FEATURE ARTICLE 1 

 THE PRECAUTIONARY APPROACH 



of overfishing) and directed that fishery manage- 

 ment plans be amended to require "status deter- 

 mination criteria" that include separate parts tor 

 both the act of overfishing and the condition ot 

 being overfished: 



"Each FMP must specify, to the extent pos- 

 sible, OBJECTIVE AND MEASURABLE STATUS DETER- 

 MINATION CRITERIA FOR EACH STOCK OR STOCK 

 COMPLEX COVERED BY THAT FMP AND PROVIDE 

 AN ANALYSIS OF HOW THE STATUS DETERMINATION 

 CRITERIA WERE CHOSEN AND HC1W THFY RELATE 

 TO REPRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL. StATLLS DETERMI- 

 NATION CRITERIA MUST BE EXPRESSED IN A WAY 

 THAT ENABLES THE COUNCIL AND THE SECRETARY 

 TO MONITOR THE STOCK OR ST0C;K COMPLEX AND 

 DETERMINE ANNUALLY WHETHER OVERFISHING IS 

 OCCURRING AND WHETHER THE STOCK OR STt")CK 

 COMPLEX IS OVERFISHED. IN ALL CASES, STATUS 

 DETERMINATION CRITERIA MUST SPECIFY BOTH OF 

 THE FOLLOWING; (i) A MAXIMUM FISHING MOR- 

 TALITY THRESHOLD OR REASONABLE PROXY 

 THEREOF. ... The FISHING MORTALITY THRESHOLD 

 MUST NOT EXCEED THE FISHING MORTALITY RATE 

 OR LEVEL ASSOCIATED WITH THE RELEVANT MSY 

 CONTROL RULE. EXCEEDING THE FISHING MOR- 

 TALITY THRESHOLD FOR A PERIOD OF 1 YEAR OR 

 MORE CONSTITUTES OVERFISHING, (ii) A MINIMUM 

 STOCK SIZE THRESHOLD OR REASONABLE PROXY 



THEREOF. ... Should the actual size of the 



STOCK OR stock COMPLEX IN A GIVEN YEAR FALL 

 BELOW THIS THRESHOLD, THE STC1CK OR STOCK 

 COMPLEX IS (.:ONSIDERED OVERFISHED." 



The MSFCMA does not explicitly require that OY 

 (the target) be set safely below MSY (the Irmit), 

 which is what would be expected using a Precau- 

 tionary Approach. However, the National Stan- 

 dard Guidelines published in May 1998 recom- 

 mend that the fishery management councils "adopt 

 a Precautionary Approach" to fisheries manage- 

 ment characterized by: 



"Target reference points, such as OY, should 

 be set safely below limit reference points 



[i.e., THE OVERFISHING DEFINITIONS] ..." 



"A STOCK OR STOCK COMPLEX THAI IS BIT OW THE 

 SIZE THAT WOULD PRODUCE MSY SHOULD BE 



HARVESTED AT A LOWER RATE OR LEVEL OF FISH- 

 ING MORTALITY THAN IF THE STOCK OR STOCK 

 COMPLEX WERE ABOVE THE SIZE THAT WOULD PRO- 

 DUCE MSY." 



"Criteria used to set target catch levels 



SHOULD BE explicitly RISK AVERSE, SO TH.W THE 

 GREATER UNCERTAINTY REGARDING THE STATUS 

 OR REPRODUCTIVE CAPACITY OF THE STOCK OR 

 STOCK COMPLEX CORRESPONDS TO A GREATER 

 CAUTION IN SETTING TARGET CATCH LEVELS." 



HARVEST CONTROL 

 RULES AND REBUILDING 



Harvest control rules (also called decision 

 rules) are preagreed protocols tor controlling tish- 

 ing activities with respect to stock status and the 

 limit and target reference points. For example, a 

 harvest control rule might specify how the fishing 

 mortality rate (or, equivalently, the allowable 

 catches) should vary as a tunction ot the size ot 

 the stock. 



The 1996 MSFCMA definition of optimum 

 yield instructs that target catch levels for overfished 

 stocks need to allow for rebuilding to the MSY 

 level (Table 1). More specifically, the MSFCMA 

 requires the fishery management councils to take 

 remedial action to end overfishing and rebuild 

 overfished stocks to MSY levels very rapidly (gen- 

 eralK' in 10 years or less). The definition of opti- 

 mum yield does not provide much guidance for 

 cases in which an overfished condition is being 

 approached from the opposite direction (i.e. trom 

 a healthy stock condition). However, both the 

 MSFCMA and the National Standards Guidelines 

 detlne overtlshing as a level or rate ot tishing mor- 

 talitv that jeopardizes the capacity ot a stock or 

 stock complex to produce MSY on a continuing 

 basis. Under a Precautionary Approach, this im- 

 plies that target catch levels should decrease mono- 

 tonically when a stock is below its MSY level to 

 avoid imperiling the stock's productivity. 



Figure 2 depicts an example ot limit and tar- 

 tlet harvest control rules that are compatible with 

 the National Standard Guidelines. The limit (solid 

 line) is used to decide what level ot tishing mor- 

 talirv' indicates "overfishing," and when the stock 



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