1999 

 OUR LIVING OCEANS 



measurable definition of overfishing for each stock 

 or stock complex covered by that FMP, and to pro- 

 vide an expkination ot how the definition was de- 

 termined and how it relates to reproductive po- 

 tential. Overfishing could be expressed in terms 

 ot a minimum level of spawning biomass, maxi- 

 mum level or rate of fishing mortality, or other 

 acceptable measurable standard. It data indicated 

 that an overfished condition existed, a program 

 must be established for rebuilding the stock over 

 a period of time specified b\- the fishery manage- 

 ment councils (FMC's) and acceptable to the Sec- 

 retary of Commerce. 



Over the period 1989-96, NMFS and the 

 FMC's used the 1989 guidelines as a basis for de- 

 veloping, refining, and evaluating definitions of 

 overfishing based on recruitment overfishing 

 thresholds, fhere was ct)nsiderable variation in the 

 overfishing definitions developed and accepted, 

 due to the flexibility afforded by the guidelines. 

 Subsequently, in late 1 996, the Magnuson Act was 

 reauthorized as the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

 C^onservation and Management Act (MSF("MA) 

 with several changes that required a rethinking of 

 the basis t(.)r defining overfishing. In particular, 

 the MSFCMA required MSY itself to be the up- 

 per limit on the allowable amount or rate of fish- 

 ing. NMFS responded by producing new guide- 

 lines that were finali/ed m mid 1998. 1 he new 

 guidelines require the specification of status de- 

 termination criteria, which include both a maxi- 

 mum fishing mortality rate (beyond which over- 

 fishing is deemed to be occurring) and a mini- 

 mum stock size threshold (below which the stock 

 is deemed to be overfished). Both criteria must be 

 associated with MSY-based reference points. I he 

 MSFCMA and the new guidelines have consider- 

 ably reduced the amount of flexibility allowed in 

 defining overfishing, and require a much greater 

 degree of conservatism in the biological reference 

 points used to delimit overfishing. 



At the present time, most FMP's still contain 

 definitions of overfishing that are based on the pre- 

 vious (more flexible) guidelines, although new defi- 

 nitions based on the new (less flexible and more 

 conservative) guidelines are in the process of be- 

 ing developed and evaluated. 1 hus an anaKsis of 

 stock status based on the overfishing definitions 

 or status determination criteria contained in FMI's 



would not be consistent between stocks due to the 

 widely differing degrees of conservatism embod- 

 ied in the various definitions. 



In stimmary, overfished (as defined in FMP's) 

 is not equivalent to overutilized (as defined in 

 OLO), and therefore, there will not be a one-to- 

 one correspondence between the classifications. It 

 should also be noted that NMFS's annual Report 

 to Congress on the status of fisheries of the United 

 States relies primarily on FMP definitions of over- 

 fishing and should therefore not be expected to 

 give the same results tor every stock as the OLO 

 analysis. In the future, when all FMP's have in- 

 corporated status determination criteria based on 

 the new guidelines, there may be greater corre- 

 spondence between the FMP and OI.O evalua- 

 tions. 



Economic value 



In manv of the fishery units, a dollar figure is 

 given for the ex-vessel revenue generated by the 

 commercial fishery on a given stock or group of 

 stocks. F^x-vessel revenue is defined as the quan- 

 tity of fish landed by commercial fishernien mul- 

 tiplied by the average price received by them at 

 the first point of sale. As such, ex-vessel revenue 

 captures the immediate value of the commercial 

 harvest, but does not reflect nuihiplier effects of 

 subsequent revenues generated by seafood proces- 

 sors, disttibutors, and retailers. 



File estimate of economic value often takes 

 both recreational and commercial catches and mul- 

 tiplies them by an average price to arrive at a 

 baseline measure of economic worth among vari- 

 ous user groups. It m.iv undetestimate those fish- 

 eties where there is a large recreational component. 

 Nevertheless, the value serves as a useful gauge of 

 relative potential revenues generated over many 

 disparate stocks, fisheries, and regions. 



Marine Mammal and 

 Sea Turtle Assessments 



rhc same scientific principles apply to the 

 population d\namics of these protected species, 

 but the terminology of imderutili/ed, ftilK' utilized, 

 and overutilized does not appK'. Instead, marine 

 mammals are referred to as depleted when their 



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