Alaska Fisheries Science Center
Annual Community Engagement and Participation Overview (ACEPO)
for Federal Groundfish and Crab Fisheries of the North Pacific
Photo: NOAA Fisheries
An annual report focusing on sustained participation of those fishing communities substantially dependent on or engaged in the North Pacific groundfish and crab fisheries
About ACEPO
Fishing in Alaska contributes to local and State economies, cultural cohesion, and food security within Alaska and beyond. The hundreds of communities in Alaska involved in commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing contribute to community wellbeing and economic livelihoods, and support meaningful ways of life for Alaskans. The Annual Community Engagement and Participation Overview (ACEPO) presents social and economic information for those communities substantially engaged in the commercial groundfish and crab fisheries of the North Pacific managed under a federal Fishery Management Plan (FMP).
Economic and social benefits to fishing communities are tied to economic stability and community wellbeing. Guided by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) management objectives and National Standard 8 (NS-8) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), ACEPO seeks to provide information on the social and economic benefits of these FMP fisheries. This objective is in line with National Standard 8, which provides for the sustained participation and the minimization of adverse economic impacts for fishing communities. In line with MSA-NS8, the Council has identified seven management objectives, one of which is maximizing the economic and social benefits of fisheries to the nation over time. These benefits include, but are not limited to: profits, income, employment, benefits to consumers, and “less tangible or less quantifiable social benefits such as the economic stability of coastal communities."
Measuring community engagement and participation in commercial fisheries
The ACEPO analysis considers four performance metrics of community fisheries participation to understand the different ways that communities are involved in Alaska fisheries:
| Processing | Harvesting | |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement index | Processing engagement index | Harvesting engagement index |
| Regional quotient | Processing regional quotient | Harvesting regional quotient |
By examining fishing community participation over time, it is possible to trace sustained participation in specific fisheries, as well as flag changes in participation for some communities. Further research may then clarify some of the drivers of these changes.
Engagement Indices
Engagement indices reflect communities' engagement in federally-managed groundfish and crab fisheries in the North Pacific, relative to all other communities in a given year. Separate engagement indices are calculated for processing and harvesting, with these dimensions of fisheries involvement represented by the following variables:
| Processing engagement |
|
| Harvesting engagement |
|
Regional Quotients
The regional quotient (RQ) measures the share of a particular fishery landed in a specific community, or landed by vessel owners from the community, relative to all other communiites. This metric is meant to reflect a community's degree of involvement (as measured by the volume or value of fishery landings) in a given fishery, in both the harvesting and processing sector. The RQ takes into account landings in the at-sea sector (catcher processors and motherships) and at inshore floating processors, nd treats this "at-sea" group as a separate community of practice.
Community Participation in North Pacific Groundfish Fisheries
Commercial fisheries in the North Pacific have transformed over time with changing technology, labor, market demand, and legislation. The earliest commercial fishing efforts by U.S. vessels in waters off the coast of Alaska emerged in the 1860s, primarily targeting Pacific cod. With the development of diesel engines, commercial fisheries for Pacific halibut and groundfish expanded north to the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and into the Bering Sea (BS) region by the 1920s. By the mid-1900s, fisheries had developed for a variety of groundfish species. Groundfish fisheries changed dramatically in the wake of World War II as Alaskan commercial fisheries expanded and industrialized. From the end of World War II to the start of Exclusive Economic Zone management under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, North Pacific harvests increased substantially. The greatest increase was in the groundfish and crab sectors in the Bering Sea Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and GOA. Groundfish harvest grew to exceed 2 million metric tons per year in the early 1970s. Technological developments and changes in marketing continued to increase harvests, leading to some concern of overexploitation, particularly by foreign fleets. The 1945 Truman Proclamation stressed the U.S.’s right to manage and conserve living marine resources in these areas and to require foreign compliance. This claim was not effectively exercised until the Magnuson Stevens Act (MSA) was implemented in 1977. The MSA has been amended over the years, most substantially in 1996 with the Sustainable Fisheries Act, and in 2006 with the Reauthorization Act. The Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act is currently being considered in Congress.
Groundfish fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) are managed respectively through the BSAI Groundfish and the GOA Groundfish fishery management plans (FMPs). Species managed under these FMPs include pollock, Pacific cod, flatfish, sablefish, rockfish, and “other” groundfish (the Pacific halibut stock is managed by the International Pacific Halibut commission under the Pacific Halibut treaty between Canada and the United States). These species are fished commercially using catcher vessels and catcher processors using trawl, longline, pot, and jig gear, with vessels ranging from under 30 feet to over 300 feet. Fish are delivered shoreside to land-based processors and “at-sea” to motherships and to inshore floating processors.
Community Participation in 2021
Harvesting Participation
* Includes communities that were highly engaged in groundfish harvesting (index score >=1) in any year from 2008 to 2021.
Harvesting Engagement Indices
Processing Participation
* Includes communities that were highly engaged in groundfish processing (index score >=1) in any year from 2008 to 2021.
Processing Engagement Indices
Regional quotient for some communities may not be shown due to confidentiality
Fishery Taxes
Select a community
School Enrollment
Select a community
Community Participation in Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Fisheries
Ten species of crabs are caught in Alaskan crab fisheries, and seven of these have commercial importance: red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus; blue king crab, P. platypus; golden king crab, Lithodes aequispinus; Tanner crab, Chionoecetes bairdi; snow crab, C. opilio; hair crab, Erimacrus isenbeckii; and Dungeness crab, Cancer magister. The three minor species, scarlet king crab, L. couesi; grooved Tanner crab, C. tanneri; and Triangle Tanner crab, C. angulatus, are landed mostly as incidental catch in other crab fisheries. In addition to commercial fisheries, subsistence and personal use fisheries occur in many coastal areas, and support local food security.
The Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) commercial king and Tanner crab fisheries are co-managed by the State of Alaska, NOAA Fisheries and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. As of 2021, BSAI crab fisheries are prosecuted by an active fleet of 65 catcher vessels and 2 catcher processors, and landed and processed at 8 processing facilities throughout the region.
Commercial crab fisheries blossomed in the 1950s with the market of king crab fisheries in the Bering Sea, but today many of the stocks are in a depressed state. Although a variety of management responses have been attempted, many Alaska commercial crab fisheries have not yet recovered. The Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) for the king and Tanner crab fisheries in the BSAI was approved in 1989 and establishes a State/Federal cooperative management regime. The BSAI Crab Rationalization Program was proposed in 2004 and implemented in 2005 to allocate resources from the major BSAI crab fisheries among harvesters, processors, and coastal communities. The BSAI Crab Plan Team provides the Council scientifically-based recommendations for BSAI crab management.
Community Participation in 2021
Harvesting Participation
* Includes communities that were highly engaged in crab harvesting (index score >=1) in any year from 2000 to 2021.
Harvesting Engagement Indices
Processing Participation
* Includes communities that were highly engaged in crab processing (index score >=1) in any year from 2000 to 2021.
Processing Engagement Indices
Regional quotient for some communities may not be shown due to confidentiality
Fishery Taxes
Select a community
School Enrollment
Select a community
Available Data
Data produced as part of ACEPO are available to users through the AKFIN Reports Portal.
Public reports provide data that meet aggregation standards for reporting of non-confidential data. Confidential reports require a log-in and are available to users authorized through NOAA Fisheries and the State of Alaska to view confidential fisheries data.
Go to the AKFIN Reports Portal