Final Management Plans for 

 Domestic Fisheries 



As the councils become operational, they 

 will assume their principal responsibility of 

 developing management plans for domestic 

 fisheries. There is no deadline for issuing 

 specific plans. However, serious problems 

 with heavily fished species have been recog- 

 nized in two areas and emergency domestic 

 management plans have been prepared to take 

 effect simultaneously with the preliminary 

 management plans for foreign fisheries. These 

 plans were prepared by NMFS and there is 

 some concern that they will not be well 

 received by domestic fishermen because of the 

 lack of local input to the regulations. 



This possibility could have been avoided — 

 and can be avoided in the future if additional 

 emergency plans are deemed necessary before 

 the councils are working fully — if NMFS were 

 to detail or loan personnel to the councils for 

 preparation of the plans. Such an arrangement 

 would put the councils in charge of the prepa- 

 ration and ensure the input of industry and 

 other interested segments of the public. 



Although there are well-known ad- 

 ministrative problems and costs in detailing 

 personnel, such a system should be investi- 

 gated because of its potential for making 

 professional staff members available to the 

 councils on an as-needed basis without the 

 necessity of building up bureaucracies within 

 the councils themselves. 



Two draft domestic management plans 

 were prepared by NMFS. One of the New 

 England fishery for haddock, cod, and 

 yellowtail flounder and one for the Pacific 

 fishery for salmon. 



For New England, some judgmental in- 

 creases and decreases were made in maximum 

 sustainable yield figures supplied by the 

 NMFS lab and an attempt was made to set an 

 optimum yield which reflects economic and 

 social factors. The draft plan determines that 

 there is to be no foreign catch and allocates the 

 domestic catch between commercial and 



recreational fishermen. The plan also recom- 

 mends that the stock be protected by some 

 fishing regulations such as ones on mesh size, 

 minimum catch size, and tying the allowable 

 catch to the number of crew members per 

 boat. 



In the Pacific, the domestic catch is allocated 

 among commercial, recreational, and native 

 American fishermen and regulations are set, 

 including fishing season, area closures, and 

 bag and size limits. 



Beyond these two emergency plans, there is 

 no priority list of domestic fisheries for which 

 management plans should be prepared. Since 

 NMFS now has the most information on U.S. 

 fisheries and the status of stocks in general, 

 and since NMFS has the power to prepare 

 domestic management plans if the councils do 

 not do so, it would be helpful if NMFS would 

 compile a listing of fisheries where manage- 

 ment plans are needed. Such a listing should 

 be a priority ranking and should delineate the 

 needs for management plans in each case. 

 Such a list would help focus the councils' early 

 work and would be helpful in projecting their 

 information needs. 



.\uiwtii2l Oceittai utttl Alin<j\phtni Admouit m t ton Photo 



Small net handling boats close ttie purse seine around the 

 catch before transferring it aboard a larger vessel 



73 



