Fishery Management Plans
The fisheries management process is based on fishery management
plans (FMPs). An FMP is a set of management objectives
and strategies for achieving them. Councils develop FMPs, amend
them, and make decisions like setting harvest limits within the
framework of existing FMPs. In their decision making, the Councils
are required to use the best scientific information available and
to meet the National Standards of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
They must also comply with the other federal laws. The Council
currently has FMPs for salmon, groundfish, coastal pelagic species,
and highly migratory species.
Councils do not manage harvesting of all fish species. There is not
enough funding available to do so, and state or inter-state management
works for many species. Councils focus their efforts on the
major fisheries that require regional management. For the Pacific
Fishery Management Council, those include the following categories.
Groundfish
The groundfish managed under the Pacific Coast Groundfish FMP
include more than 80 different species that, with a few exceptions,
live on or near the bottom of the ocean. These are made up
of rockfish, flatfish, roundfish, some sharks and skates, and other
species.
Since there is such a wide variety of groundfish, many different
gear types are used to target them. While the trawl fishery harvests
most groundfish, they can also be caught with troll, longline, hookand-
line, pots, gillnets, and other gear.
The West Coast groundfish fishery is divided into four major sectors:
limited entry commercial (trawl and fixed gear), open access
commercial, recreational, and tribal fisheries.
Lingcod (NOAA)
Currently, all sectors of the groundfish fishery are limited by the
need to rebuild groundfish species that have been designated by
NMFS as overfished (bocaccio, cowcod, Pacific Ocean perch,
canary rockfish, darkblotched rockfish, yelloweye rockfish, and
widow rockfish). The Council has developed rebuilding plans for
these species. Because of the slow reproduction rate and small
stock size of some species, the overall groundfish harvest has been
significantly reduced.
Groundfish are managed through a number of measures including
harvest guidelines, quotas, trip and landing limits, area restrictions,
depth restrictions, size limits, seasonal closures, and gear restrictions
(such as minimum mesh size for nets and small trawl footrope
requirements for fishing on the continental shelf).
The Council’s Groundfish Fishery Strategic Plan, Transition to
Sustainability, calls for sharp reductions in fleet capacity across
all sectors. This was accomplished in part by a vessel buyout that took
place in 2003-2004. The Council’s objective is to reduce the size
of the fishing fleet to a level that is economically sustainable.
The Council is currently considering alternatives that would establish
a Trawl Individual Quota program based on individual fishing
quotas (IFQs). In June 2005, the Council culminated a year-anda-
half initial public scoping process with the unanimous adoption
of seven alternatives for analysis in an environmental impact
statement (EIS). For more information, see the Council website at
http://www.pcouncil.org/groundfish/gfifq.html#current.
Highly Migratory Species
Highly migratory species (HMS) are fish that move great distances
in the ocean to feed or reproduce. In their migrations, they may
pass through the waters of several nations and the high seas. Their
presence depends on ocean temperatures, availability of food,
and other factors. Highly migratory species are sometimes called
“pelagic,” which means they do not live near the sea floor, or “oceanic,” which means they live in the open sea. They are harvested
by U.S. commercial and recreational fishers and by foreign fishing
fleets. Only a small fraction of the total harvest of most stocks is
taken within U.S. waters.
Albacore tuna
Many different gear types are used to catch these species, including
troll, drift gillnets, harpoon, pelagic longline, coastal purse
seine, large purse seine, and hook-and-line. (Some of these gears
are illegal in certain states). Recreational fishermen generally use
hook-and-line gear.
The Council recently developed an FMP for West Coast HMS
fisheries. The FMP covers north Pacific albacore, yellowfin, bigeye,
skipjack, and northern bluefin tunas; common thresher, pelagic
thresher, bigeye thresher, shortfin mako, and blue sharks; striped
marlin and Pacific swordfish; and dorado (also known as dolphinfish
or mahi-mahi). Because these species migrate across international
boundaries, they are mainly managed through regional organizations
such as the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission,
which includes countries catching HMS in the Eastern Pacific.
The Department of State, along with NMFS, takes a lead role in
negotiations at the international level. The Council provides a
way for domestic constituents to channel management recommendations
to the international level. The Council is also involved in
deciding how measures agreed to at the international level will be
applied to U.S. fisheries.
Pacific Halibut
Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) are large flatfish found
on the continental shelf from California to the Bering Sea. Halibut
have flat, diamond-shaped bodies, can weigh up to 500-700
pounds, and can grow to nine feet long. The Council recommends
Pacific halibut harvest regulations to the International Pacific Halibut
Commission. It also sets limits on how many halibut can be
caught in other fisheries managed by the Council, like the salmon
troll and sablefish fisheries.
Halibut, from Fishing the West Coast
Halibut have been fished for hundreds of years by native Americans
on the West Coast of the U.S. The U.S. commercial fishery
started in 1888, when halibut were first landed in Tacoma, Washington.
