Bristol Bay Science & Research Institute

“Prior to filing the return, a draft of the form 990 tax return will be submitted to the chief financial officer (cfo) by the tax preparer. This draft will be reviewed by the cfo and staff. The cfo will then have the executive director of bbsri as well as the president/ceo and of bbedc review the draft return before authorizing the tax preparer to finalize the return. A copy of the tax return will be provided to the board members upon request.”

“Explanation of monitoring and enforcement of conflicts: all board members and employees are covered by the conflict of interest policy. In any situation where there is a conflict or the appearance of conflict, or where a board member is uncertain of the possibility of a conflict, the board member or employee should protect himself/herself by immediately discussing the matter fully and frankly with the chairman or, if the matter arises during a board meeting, by disclosing the matter to the full board of directors. The chairman or any other board member are also encouraged to raise any issue known to them to ensure that any potential conflict is known to the corporation and its board in a timely manner. Where there is doubt as to the existence of a conflict of interest, the situation should be fully explained in writing in advance of any board meeting. If necessary, the chairman will appoint a three-member ad hoc committee of members of the board of directors to make a recommendation to the board of directors on the matter at the next board meeting. The committee will discuss the matter with the corporation's general counsel. The decision of the board of directors is binding. Board members are required to declare a conflict of interest on each and every vote they take if one exists.”

“Compensation review & approval process - ceo & top management: the board sets the beginning salary range for the position based on a local salary survey. This salary range is adjusted periodically as local salaries in the region change. Contemporaneous documentation of the decision is recorded in the board of director's meeting minutes. This process was last undertaken in 2023. Annually on the executive director's anniversary date, the board president performs an evaluation. The board president takes into consideration the board's policy of up to a 4% merit increase each year. This annual process results in adjustments to the executive director's salary.”

“Other organization documents publicly available: bbsri's form 990, governing document, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are available upon request by contacting us at 1-907-842-4370 or writing to us at po box 1464, dillingham, ak 99576-1464. In addition, our form 990 is available for viewing on the website guidestar.org.”

“All of bristol bay science & research institute's board members are also members of the board of bristol bay economic development corporation, a 501(c)(4) organization and receive compensation from this entity. Michael link is the executive director of bbsri and he receives his compensation from bbedc. Jordan head was hired on as the new executive director of bbsri in march 2023.”

“Summary bbsri operates the annual port moller test fishery (pmtf) in the bering sea offshore of the alaska peninsula, ~240 miles southwest of king salmon, alaska. The port moller test fishery base operations are covered by two project budgets. Pmtf i which covers staffing, travel and supplies for the project, and pmtf iii which was added in 2022 to cover the costs of chartering a vessel to replace the recently decommissioned alaska department of fish and game vessel which operated the project in previous years. The 2023 project was the 19th consecutive season that bbsri has managed and operated the pmtf. The test fishery targets sockeye salmon bound for bristol bay approximately one week before they reach the commercial fishing districts in bristol bay. The salmon catches from pmtf are useful for forecasting the current-year salmon run size and timing to the five fishing districts. Pmtf information is used by fishery managers, researchers, salmon processors, and fishermen. Fish are also sampled to determine the age and stock composition of the run. Project background and objectives each year the pmtf is scheduled to operate from 10 june to mid-july. The gillnet-based sampling is conducted in a series of two-day trips along a transect running between port moller and cape newenham. Historically, five or six equidistant stations (numbered 2, 4, 6, 8, 10,12) spaced 18.52 km (10 nm) apart (figure 1) are fished each day; fishing occurs in a south to north progression on the first day and in reverse order on the second day. Fish are sampled on the vessel deck immediately following each fishing event. Beginning in 2019, the transect was expanded substantially to include stations 2, 4, 6, etc. Through station 24 with effort provided by the interrelated port moller test fishery ii project. The primary objective of the pmtf is to provide information about sockeye that will reach the bristol bay commercial fishing districts four to nine days later. This information consists chiefly of (1) daily indices of abundance, (2) in-season age composition estimates, and (3) in-season stock composition estimates to the level of river system. Summary of achievements in 2023 the results summarized here include those from the effort from the port moller test fishery i and ii projects also done by bbsri. Tables 1 and 2 summarize key deliverables and achievements from the 2023 pmtf. The following is the executive summary from the project annual report, which provides greater detail of the 2023 results and recommendations. Table 3 summarizes the numbers of people on the project's daily update email list. Figure 1 provides a map showing the location of the pmtf and the test fishing stations. Executive summary of the project annual report (2023) in 2023, the port moller test fishery (pmtf) operated from june 11 to july 13 using two research vessels, the r/v ocean cat and the r/v miss leona. A total of 6,670 sockeye were caught in 300 sets distributed across stations 2-24 to provide the information used for inseason forecasting. An additional 12 sets made at and near station 10 during june 19 and june 22 produced 414 sockeye and helped to assess sampling error at a single station versus nearby patchiness in the passage rate. The coverage of stations and days during the 2023 test fishery was only surpassed by 2022, with only one day missed during mid-season due to weather. The email distribution list ended the season with 1,228 email addresses, up about 11% over 2022. The median time between sample collection and stock composition release to the distribution list was a single day during the 2023 season (similar to 2022); the maximum lag time was only two days. The turnaround time for 2023 estimates was about two days faster than what has been observed since 2010. Over the entire season a total of 12 estimates were released (about three more than in previous years). The reduced turnaround time between genetic tissue collection at the pmtf and release of the st”

