Hawaii FEP - Western Pacific Fishery Council

including by a Federal Register document, and solicit public comment on, any proposed newmanagement measure. After a Council meeting at which the measure is discussed, the Councilwill consider recommendations and prepare a Federal Register document summarizing theCouncil’s deliberations, rationale, and analysis for the preferred action, and the time and placefor any subsequent Council meeting(s) to consider the new measure. At subsequent publicmeeting(s), the Council will consider public comments and other information received to make arecommendation to the Regional Administrator about any new measure. NMFS may implementthe Council’s recommendation by rulemaking if approved by the Regional Administrator.5.6.5 Bycatch MeasuresAlmost all coral reef fishes caught in Hawaii are considered food fishes and are kept, regardlessor size or species. There is no specific information available on bycatch from coral reef fisheries,particularly inshore fisheries. However implementation of Federal prohibitions on the use ofnon-selective fishing methods including bottom trawls, bottom gillnets, explosive and poisonsare intended to reduce or avoid bycatch in this fishery in EEZ waters. These restrictions furtherreduce the potential for bycatch in this fishery. In addition any fishing vessel (commercial ornon-commercial) operating in the territorial seas or EEZ of the U.S. in a fishery identifiedthrough NMFS’ annual determination process must carry an observer when directed to do so.5.6.6 Other MeasuresThere are other non-regulatory measures consistent with plan objectives that are beingundertaken by the Council outside of the regulatory regime. These include a process and criteriafor EFH consultations; formal plan team coordination to identify and to address coral reefecosystem impacts from existing fisheries; a system to facilitate consistent state and territoriallevel management; and research and education efforts.5.6.7 Application of National Standard 1MSY Control RuleAvailable biological and fishery data are limited for most coral reef ecosystem management unitspecies in the Hawaii Archipelago. There is scant information on the life histories, ecosystemdynamics, fishery impact, community structure changes, yield potential, and managementreference points for many coral reef ecosystem species. Additionally, total fishing effort cannotbe adequately partitioned between the various management unit species (MUS) for any fishery orarea. Biomass, maximum sustainable yield, and fishing mortality estimates are not available forany single MUS. Once these data are available, fishery managers will then be able to establishlimits and reference points based on the multi-species coral reef ecosystem as a whole.When possible, the MSY control rule should be applied to the individual species in a multispeciesstock. When this is not possible, MSY may be specified for one or more species; thesevalues can then be used as indicators for the multi-species stock’s MSY.167