The purpose of this report is to describe the fishery for
West Coast rockfish and identify changes necessary in their management.
Declines in certain species and failings in many areas of the
management process have been identified in this report. However,
good stewardship of West Coast rockfish species is not the sole
responsibility of the federal goverunent, state agencies, the
fishing fleets, conservation organizations, or consumers, it
is the responsibility of all. This is a public resource and we
are all to be held accountable for the current situation with
West Coast rockfish,
whether you operate a fishing vessel, are employed by a state
or federal resource agency or just buy seafood at the local store.
If you fish, your responsibility lies with choosing clean, selective
fishing practices. Federal and stage agencies must have strong
enough personal and political will to make the difficult decisions
in favor of the long-term health and sustainability of the resource.
Consumers must demand to know how their seafood was caught, and
how much bycatch and habitat damage could have resulted from
its capture in order to make the appropriate choices.
Listed below are priorities identified as necessary forithe
continuation of healthy rockfish populations and commercial and
sport fisheries on these species are to continue in a meaningful
manner. The Pacific Marine Conservation Council intends to continue
its work through the implementation of these priorities into
the management process and through education of the public and
consumers. You can get involved by making the appropriate personal
choices in your own life as they relate to the health of our
marine resources, educating yourself on current issues, attending
PFMC meetings to make your voice and opinion heard and writing
and/or calling those with political power in your area. See Appendix
2 for the names and addresses of people to contact.
The following are actions that must be taken if the future
existence of West Coast rockfish species is to be secured in
perpetuity.
I. INCREASE BOTH THE QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF INFORMATION ON
ALL COMMERCIAL AND SPORT FISHED ROCKFISH SPECIES, THEIR ASSOCIATEDFISI-IERTES
AND HABITAT.
Many species of rockfishes harvested in the commercial and
recreational fisheries have never been assessed and the total
numbers caught are not tracked. At a minimum, biomass estimates
and accurate numbers of removals should exist for all rockfishes
taken in these fisheries.
Habitat destruction is a threat to rockfish populations. Not
only does healthy habitat provide structure for protection against
predation, complex habitats foster niches that support a great
diversity of organisms, some acting as essential prey for the
rockfish species covered in this report. "One of the greatest
long-term threats to the
viability of commercial and recreational fisheries is the continuing
loss of marine, estuarine, and other aquatic habitats. Habitat
considerations should receive increased attention for the conservation
and management of fishery resources in the United States"
(Section 2 (a)(8) MSFCMA 1996).
Habitat requirements for rockfishes are many and vary between
species and life stages. Currently, all of the essential fish
habitat information in the "Essential Fish Habitat West
Coast Groundfish Appendix" developed by NMFS is classified
as level one. This level contains the least amount of information
of four possible levels. It includes information only on "presence/absence
distribution available for some or all portions of the geographic
range of the species" (NMFS 1998). Of immediate concern
are the many species of unassessed rockfishes residing in the
nearshore area (sometimes defined as the area within a mile from
shore). This area has experienced marked increases in fishing
pressure within recent years as a result of displaced effort
from other declining fisheries as well as increases in gear technology
allowing for areas and habitats to be exploited that had previously
functioned as defacto reserves. Listed below are specific actions
that would lead to an increase in data on and habitat protection
for West Coast rockfish and their associated fisheries.
a. Require increased sorting of landed catches of rockfish
to the species level. Lumped market categories are unacceptable
and valuable data is lost.
b. Develop an assessment for nearshore rockfish species.
c. Perform an economic and biological analysis on the livefish
fishery.
d. Develop gear performance standards in terms of the impact
of fishing gear on habitat.
e. Investigate and develop an appropriate timeline for the
implementation of marine refugia for habitat protection.
f. Completely impleinent the EFR document for West Coast groundfish
II. DEVELOP A MANDATORY WEST COAST OBSERVER PROGRAM.
The numbers utilized to calculate bycatch rates in West Coast
groundfish fisheries are only estimates. Accurate bycatch information
is critical to managing a fishery ina sustainable and efficient
manner. One effective mechanism to get this data, utilized in
other areas of the~nited States as well as the world, is on-board
observers. The West Coast groundfish fishery is in critical need
of a mandatory fleet-wide observer program to account for bycatch
and allow for the implementation of certain incentiveprograms.
