The Law That's Saving American Fisheries - Ocean Conservancy

In addition, each Scientific and Statistical Committee must
provide its council with a wide range of other scientific advice
on such topics as overfishing, bycatch, habitat status, the
social and economic impacts of management measures, and
the sustainability of fishing practices. 43 By requiring councils
to maintain science committees and to set catch limits based
on their recommendations, these reforms help address past
problems caused when councils disregarded or downplayed
scientific advice.
Fisheries science is intrinsically uncertain, and it can and
should be continuously improved. Furthermore, it is impossible
to assess 537 managed populations every year. This does
not mean that councils cannot make choices or that managers
cannot manage, however. The Scientific and Statistical
Committees have worked with federal, state, and university
scientists to examine and apply techniques developed around
the world for managing fisheries without formal assessments,
using life history information, catch statistics, and survey
index data to set overfishing levels. 44 These committees
are working to apply, test, and improve these techniques
for fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Pacific, North
Pacific, and South Atlantic oceans. With these tools, scientists
provide the councils with information that guides their
choices on setting annual management measures.
As George Geiger, the recreational fisherman and former
South Atlantic council chair profiled above, explained to
Congress in his 2011 testimony: “Our stock assessment process
Good science does not equal certainty. It
means working with available information,
applying methods and decision-making
principles to what we do know, and
subjecting the information and the process to
rigorous, arm’s-length scrutiny.
is a collaborative one that includes fishermen, stock assessment
biologists, council members, and staff and provides
extensive opportunity for public input at each step in the
process. Driven by the annual catch limit requirements, we
have figured out rational scientific ways to set catch limits for
stocks when full stock assessments are not available.”
Going forward, better communication of science is needed to
reduce misunderstandings between NOAA Fisheries and the
industry that have eroded fishermen’s trust in agency science. 45
Increased federal investment in the information infrastructure
used to manage fisheries sustainably is essential for informed
decision-making and stewardship of resources, and for realizing
the full economic potential of our nation’s fisheries.
In recent years, strong bipartisan support for increases in
federal funding enabled NOAA Fisheries to maintain vital
survey work, increase monitoring in high-priority fisheries, hire
scientists for all regions, and build assessment capabilities in
regions with highest need. Although some progress has been
made in improving and expanding the capacities of these
strategic program areas, substantial needs remain unmet for
these sources of information. Additional investments will be
necessary over the next decade to keep pace with demand
for information and scientific advice for setting catch limits
and making other management decisions.
The information provided by these programs improves our
science, helps mitigate uncertainty in fishery decision-making,
and is vital to the objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
A sustained commitment of federal funding, coupled with
additional sources of non-federal funding for these core
activities, is essential.
Through the benefits of healthy marine ecosystems, fresh
seafood, recreational opportunities, and associated economic
and social advantages, the nation gets a significant return on
its investment.
The South Atlantic Fishery Management
Council is one of eight regional organizations
overseeing the nation’s fisheries under the
Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Leda Dunmire
The Law That’s Saving American Fisheries: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 31