Today, the U.S. West Coast non-Indian commercial directed
halibut fishery uses a derby fishery system of ten-hour seasons
and fishing period limits. Total catch is set up by the International
Pacific Halibut Commission, but the Council allocates portions of
the halibut catch to the commercial (non-Indian) fishery (including
incidental salmon troll and directed halibut longlining); the incidental
longline sablefish fishery; the sport fishery; and the treaty
Indian commercial, ceremonial and subsistence fisheries.
Halibut are one of the most valuable fish species in the northern
Pacific. Longlining is the main commercial gear used to target
halibut. In 2003, about 89 million pounds of halibut were removed
from the population through directed and incidental catch.
Halibut is also a very popular target for sportfishers. Oregon,
Washington, and California have catch limits for recreational
halibut fishing, as with commercial and tribal halibut fishing. The
demand for halibut sport fishing is so high that closed seasons,
minimum size limits, bag limits, and possession limits are all used
to control the recreational fishery and extend the season as long as
possible.
Pacific halibut fishing is an important part of several tribal cultures,
and many tribal members participate in commercial, ceremonial
and subsistence fisheries. In 1995, the U.S. prohibited directed
non-treaty commercial fishing north of Pt. Chehalis, Washington
in order to allow the tribes to harvest their allocation of halibut.
Salmon
The Council manages ocean sport, commercial, and tribal salmon
fisheries, while individual states manage recreational salmon
fisheries in rivers and streams. Chinook and coho salmon are the
main salmon species managed by the Council. In odd-numbered
years, the Council may manage special fisheries near the Canadian
border for pink salmon. Sockeye, chum, and steelhead are rarely
caught in the Council’s ocean fisheries.
Salmon are affected by a wide variety of factors, including ocean
and climatic conditions, dams, habitat loss, urbanization, agricultural
and logging practices, water diversion, hatchery management,
and predators (including humans). Salmon are an important
source of spiritual and physical sustenance for Northwest tribal
members, and they are symbolically important to many other residents
of the Northwest.
Because salmon migrate so far when in the ocean, managing the ocean salmon fisheries
is an extremely complex task. Several different regions and groups are involved in the salmon fishery:
- Recreational: Ocean; inland marine (Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca, coastal bays); freshwater (including Columbia River and Buoy 10)
- Commercial: Treaty Indian and non-Indian ocean troll; Puget Sound troll, seine, and gillnet; Washington coastal bays gillnet; lower Columbia non-Indian gillnet; mid-Columbia treaty Indian gillnet
- Tribal Ceremonial and Subsistence: Gillnet, dip net, and hook-and-line conducted in Puget Sound, Washington coastal bays, the Columbia River and other Washington rivers, and the Klamath River
The Council’s Salmon FMP describes the goals and methods for
salmon management. Management tools such as season length,
quotas, bag limits, and gear restrictions vary depending on how
many salmon are present. There are two central parts of the FMP:
an annual goal for the number of spawners of the major salmon
stocks (“spawner escapement goals”) and allocation of the harvest
among different groups of fishers (commercial, recreational, tribal,
various ports, ocean, and inland). There are specific conservation
goals and incidental take allowances for salmon stocks listed under
the Endangered Species Act; the Council must comply with these
conservation provisions.
Coastal Pelagic Species
Coastal pelagic species (CPS) include northern anchovy, market
squid, Pacific bonito, Pacific saury, Pacific herring, Pacific sardine,
Pacific (chub or blue) mackerel, and jack (Spanish) mackerel.
“Pelagic0 means these fish live in the water column as opposed to
living near the sea floor. They can generally be found anywhere
from the surface to 1,000 meters (547 fathoms) deep. Five of these
species (Pacific sardine, Pacific mackerel, market squid, northern
anchovy, and jack mackerel) are managed under the Council’s
CPS Fishery Management Plan.
Coastal pelagic species are harvested directly and are also caught in other
fisheries. Generally, they are targeted with “round-haul” gear including purse seines, drum seines, lampara nets, and dip nets. These species are also taken incidentally with midwater trawls, pelagic trawls, gillnets, trammel nets, trolls, pots, hook-and-line, and jigs.
Market squid, which make up the largest portion of the CPS fishery,
are fished at night with the use of powerful lights that attract
the squid to the surface. They are either pumped directly from the
sea into the hold of the boat or caught with an encircling net.
Coastal pelagic species are found in the Exclusive Economic Zones
of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., as well as in international waters
outside the U.S. EEZ. Within the U.S. EEZ, sardines are caught
by U.S. commercial fisheries, by party and charter boats, and by
anglers. Beyond the U.S. EEZ, sardines are caught in Mexican and Canadian fisheries.
The CPS FMP was recently amended to include krill species and
to prohibit their harvest. This proactive Council recommendation
was intended to protect krill’s vital role in the marine ecosystem.
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