III. REDUCE THE BYCATCH OF ROCKFISHES.
Because the current numbers utilized to estimate bycatch rates
of West Coast rockfishes are only estimates, an accurate picture
of total removals (landings + discard) from the system does not
exist. If actual bycatch numbers are higher than the current
estimates, then the amount of fish permitted to be caught and
sold may be exceeding
the maximum sustainable yield (MSY). This could contribute significantly
to the decline of certain species of rockfish. One way to approach
this issue is to establish and enforce gear selectivity standards
aimed at reducing the amount of bycatch in a fishery. Other actions
taken could include:
a. Analysis and deviation from the year-round fishery/trip
limit management problem as it relates to the production of bycatch
(trip limit management has been addressed by Pikitch et al. 1988
and found to result in increased amounts of discard).
b. Development of incentive programs to facilitate bycatch
reduction by rewarding vessels with lower bycatch levels.
c. Analysis of gear selectivity and utilization of this analysis
in the management process.
IV. REDUCE OVERALL EFFORT AND STOP OVERFISHING.
During the 1980s the West Coast groundfish fishery expanded
from a relatively small fishery harvesting surplus production
to one with excess capacity and limited potential for long-term
sustainability, which unfortunately, continue to be the characteristics
of the fishery today.
Investments into greater horsepower, and larger boats and
gear have been made consistently over time by people hoping to
equate this increase in capacity with more fish and greater economic
returns. This has resulted in an overcapitalized fleet, requiring
operating costs to increase as people struggle to catch enough
fish to make boat payments on more technologically advanced boats,
gear, etc. What this translates into is more stress placed on
the resource to fulfill the needs of the investments made and
the growing number of people participating in the fishery. Management
changes such as those listed below would begin to address the
excess effort and overfishing problems existing in the fishery
for West Coast rockfishes.
a. Assign separate ABCs and HGs to the nearshore, slope, and
shelf rockfish complexes.
b. Apply recommended ABCs where they already exist to species
in the categories of "other rockfish" and "remaining
rockfish". In cases where arecommended ABC does not exist
further investigation is necessary.
c. The issues of fleet reduction and re-evaluation of the
current limited entry program need to be seriously investigated
for the fishery on West Coast rockfishes.
d. Mechanisms must be developed to facilitate the management
of mixed-species assemblages, more in-line with the concept of
"weak stock" management, where the weaker stocks are
protected to some degree instead of overexploited.
e. Identify the appropriate levei of effort and technology
for the fishery on West Coast rockfishes.
f. Quantify the economic losses to communities as a result
of losses in fishing opportunity or changes in management and
regulations over the years. This data is criticalbackground information
that will allow for educated decisions regarding the short versus
long-term economic losses/gains associated with management decisions
such as annual harvest levels
g. Challenge and develop alternatives to the current harvest
policy. Analysis has shown that the current level of exploitation
is too aggressive for many rockfish species.
h. Develop a conservative and appropriate default harvest
policy for commercially fished rockfish species for which we
have little or no information.
i. Manage stocks identified to be in decline in an appropriate
manner. Allowing overfished species to continue to be taken and
landed or discarded as bycatch in order to allow access to other
species is an unacceptable method of management.
j. Develop reporting mechanisms for bycatch levels and stock
levels by area for the commercial and sport fishing fleets.
k. Develop mechanisms for data collection based on where rockfish
species are caught rather than landed. This will allow for the
development of area specific management.
V. IN THE FACE OF UNCERTAINTY UTILIZE PRECAUTIONARY MANAGEMENT.
The need for precautionary management is immediate and critical.
The luxury of time no longer exists for developing new ways of
management and increased data collection for some rockfish species.
In the face of this ever-present uncertainty, the Council, NMFS,
all management entities, and the fishing industry must begin
to utilize the precautionary approach in the management of West
Coast rockfish stocks. It is intuitive in the face of doubt to
err on the side of caution. Time and time again federal and state
management entities have gambled with the health of the rockfish
resource and erred on the side of risk. Actions representing
the precautionary approach to fisheries management include the
following.
a. Set standards for impacts of gear on habitat as well as
gear selectivity.
b. Minimize bycatch through the use of more selective gear.
c. Protect and restore essential habitat.
d. Place a cap on both fishinn capacity and total fishing
catch rate.