desirable future developments. Consideration of changes 

 in fishery management strategy should be addressed to meet- 

 ing the requirements of the MMPA, ESA and FCMA for an eco- 

 system level perspective on fisheries management. To as- 

 sist in the development of management criteria, operational 

 definitions or criteria for meeting the requirements of 

 each of these Acts should be developed or improved. The 

 policy review should address the questions of acceptable 

 risk levels , interpretation of risk levels in the absence 

 of relevant data, and responsibility for assessing and doc- 

 umenting risk levels . 



A workshop should be convened to address the specific 

 scientific and policy questions about fisheries management 

 and to develop criteria for an idealized fishery management 

 plan. The workshop should include representatives from 

 the agencies responsible for implementing the FCMA, MMPA 

 and ESA, as well as scientists knowledgeable about the marine 

 environment, specific resource populations, fisheries manage- 

 ment and ecological modeling. To accomplish the objectives 

 of science and policy review, specific tasks undertaken at 

 the workshop should include: 



1. a review of the statutory responsibilities and 

 management objectives under the FCMA, MMPA, ESA, 

 and other relevant legislation; 



2. a review of current theory and practices concern- 

 ing population and ecosystem management with a 

 view to incorporating existing techniques into 

 fishery management plans ; 



3. a review of selected population, community and 

 ecosystem models with a view to better incorpora- 

 tion of existing data and theory into management plans; 



4. identification of general deficiencies in exist- 

 ing population and ecosystem theory models and 

 data ; 



5. identification of factors that must be considered 

 in making management decisions in the absence of 

 sufficient data, theory or models; 



6. identification of appropriate methods and proce- 

 dures for making management decisions in the ab- 

 sence of sufficient data, theory or models; and 



50 



