Nat'l Marine Fisheries acts to cut bycatch, rebuild fish stocks

[Recycled News]

Tuesday, May 5, 1998

It is estimated that 30 million tons of bycatch are discarded each
year. Nearly a third of 279 fish stocks are either overfished or are
approaching an overfished condition, according to the most recent
annual assessment of U.S. marine fish stocks conducted by the National
Marine Fisheries Service.

In an effort to reverse this trend, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration has released guidelines to help fisheries
managers reduce bycatch and rebuild overfished fish stocks.

The guidelines reflect NMFSs interpretation of 1996 Congressional
amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Act which address everything from
overfishing and bycatch to safety at sea.

"The bar has been raised in marine fish management to ensure
sustainable harvests for the long term," says Rollie Schmitten, NMFS
director. "Congress required change, and these guidelines steer
regional fishery councils and the agency toward developing new
management plans that will help restore healthy fish habitat and
ecosystems vital to the nation's living marine resources,"

"In this International Year of the Ocean, we are proud to be
implementing provisions that will have far-reaching effects on fish
and fishermen by setting a new direction of management in the United
States that will improve the health and bounty of our ocean fisheries
and increase benefits to the nation," said Schmitten.

Some of the guidelines that have sparked public interest include:
* Guidelines for national standard one, which call for ensuring
healthy fisheries and rebuilding overfished stocks where
necessary.
* The national standard nine guidelines, which were modified to
emphasize that the first priority for reducing bycatch is to avoid
catching bycatch species, where possible.
* The guidelines for national standard eight, which require managers
to consider the importance of fishery resources to fishing
communities, with a goal of providing for the sustained
participation of those communities while minimizing adverse
economic impacts to the extent practicable.

Also, all future annual assessments of the U.S. marine fish stocks
will be based on guidelines that ensure maximum sustainable yield for
each species on a continuing basis.

Furthermore, total bycatch, defined as fishery discards and unobserved
mortalities resulting from fishing operations, will be determined
under uniform data collection and reporting procedures.

Many of the bycatch figures in many fisheries are either incomplete or
nonexistent. However, it is estimated that 30 million tons of bycatch
are discarded each year.

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