IDEAL FMP CHARACTERISTICS 



To meet the requirements of good management and the 

 intents of the MMPA and ESA as well as the FCMA, fishery man- 

 agement plans should include explicit consideration of the 

 effects of fisheries on the marine environment, critical 

 habitat for endangered species, important habitat for other 

 species, carrying capacity for marine mammals, incidental 

 take of marine mammals, and the health and stability of the 

 marine ecosystem. Marine mammal distribution in the U.S. FCZ 

 and a provisional list of marine mammal species for each 

 council region are listed in Appendix H. 



To begin to meet legislative intents more closely, more 

 ecological descriptive information is in order. The trophic 

 interactions, including competition, predation and prey, of 

 an exploited fish stock at each stage of the species life 

 cycle should be described. Where such information is not 

 available, assumptions made on the basis of similar species 

 elsewhere should be stated. To ensure that ecological inter- 

 actions are kept in mind, conceptual foodweb diagrams for 

 each marine ecosystem within an FCZ should be developed and 

 included as part of the background information in all fishery 

 management plans affecting that ecosystem. 



Estimates of the food requirements for populations 

 which prey on fishery stocks, of the availability of potential 

 alternate prey should be made. The time lags required for 

 long lived predators to adjust to variations in the produc- 

 tivity and density of short lived prey should also be among 

 the ecological considerations involved in OY determination. 

 Since continuing yield is usually a fishery management goal, 

 and since capital investment in vessels and employment for 

 fishermen exert economic pressures against reducing allowable 

 catch levels, a fishery can be viewed as an additional preda- 

 tor in an ecosystem, and a very long lived one. Where quan- 

 titative predator prey considerations are impossible, a care- 

 ful assessment of data required to achieve them should be 

 included in the fishery management plan. 



An ecosystem perspective on impacts of a fishery does 

 not imply avoidance of any impacts on the marine environment 

 or ecosystem. Instead it means that those impacts should 

 not go unmentioned, but should be stated in plans, accompanied 

 by associated probability levels, so that the acceptability 

 of the anticipated risk can be evaluated. 



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