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New bottomfish catch limits for US Pacific territories
HONOLULU—A milestone was reached last week in the setting of the 2016 and 2017 annual catch limits, or ACLs, for federally managed bottomfish fisheries in the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The current ACLs of 101,000 lbs; 66,800 lbs; and 228,000 lbs, respectively, for the territories were initially set for fishing year 2013 based on a 2012 stock assessment and then rolled over for fishing years 2014 and 2015. The ACLs are specified by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and transmitted to the Secretary of Commerce for final approval.
On Sept. 16, the council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee considered a recent update of the 2012 stock assessment and a review of the updated assessment by a panel composed of Dr. Erik Franklin (Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology), Dr. Milani Chaloupka (University of Queensland) and Dr. Donald Kobayashi (National Marine Fisheries Service).
The bottomline of the stock assessment update is that the bottomfish management unit species in American Samoa, Guam, and CNMI are not overfished and not experiencing overfishing. The SSC determined that the updated stock assessment is the best scientific information available. The council is required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to use the best scientific information available in its fisheries management decision-making.
Several other steps will take place next week to develop the 2016 and 2017 ACLs. On Sept. 23 and 24, a working group will meet in Honolulu and by teleconference to recommend the risk of overfishing to be used in setting the ACLs. The risk of overfishing is based on scientific uncertainty of the information about the fisheries. On Sept. 25, another working group will meet to provide guidance on the social, economic, ecological and management uncertainty in the information about the fisheries. Then on Oct. 13 and 14, the SSC will meet in Honolulu during which time it will consider the working group findings and determine the acceptable biological catch for the territorial bottomfish fisheries, i.e., the amount of fish that can be harvested without overfishing. The council will meet Oct. 21 and 22, 2015, in American Samoa during which time it will use the acceptable biological catch specifications, the working group findings and public comments to determine the 2016 and 2017 ACLs.
While it is too early to determine what the final numbers will be for the 2016 and 2017 territorial bottomfish ACLs, last year the council rolled over the 2014 ACL to 2015 noting that the actual catch of bottomfish by the territories comprise a small proportion of the limits and there was no significant change in the fishery or the management of it. Except for the updated stock assessment, that situation remains the status quo.
The representative of the Northern Mariana Islands on the council is Secretary Richard Seman of the Department of Lands and Natural Resources.
For more information on the upcoming meetings and how to provide written and/or oral testimony on the topics to be covered at them, go to www.wpcouncil.org/meetings or contact the Council at info.wpcouncil@noaa.gov or call 808 522-8220. (Wespac)
