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Federal Subsistence Board Work Session Materials January 24-25, 2018 Anchorage, Alaska FEDERAL SUBSISTENCE BOARD WORK SESSION USFWS Regional Office Gordon Watson Conference Room 1011 East Tudor Road Anchorage, Alaska 99503 Wednesday, January 24, 2018 – 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, January 25, 2018 – 8:30 a.m. to Finish WORK SESSION AGENDA * Asterisk Indicates Action Item 1. Review and Adopt Agenda* 2. Information Exchange 3. Recommendations on 2018 Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program (Jennifer Hardin and Karen Hyer)*[Section 1 in meeting materials] a. Northern Region b. Yukon Region c. Kuskokwim Region d. Southwest Region e. Southcentral Region f. Southeast Region g. Multi Regional 4. Federal Subsistence Board Delegation of Authority to Federal Officials [Section 2 in meeting materials] a. Discussion Item: Delegating Board authority to restrict the taking of fish and wildlife on public lands for nonsubsistence uses or close public lands to the take of fish and wildlife for nonsubsistence uses (Jennifer Hardin) b. Federal Subsistence Fisheries Draft Revised Delegation of Authority Letters i. Kuskokwim Area – Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Subsistence Regional Advisory Council , Western Interior Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council, Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge Inseason Manager comments and suggestions (Gary Decossas)* ii. Cook Inlet Area – Ninilchik Traditional Council and Southcentral Subsistence Regional Advisory Council comments and suggestions (Scott Ayers)* 1 5. Regulatory Issues [Section 3 in meeting materials] a. Cook Inlet Area Federal Subsistence Fisheries Regulation Revision Proposed Rule (Theo Matuskowitz and Scott Ayers)* 6. Policy Issues [Section 4 in meeting materials] a. Potential Revisions to the Federal Subsistence Board Policy On Closures To Hunting, Trapping And Fishing On Federal Public Lands In Alaska (Chris McKee)* 7. 2017 Regional Advisory Council Appointment Vetting & Charter Revisions Update (Carl Johnson) [Section 5 in meeting materials] 8. Tribal Engagement Presentation (Orville Lind) 9. Future meeting dates* a. April 10-13, 2018: Federal Subsistence Wildlife Regulatory Public Meeting b. TBD: July 2018 Federal Subsistence Board Work Session c. TBD: January 2019 Federal Subsistence Fish and Shellfish Regulatory Meeting 10. Other Business 11. Adjourn Work Session Audio Access Information: Toll-Free: 1-888-455-5897 Pass Code: 3344290 2 Section 1: FRMP Section 1: Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program (FRMP) This page intentionally left blank. Drat 2018 Fiseries esource Monitorin lan DRAFT 2018 FISHERIES RESOURCE MONITORING PLAN OVERVIEW The mission of the Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program (Monitoring Program) is to identify and provide information needed to sustain subsistence fisheries on Federal public lands for rural Alaskans through a multidisciplinary and collaborative program. It is the responsibility of the Technical Review Committee (TRC) to develop the strongest possible Monitoring Plan for each region and across the entire state. The Monitoring Program Technical Review Committee evaluated and ranked 53 project proposals for Strategic Priority, Technical and Scientific Merit, Investigator Ability and Resources, Partnership and Capacity Building, and Cost/Benefit. Of these proposals, 29 were for continuing projects currently funded through the Monitoring Program. The final score determined the ranking of each proposal within the region (Tables 1–7). High ranking projects comprise a strong Monitoring Plan for the region by addressing strategically important information needs based on sound science and promoting cooperative partnerships and capacity building. The highest ranking projects listed are currently being considered for funding in the 2018 Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program. Background Beginning in 1999, the Federal Subsistence Management Program assumed expanded management responsibility for subsistence fisheries on Federal public lands in Alaska under the authority of Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Expanded subsistence fisheries management introduced substantial new informational needs for the Federal system. Section 812 of ANILCA directs the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, cooperating with the State of Alaska and other Federal agencies, to undertake research on fish and wildlife and subsistence uses on Federal public lands. To increase the quantity and quality of information available for management of subsistence fisheries, the Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program was established within the Office of Subsistence Management (OSM). The Monitoring Program was envisioned as a collaborative interagency, interdisciplinary approach to enhance existing fisheries research, and effectively communicate information needed for subsistence fisheries management on Federal public lands. Biennially, the Office of Subsistence Management announces a funding opportunity for investigation plans addressing subsistence fisheries on Federal public lands. The 2018 Notice of Funding Opportunity focused on priority information needs developed by the Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils with input from strategic plans and subject matter specialists. The Monitoring Program is administered through regions, which were developed to match subsistence management regulations, as well as stock, harvest, and community issues common to a geographic area. The six Monitoring Program regions are shown in Figure 1. January 2018 Federal Subsistence Board Work Session Section 1, p. 1 Drat 2018 Fiseries esource Monitorin lan Figure 1. Geographic Regions for the Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program. Strategic plans sponsored by the Monitoring Program have been developed by workgroups of fisheries managers, researchers, Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils, and by other stakeholders for three of the six regions: Southeast, Southcentral (excluding Cook Inlet Area), and Southwest Alaska. These plans identify prioritized information needs for each major subsistence fishery and are available for viewing on the Federal Subsistence Management Program website (http://www.doi.gov/subsistence/index.cfm. For the Northern Region and the Cook Inlet Area, assessments of priority information needs were developed from experts on the Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils, the Technical Review Committee, Federal and State managers, and staff from the Office of Subsistence Management. To implement the Monitoring Program, a collaborative approach is utilized in which five Federal agencies (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and U.S. Forest Service) work with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils, Alaska Native and rural organizations, and other organizations. Projects are selected for funding through an evaluation and review process that is designed to advance projects that are strategically important for the Federal Subsistence Management Program, technically sound, administratively competent, promote partnerships and capacity building, and are cost effective. Projects are evaluated by a panel called the Technical Review Committee. The Technical Review Committee provides scientific evaluation of investigation plans submitted for funding consideration. This committee is a standing interagency committee of senior technical experts that is foundational to the credibility and scientific integrity of the evaluation process for projects funded by the Monitoring Section 1, p. 2 January 2018 Federal Subsistence Board Work Session Drat 2018 Fiseries esource Monitorin lan Program. The Technical Review Committee reviews, evaluates, and makes recommendations about proposed projects, consistent with the mission of the Monitoring Program. Fisheries and Anthropology staff from OSM provide support for the Technical Review Committee. Recommendations from the Technical Review Committee provide the basis for further comments from Councils, the public, the Interagency Staff Committee, and the Federal Subsistence Board, with final approval of the Monitoring Plan by the Assistant Regional Director of OSM. Three broad categories of information are solicited for the Monitoring Program: 1) harvest monitoring, 2) traditional ecological knowledge, and 3) stock status and trends. Harvest monitoring studies provide information on numbers and species of fish harvested, locations of harvests, and gear types used. Methods used to gather information on subsistence harvest patterns may include harvest calendars, mail-in questionnaires, household interviews, subsistence permit reports and telephone interviews. Traditional ecological knowledge studies are studies of local knowledge directed at collecting and analyzing information on a variety of topics, including: the sociocultural aspects of subsistence, fish ecology, species identification, local names, life history, taxonomy, seasonal movements, harvests, spawning and rearing areas, population trends, environmental observations, and traditional management systems. Some methods used to document traditional ecological knowledge include ethnographic fieldwork, key informant interviews with local experts, place name mapping, and open-ended surveys. Stock status and trends studies provide information on abundance and run timing; age, size and sex composition; migration and geographic distribution; survival of juveniles or adults; stock production; genetic