New Information: Groundfish
New Information on West Coast Groundfish May Lead to Significant Cuts in Several Fisheries
Release Date: May 30, 2002
PORTLAND, OR, May 30, 2002 - Preliminary analyses of rebuilding requirements for boccacio, canary rockfish, and yelloweye rockfish stocks suggests that stronger measures to protect these stocks may be needed beginning with the 2003 fishery. This news release is also available in PDF format. Get the PDF version here.
Results from these draft analyses were presented to the Pacific Fishery Management Council's Ad Hoc Allocation Committee on May 21. The analyses are based on stock assessments conducted this year and last year by NMFS and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The preliminary results of these studies suggest that much of the bottom fishing on the west coast where these species reside may need to be closed or modified in the near future in order to rebuild to a level mandated by the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Management process
No decisions have yet been made based on this new information. The Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee, Groundfish Management Team and Groundfish Advisory Panel will review the analyses at the Council's June 17-21 meeting, to be held in San Francisco. The Council will also consider recommendations from all affected groups and the general public at the June meeting. This information will be used to develop a range of harvest levels and management options for next year. The Council will make these options available for public review and comment over the course of the summer, and will take additional public comment at its September 9-13 Portland meeting before making its final decisions. After the Council adopts final harvest levels and management measures, they will be submitted to National Marine Fisheries Service for approval as final federal regulations.
New information
The new information does not indicate that the boccacio, yelloweye and canary rockfish populations (or biomass) are smaller than expected. Rather, it suggests the stocks reproduce much more slowly than originally thought. This rebuilding analysis is the first ever conducted for yelloweye, and is based on the first-ever yelloweye stock assessment. All new information has had some scientific review, and will be subjected to further validation at the June Council meeting.
Potential effects
The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires the Council to take action to rebuild overfished stocks. Yelloweye rockfish, canary rockfish and boccacio are caught in many commercial and recreational fisheries. In order to reduce catch of these stocks enough to allow them to rebuild, other nearshore, shelf, and slope fisheries are likely to be restricted. These actions could be extensive, affecting not only the many different groundfish fisheries, but also fisheries targeting salmon, shrimp, and certain pelagic species. These potential effects span commercial, recreational, tribal, and even research fisheries.
Any reactionary shifts in fishing effort to nearshore and slope areas are likely to worsen overcapacity problems in these fisheries, creating greater management challenges in these areas. Measures proposed to rebuild all these overfished stocks could have severe economic consequences for most segments of the commercial and recreational fishing and support industries.
It is also possible that potential effects could be less severe than predicted. Fisheries with very low incidental bycatch of these three species may be allowed to continue. In addition, it is possible that certain fisheries will not be affected. For example, a long-term observer program has shown that the at-sea whiting fishery catches almost no shelf rockfish.
Formal rebuilding analyses and plans for boccacio, canary rockfish, and yelloweye rockfish have not yet been developed. Even under zero fishing pressure, the predicted time required to rebuild these species is over 60 years. The actual harvest strategy and target time for rebuilding selected by the Council will control the severity of the management measures in 2003. Rebuilding these species will be both slow and expensive.
Background
Yelloweye rockfish, canary rockfish, and boccacio have all been declared overfished by the National Marine Fisheries Service within the last three years. All are large, long-lived, late maturing, and slow-growing species. These traits make them particularly vulnerable to overfishing. There are a total of 83 species in the groundfish complex managed by the Council process; six other species have also been declared overfished.
Historically, these three species were taken by trawl, line and sport gear. Trawl catches of rockfish have been reduced by the small footrope restrictions put in place on the shelf since 2000, which keep trawlers out of most rockfish habitat. Overfished shelf rockfish species are still incidentally caught with commercial and sport line gear, but are now much less common in bottom trawl catches.
For more information, visit the following sites on the Council website or call the Council office toll-free at (866) 806-7204.
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