Improved Habitat Areas of Particular Concern Evaluation Criteria - Alaska Region

Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPCs) are habitats within Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) considered ecologically important, sensitive to human-induced degradation, stressed by development, or rare.  Recently, NOAA Fisheries (NMFS) and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) improved the HAPC process for Alaska. The improved process includes the development of an HAPC evaluation formula which uses expanded criteria benchmarks to score proposed HAPCs.  HAPCs are assessed through a series of rankings to then determine what level of management action is needed and if conservation measures are necessary.  First, each HAPC proposal is screened to determine whether or not the site(s) meets any identified management priority.  If successful, the proposal is then scored using new HAPC benchmark criteria; an additive formula equates an overall criteria score.   A data certainty factor (DCF) is then applied to determine the level of information known about the site; results vary.  A HAPC proposal with a high criteria score and a high DCF, ranks very high. In contrast, a proposal with a high criteria score and a low DCF may limit the site for HAPC identification only; however this site would be highlighted as a research priority.  A proposal that does not meet the identified management priority, rarity benchmark (mandatory in our process), or scores low does not have a high likelihood to move forward. In Alaska, the new process was recently completed to identify six skate egg case concentrations areas in the Bering Sea. To date, this action is ongoing. Final action as to which sites are formally identified as skate egg case HAPC and any site-specific conservation measures is scheduled to occur fall of 2011.  Presenter will provide the most recent status of HAPCs in Alaska at the AFS meeting.

In Alaska fisheries management, the new HAPC proposal and evaluation process refines how the public (including NMFS, stakeholders, academia, and environmental organizations) identify habitats of concern meeting a management priority.  For detailed HAPC information visit: http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/habitat/efh.htm