MSY levels were estimated separately for species such 

 as pollock, yellowfin sole, cod, sable fish, Atka mackerel 

 and Pacific halibut, and for groups such as turbo t, other 

 flatfish, rockfish and squid. Equilibrium yields (EYs) were 

 also calculated and were similar to MSY except for rockfish, 

 Pacific halibut, and sable fish in the Bering Sea, which are 

 all depleted stocks. The sum of estimated MSY for all spe- 

 cies combined was 1.7-2.3 million metric tons. The combined 

 EYs were 1.414-1.451 million metric tons. 



OY levels were set at conservative estimates of MSY for 

 most species, and at EY levels for the depleted stocks. The 

 combined OYs in the draft plan were 1.444 million metric 

 tons. Of that total, pollock alone account for 1 million 

 metric tons. 



Bering Sea groundfish comprise an enormous fishery, rep- 

 resenting about 27o of the entire world marine catch, and a 

 third of the fisheries covered by existing final or draft 

 management plans for the U.S. FCZ as of the end of 1978. OY 

 in the plan was at the same level as recent unregulated fish 

 catches in the region. Very little of the recent catch, 

 about 400 metric tons, has been taken by domestic fisheries, 

 and domestic use of the resource is expected to remain at 

 this low level. 



Squid Draft Plan, 1978 



One objective of the Mid-Atlantic Council Draft Squid 

 Plan was maintenance of an adequate food supply for predators . 

 The plan recognized that several years of intensive fishing 

 on squid could affect food for pilot whales. However, no 

 calculations were included on the predator prey relation- 

 ships of squid or of the possible impacts of proposed fish- 

 ing levels on food availability for predators. 



MSY estimates in the plan were 44,000 tons for long- 

 finned squid (Loligo) and 40,000 tons for shortfinned squid 

 (illex). The council considered these estimates of MSY to 

 be conservative. 



For longfinned squid, the OY selected was the MSY esti- 

 mate. For shortfinned squid, the OY was set at 75% of the 

 MSY estimate, since the MSY estimate was considered unrelia- 

 ble because of incomplete data. 



Squid are both predators and prey in the marine ecosystem. 

 Some 54 species of fish have been identified as predators 

 of adult squid. The pilot whale (Globicephala melanea) also 



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