectiveness of these requirements by 1) ensuring any established safety training standards are met during training, and 2) surveying/debriefing returning observers to assess if the training provided was adequate to prepare them for their actual work experiences. Any deviations from established standards and any identified needs for new standards will be reported to the NOPAT at each scheduled meeting.
Identify any deviations from established standards and any new standards that are needed. Please include the following statement if there are no deviations – “No deviations have been identified from established safety training standards and no new standards are needed.”
No deviations have been identified from established safety training standards and no new standards are currently needed.
5. Vessel Selection Bias – NMFS will continue to monitor all regional observer programs for vessel selection bias. Each regional observer program will provide updates on problem areas to the National Observer Program Advisory Team (NOPAT) before each NOPAT meeting to continually monitor these actions and ensure that the vessel selection process is properly implemented.
Provide a brief update on monitoring for vessel selection bias and identify any problem areas to ensure that the vessel selection process is properly implemented. Please provide updates for both the national monitoring requirements and any recommendations specific to your regional program.
I’ve previously reported on our efforts to restructure the North Pacific groundfish observer program and this report provides an update. We are now in the process of developing the regulations and contracts to implement this program with a planned start up in 2013. Start up is contingent on $3.8M of federal start up money, and we are hoping for a decision on this request soon. Recall, the start- up funding would be replaced with a fee system in the out years. The regulations have been drafted and are in General Counsel review. Publication is expected soon.
Concurrent with the restructuring are efforts to develop the capacity to have electronic monitoring of small vessels where we anticipate challenges and some impediments to placing people. This is particularly the case in the < 60 foot hook and line vessels, many of which target halibut. We have a Council committee that addressees electronic monitoring and they have a keen interest in operationalizing EM where applicable. Minutes of the committee’s deliberations are available on the Council web site and are worth a read as they did a good job of articulating their objectives and identifying a fishery where EM can meet them. We have been seeking additional funds via cooperative research (the chair of our Council committee was our co-PI) to fund an EM initiative which we could implement in concert with observer restructuring, but I understand our proposal was rejected. Our intention was to piggy back on an existing NFWF project currently funded in Alaska, which we are participating in. If anyone is familiar with cooperative research funding processes, I’d appreciate knowing further details (do minutes exist?) as I will need to speak to this in April at the Council meeting. As well, please let me know if anyone sees other EM funding opportunities.
6. Observer Recruitment and Retention – NMFS will continue to make modest investments in observer retention until data indicate a different course of action is warranted.
Identify any problem areas with either observer recruitment or retention, and any suggested improvements, where necessary. Please include the following statement if there are no problems – “No problem areas have been identified with observer recruitment and retention, and no improvements are necessary.”
We continue to have sufficient observers wanting to work in Alaska. Our expanded demand for observers under Amendment 91 to the BSAI FMP was met without any reported problems though we saw an increase in new trainees to meet the demand. We continue our policy of no longer sponsoring foreign nationals as observers due to the administrative burden and difficulty of having foreign nationals on site. In the past, we have had a number of Canadian observers who were very successful. A small handful of Canadians are grandfathered in to our observer pool but the pool shrinks with each passing year.
Other Monitoring Requirements
Performance Measures - Regional and national observer program milestones will be monitored through the e-AOP on a quarterly, semi-annual, and annual basis by NMFS Office of Science and Technology and the NOPAT to ensure consistency and accountability.
The NOP and regional observer programs should monitor annual performance measures through their appropriate national or regional processes. Any problem areas should be forwarded to the NOP and will be discussed during a NOPAT meeting.
Milestones are in the system and up to date.
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