The Fishery Ecosystem Plan Initiatives Appendix contains ecosystem-based fishery management initiatives that focus on areas that affect multiple fishery management plan, and they help the Council coordinate its management across these different areas. This appendix was substantially revised in 2022.
Fishery ecosystem plan initiative schedule
This Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) is a living document and the following schedule is intended to allow the Council to respond to emerging issues by annually assessing the status of ecosystem-based initiatives and periodically revising priorities as necessary. Each year at the Council’s March meeting, the Council and its advisory bodies will:
- review progress to date on any ecosystem initiatives the Council already has underway;
- review the list of potential ecosystem initiatives in the Initiatives Appendix, receive new ecosystem initiative proposals, assess whether any existing or newly proposed initiatives help implement the FEP’s Goals or Objectives, and determine whether any of those initiatives merit Council attention in the coming year;
- if initiatives are chosen for Council efforts, request background materials from the appropriate entities; and
- identify candidate ecosystem research topics for Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) review to support improvements in the indicators included in the Annual Report.
Current initiatives
Completed initiatives
- Climate and Communities Initiative
- Fishery Ecosystem Plan 5-year review
- Initiative 2: Coordinated Ecosystem Indicator Review
- Initiative 1: Protecting Unfished and Unmanaged Forage Fish Species
Candidate initiatives
- Science Policy and Planning for Understanding the Effects of Oceanographic Conditions and Recruitment on Council-Managed Finfish Species
- Cross-FMP Dynamic Bycatch Monitoring and Minimization Policy Initiative
- Cross-FMP EFH Initiative
- Cross-FMP Safety Initiative
- Supporting Fishery and Fishing Community Resilience Initiative
- Developing Indicators to Assess Progress Towards FEP Goals and Objectives Initiative
- Assess Flexibility in Fisheries Management Process Initiative
- Optimum Yield Factors Initiative
- Climate-Informed Fisheries Management Initiative