Comprehensively protect marine habitat through the following actions:
Zone and delimit fishing gear use (i.e. restrict bottom trawling for flatfish to certain areas).Establish marine protected areas (no-fishing refuges) covering the full range of habitats.Establish spawning area reserves for species fished intensively at spawning time.Establish trawl exclusion zones for all Steller sea lion critical habitat. Use fishing gears with the least impact on habitat.Prohibit trawling for any species that can be caught with cleaner, more selective gear types having less impact on habitat.Redefine overfishing in an ecosystem context by:
Deploying more conservative harvest policies (e.g., F60 percent, F80 percent) for species whose life history characteristics make them especially vulnerable to fishing mortality (e.g., long-lived, slow-growing rockfish) and for important forage fishes in order to maintain the forage base for predators at high levels of abundance relative to the unfished condition.Employing a method for incorporating survey variance and uncertainty in the setting of the acceptable biological catch (ABC) as proposed in Alternative 3, reducing TACs by the amount of survey coefficient of variation (CV) for each stock or mixed-stock complex to address uncertainty in survey information.For groundfish stocks that can be assessed with AD model builder (e.g., PSEIS 2.7, Table 9), employing the model to evaluate and illustrate levels of uncertainty and the risks associated with ABC recommendations.Evaluate a range of ABC values using the lower bound of a confidence limit to address uncertainties in the stock assessment advice.Adopting a Minimum Stock Size Threshold (MSST) appropriate to the harvest policy for each stock and which will, at a minimum, halt fishing when stocks will fall below the spawning biomass equal to 40 percent of estimated average unfished stock size.Conserve native species and biological diversity at genetic, species, and ecosystem scales.A fishery must not jeopardize the ability of any species to withstand natural or human induced fluctuations in the environment.A fishery must not endanger any species or population, no inhibit the recovery of any species that is damaged, threatened or endangered.The destructive impacts of fishing activities on habitats and marine ecosystems must be elminated (e.g. damage to coral reefs, seagrass beds, bottom substrate and benthic populations).Reduce bycatch by:
Setting stringent bycatch and prohibited species catch limits.Establishing bycatch limits for non-target stocks (e.g., squid, skates, grenadiers) as sufficient data becomes available.Employing time/area gear closures and marine protected areas to avoid bycatch in sensitive areas.Prohibit trawling for rockfishes, sablefish, Greenland turbot, Pacific cod and any other fishery that can be prosecuted with more selective gear types that have less impact on habitat.Phase-out of fisheries with high bycatch: those with greater than 25 percent bycatch levels.Improve observer coverage and vessel monitoring systems by requiring:
Vessel monitoring systems for all groundfish vessels.Observer coverage for all sectors of the groundfish fleet, including vessels"Hotspot authority" to place observers aboard vessels in fisheries with high bycatch or other priority monitoring needs as determined by the program.Adequate resources and methods for improving identification and enumeration in all FMP species categories.Whole-haul sampling of some vessels to test accuracy of random sampling. Scales to weigh all catches at sea and at shore-based processing plants.Fee-based funding mechanism based on (1) a percentage of the unprocessed ex-vessel value of the fish and shellfish; and (2) a percentage of the estimated processed value.Reduce capacity through measures such as:
Effort-based regulations including trip limits, vessel size and horsepower limits, gear size limits, limits on tender vessels, and seasonal exclusive area registration.Recognize traditional indigenous subsistence uses of living marine resources. Access rights to fisheries must be consistent with the cultural practices and economic needs of communities that have historically depended on local fisheries and that have consistently demonstrated the capacity to fish in a manner which maintains the integrity of the ecosystem, as outlined above.Adopt a coordinated scientific research plan, including:
A specified research schedule for improving the description and identification of essential fish habitat and habitat areas of particular concern, as well as a schedule for obtaining information on the impacts of fishing gear on marine habitat.Experimental fishing permits, if appropriate to test methods for reducing, and improving data collection of, bycatch, or to gather information about the impacts of fishing on the environment.Regular review and update of research efforts to improve knowledge of trophic interactions and predator-prey dynamics between exploited, dependent and related species.Funding for Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (FOCI) and other long-term data-gathering and monitoring programs.The gathering of traditional knowledge and observations of fishermen as additional sources of information and monitoring. The enhancement of ecosystem mapping capabilities.
