Scientific Panel to Review Biological Opinion on Steller Sea Lions
May 23, 2011
The Seattle meeting, which will include opportunities for public comment, will start at 9 a.m. in the Stockholm Room of the Swedish Cultural Center at 1920 Dexter Avenue North. Last November, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a biological opinion (BiOp) on the western stock of Steller sea lions that has placed significant restrictions on groundfish fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean. At the upcoming meeting, a panel of scientists appointed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) will hear testimony from other scientists and members of the public on NMFS’s findings as part of an independent review of the federal BiOp. The four-member scientific panel will release a draft report and recommendations prior to a second public meeting scheduled for August in Anchorage. The members of the scientific panel are: David R. Bernard, Ph.D., co-chair of the panel representing Alaska. Dr. Bernard is a fisheries scientist and biometrician with over 30 years of post-graduate experience in commercial and recreational fisheries. A former faculty member at Oregon State University and a former employee of ADF&G, he is a co-chair of the Sentinel Stocks Committee for the Pacific Salmon Commission. Steven Jeffries, the Washington co-chair, is a research scientist and marine mammal specialist for WDFW. He has worked on marine mammal issues for over 30 years with a focus on harbor seals, California sea lions, Steller sea lions and sea otters. He is also a member of NOAA’s Pacific Scientific Review Group. Dr. Andrew Trites is a professor and director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit in the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia. His main area of research is the interaction between marine mammals and fisheries. He directs the North Pacific University’s Marine Mammal Research Consortium and holds a BS from McGill University, and an MS and a Ph.D from UBC. Dr. Gunnar Knapp is a Professor of Economics at the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research, where he has worked since receiving his Ph.D in Economics from Yale University in 1981. For the past 30 years, Dr. Knapp has been continuously engaged in research on fisheries management, seafood markets, and the Alaska economy. Panel members prefer that comments be submitted in writing and, if commenters attend a panel meeting, summarized in a five-minute oral presentation at the meeting. The address for submitting written comments is posted on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website at (http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/steller_sealions/). Comments will be accepted through August 1 and should address the panel’s Terms of Reference, which are explained on the website.
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