Improving the Management of U.S. Marine Fisheries (1994) / Chapter Skim
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CHAPTER 3: CRITICAL ISSUES IN FISHERY MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER 3: CRITICAL ISSUES IN FISHERY MANAGEMENT
Pages 16-30
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From page 16... ...
The committee reviewed numerous reports on fisheries management (see listing in Appendix 1~; received briefings about federal fisheries research and management programs from agency representatives, including staff from the NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service, the NOAA's iOur Living Oceans, 1992.
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From page 17... ...
These topics are overfishing, including the related issues of entry, capitalization, and the definition of optimum yield; the institutional structure for fisheries management; the quality of fishery science and data; and ecosystem approaches to fishery management, including the issues of bycatch and fish habitats. The remainder of this chapter discusses the problems associated with these topics, and Chapter 4 suggests how inadequacies in these four areas, which have contributed to failures in marine fisheries management, might be rectified through legislative changes.
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From page 18... ...
~1) , the national standard relating to prevention of overfishing and achievement of optimum yield, states that the purpose of conservation and management is to prevent overfishing while achieving optimum yield from each fishery for the United States fishing industry.3 Nearly all of the specific criteria set forth in Title III of 2In this report, optimum yield refers to the biological optimum unless otherwise specified.
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From page 19... ...
A determination of MSY, which should be an estimate based upon the best scientific information available, is a biological measure necessary in the development of optimum yield (p. 110 in Fisheries of the United States, 1991, National Marine Fisheries Service)
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From page 20... ...
Limitations on entry are expressly authorized "in order to achieve optimum yield," although National Standard Five specifies that economic allocation cannot be the sole purpose of a conservation and management measure. However, the MFCMA offers little direction to the councils or the Secretary as to whether the nature and scope of limited-en~y or other allocative programs create property or quasiproperty rights.
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From page 21... ...
Experience with individual quotas where they have been introduced indicates some or all of the following concerns must be addressed for higher benefits to conservation and society to be realized: preventing overconcentration of the quotas; effectively discouraging the practices of bycatch discard and highgrading (keeping only the larger, more valuable fish) ; providing opportunities for future entrants to a sustainably managed fishery through future quota reserves or other means; ensuring certainty of tenure in order to reduce risk created by ambiguities in the legal fabric; preserving and promoting the economy and way of life of coastal fishing villages;7 addressing distributional or equity issues that arise with the disposition of access rights to a public resource in a manner that bestows potentially large windfall profits on the initial private recipients of the newly created marketable privileges; and ensuring that, at least initially, any increases in administration and enforcement costs necessary for a successful transition to, and implementation of, large-scale individual quota systems is adequately funded by the owners of quotas and/or increased budget allocation for the agency.
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From page 22... ...
The eight councils, working in conjunction with the NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service, have made substantial progress in implementing the existing MFCMA. As of September 1, 1993, 33 fishery management plans are in effect and a number of others are in various stages of preparation.
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From page 23... ...
The MFCMA currently provides two procedures for establishing and implementing fishery management plans. The usual procedure entails the development of a plan (with alternatives)
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From page 24... ...
Most regulations developed by regional interstate fisheries commissions are voluntary twin Me notable exception of Atlantic striped bass regulations, which have me force of a federal moratorium imposed in the waters of those states that do not comply with the Atlantic Stabs Marine Fisheries Commission's regulations)
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From page 25... ...
The NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service regional science centers and regional offices are routinely involved in the processing of the fishery, survey, and biological information necessary for stock assessments. Personnel at the science centers perform most stock assessments and some participate in Council Fishery Management Plan Teams and Scientific and Statistical Committees.
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From page 26... ...
The NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service should provide such leadership in these specified areas to other agencies with programs involving fisheries research and data, including federal natural resource agencies, state fisheries agencies, and interstate fisheries commissions. In addition, another part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, namely the National Sea Grant Program, supports coastal fisheries research, including such aspects as management, development of fishing technology, and sampling for management data.
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From page 27... ...
Furthermore, the committee is acutely aware of the growing concerns regarding management under uncertainty, its linkages to biological and socioeconomic inputs, and the interface between science and policy. Following the passage of the MFCMA, most science centers of the NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service became increasingly engrossed in the development and analysis of databases concerned with the state of exploited marine resources.
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From page 28... ...
Bycatch is a particularly acute problem when species such as marine mammals, turtles, and birds, or fish like sharks and rays that have exceptionally low reproductive rates, are taken because they may be more easily affected even when bycatchJdiscard rates are low. Most fisheries (and the applicable management plans)
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From page 29... ...
Coastal degradation frequently has very serious impacts on fisheries, and measures to rehabilitate damaged ecosystems need to be included in regional coastal-zone management plans. The most serious forms of coastal degradation are those that involve He destruction of important habitats such as coastal wetlands, bays, coral reefs, oyster beds, deep-water coral forests, kelp forests, benthic areas serving as larval nurseries, and in particular river systems with anadromous stocks.
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From page 30... ...
Alterations to resource habitats due to fishing may result from the loss of habitats of nontarget species, such as species encrusting cobbles, or of other epibenthic habitats, which may be important nursery areas for juvenile fish; from the alteration of nutrient levels and bottom sediment, including destruction of habitat by bottom trawling, dredging, and other fishing and processing operations; and from the generation of suspended debris that can have lethal effects long after fishing activities have ceased. Currently, fishery habitat concerns can be addressed under Section 302(i)
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