“Summary this project was an add-on component to the annual port moller test fishery (pmtf), which bbsri has managed and operated for 19 of the project's 56-year history. Specifically, the pmtf ii project involved chartering, outfitting, and staffing a larger and second fishing vessel to sample at heretofore locations in the bering sea that were thought to contain a previously not-sampled portion of the annual salmon return. The label pmtf ii is used to distinguish the project's effort, expenditures, and funding sources from the traditional annual pmtf project. The annual report for pmtf prepared by bbsri contains results from both pmtf i, pmtf ii, and pmtf iii projects. As a result, this project summary is somewhat redundant with the project description prepared for the "port moller test fishery," but in doing so, this summary provides some additional detail and is a standalone document to support the expenditures associated with pmtf ii. Results from pmtf ii substantially improved the utility of the entire port moller test fishery to fishery managers and industry. Bbsri has operates the annual port moller test fishery (pmtf) in the bering sea offshore of the alaska peninsula, 240 miles southwest of king salmon, alaska. The 2023 project was the 19th consecutive season that bbsri has managed and operated the pmtf. The test fishery targets sockeye salmon bound for bristol bay approximately one week before they reach the commercial fishing districts in bristol bay. The salmon catches from pmtf are useful for forecasting the current-year salmon run size and timing to the five fishing districts. Pmtf information is used by fishery managers, researchers, salmon processors, and fishermen. Fish are also sampled to determine the age and stock composition of the run. Project background and objectives each year the pmtf is scheduled to operate from 10 june to mid-july. The gillnet-based sampling is conducted in a series of two-day trips along a transect running between port moller and cape newenham. Historically, five or six equidistant stations (numbered 2, 4, 6, 8, 10,12) spaced 18.52 km (10 nm) apart (figure 1) are fished each day; fishing occurs in a south to north progression on the first day and in reverse order on the second day. Fish are sampled on the vessel deck immediately following each fishing event. In 2019, the transect was expanded substantially to include stations 2, 4, 6through station 24. Port moller test fishery ii was the project component that was added in 2019 to double the size of the test fishing transect compared with what had been done historically since 1967. The primary objective of the pmtf is to provide information about sockeye that will reach the bristol bay commercial fishing districts four to nine days later. This information consists chiefly of (1) daily indices of abundance, (2) in-season age composition estimates, and (3) in-season stock composition estimates to the level of river system. Summary of achievements in 2023 tables 1 and 2 summarize key deliverables and achievements from the 2023 pmtf. The following is the executive summary from the project annual report, which provides greater detail of the 2023 results and recommendations. Table 3 summarizes the numbers of people on the project's daily update email list. Figure 1 provides a map showing the location of the pmtf and the test fishing stations. Table 4 is from the daily catch update showing results by station and shows the daily sampling effort performed by the pmtf ii project (blue shading) alongside the effort performed by the traditional test fishery vessel (orange shading). Executive summary of the project annual report (2023) in 2023, the port moller test fishery (pmtf) operated from june 11 to july 13 using two research vessels, the r/v ocean cat and the r/v miss leona. A total of 6,670 sockeye were caught in 300 sets distributed across stations 2-24 to provide the information used for inseason forecasting. An additional 12 sets made”

“Summary a gillnet test fishery was operated in the nushagak commercial fishing district from june 12 through june 25 to assess the abundance, run timing, and size composition of returning sockeye salmon. The primary purpose was to provide real time (daily) information to the alaska department of fish and game area management biologist regarding the buildup of fish in the district early in the season before they enter their natal river systems. In addition, length data from fish captured in the test net was used to characterize the size selectivity of gillnets across a range of mesh sizes. How vulnerable fish of different sizes are to capture in a gillnet (i.e., contact selectivity) varies under different fishing methods and environmental conditions. This project examined selectivity under different fishing protocols. Project background and objectives test fishing has been used in the nushagak district in previous years to assess sockeye abundance to guide when to open the commercial fishery. Oftentimes in the past, test fishing occurred upstream of the upper boundary of the commercial district to foretell escapement counts at enumeration sites in the wood and nushagak rivers. The 2023 test fishery was focused on assessing the early, fishable abundance in the district to reduce the possibility of very a large passage of fish into the escapement early in the season. A second objective of this project was to estimate contact selectivity curves for gillnets in the commercial fishery. Selectivity curves can be used to identify mesh sizes that will optimize fleet's efficiency and effectiveness at exploiting harvestable surpluses from the district's river-specific stocks. Objectives assess the daily abundance of sockeye salmon in the nushagak commercial fishing district using standardized test fishing methods and provide the information in real time to the fishery manager based in dillingham, alaska. 1) develop mesh-size-specific selectivity curves for two fishing protocols across a range of mesh sizes available to the commercial fleet by measuring all fish caught in the 4 and 5" panels of the test net. Separate sets of selectivity curves were estimated from two fishing protocols: a. Standardized (pmtf) protocol: sets made during fishery closures whereby the test net was fished the same as the port moller test fishery protocol (the net is stretched to length during the set and no attempt is made to scare fish towards it); b. Commercial fishing protocol: sets made during commercial fishery openers with the net fished as it would be if it were being used in the commercial fishery (i.e., the net will be hooked, and the boat will "run" the length of the set for inspection). Summary of achievements in 2023 - the test fishing program provided indices of sockeye salmon abundance from around the large nushagak commercial fishing district. - test fishery results were relayed in real time to the nushagak fishery manager beginning on june 22, 2023. - information from the test fishery was consistent with other indicators which suggested a large early buildup of sockeye salmon. - managers were able to determine when the first large volume of chinook and sockeye passed through the commercial fishing district and let them through for chinook conservation then start fishing on the next pulse rather than waiting for these fish to hit escapement project in river.”

“Bristol bay science & research institute had 7 employees that were compensated by its affiliated company, bristol bay economic development corporation, an entity exempt from taxation under irc section 501(c)(4).”