Council confirms schedule changes and guidance aimed at shortening meetings and cutting advisory‑body costs

The Pacific Fishery Management Council on Sunday advanced a staff‑led package aimed at making meetings shorter and less costly while maintaining the council’s decision‑making capacity. Kelly Ames, council staff, told members the package includes a proposed long‑term Fishery Management Plan schedule, advisory‑body meeting formats and governance edits, and a plan to translate the schedule into Council Operating Procedures for later adoption.

"Overall, efficiency measures are generally accomplishing what we intended," Ames said, describing shorter, more focused meetings, fewer advisory bodies attending in person at each meeting, and measurable budget savings while preserving the council’s ability to make timely decisions. She cautioned, however, that the changes have not reduced the underlying analytical workload and recommended continued monitoring and adjustments where needed.

Members of several advisory bodies told the council they value in‑person discussion for complex topics. The Scientific and Statistical Committee asked that remote meetings be kept short and scheduled to avoid weekends where possible. The Groundfish Advisory Subpanel recommended a ‘‘light’’ September remote format in even years for groundfish advisory bodies to conserve budgets while prioritizing in‑person time for major, complex items.

After deliberations about when and how to separate scheduling from priority‑setting, the council signaled consensus on a set of staff recommendations that will guide hotel contracting and meeting logistics. The council asked staff to implement the updated schedule in attachment 3 of the briefing materials, make refinements recommended by advisory bodies (including a light groundfish schedule in Septembers of even years and pairing highly migratory species management teams and advisory panels in June of even years), and return proposed COP edits for final action under a subsequent agenda item.

The council underscored that any further adjustments should preserve the ability of technical advisory bodies to work through complex issues and the importance of protecting analytical capacity.