AFSC/FMA/North Pacific Observer Foreign Fishing

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) began placing observers on foreign fishing vessels operating off the northwest and Alaskan coasts of the United States in 1973, creating the North Pacific Foreign Fisheries Observer Program. Initially, observers were placed on vessels only upon invitation by host countries. In the early years of the program the primary purposes of observers were to determine incidental catch rates of Pacific halibut in groundfish catches and to verify catch statistics in the Japanese crab fishery. Later, observers collected data on the incidence of king crab, snow (Tanner) crab, and Pacific salmon, and obtained biological data on other important species. Following the implementation of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976, which mandated that fishery observers be placed on foreign fishing vessels operating within the US 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the Alaska coast of the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, observer coverage rapidly expanded. By 1986, the foreign fisheries that were not joint-venture were halted.