In the spring of 2019, the Council held listening sessions to solicit public comment on whether it should initiate an action to develop a limited entry program for the recreational party/charter groundfish fishery.
In 2020, the Council began the process to develop a strawman proposal for a limited entry program to address stakeholder requests for more specifics. This process entailed several meetings with the Recreational Advisory Panel (RAP) and Groundfish Committee in the summer of 2020 to develop a ‘template’ for the strawman and to discuss outreach methods that included:
- A public meeting, which was held on October 5, 2020; and
- An online feedback tool, which was available from October 5-28, 2020.
A summary of stakeholder input to the online feedback tool is included in Appendix I to the Strawman Proposal report, and a summary of the public meeting is included in Appendix II. The report combines all stakeholder feedback into a strawman proposal that includes program elements and options for further consideration by the RAP, Groundfish Committee, and Council.
The Council contracted with Tidal Bay Consulting to coordinate the stakeholder engagement and lead the development of the strawman proposal.