fishery -of several hundred thousand tons annually, estimated 

 available forage is expected to decrease on the order of 1.23 

 million tons annually, or about half of the amount consumed 

 by predators in the absence of a fishery. 



While the anchovy management plan did allow for forage 

 for predators, the question remains of whether it allowed 

 enough. Had such calculations been incorporated in the plan, 

 the OY selected might have been different. 



The northern anchovy plan contained a reference to an en- 

 dangered species, the brown pelican, which depends on ancho- 

 vies for food. A link between anchovy abundance and reproduc- 

 tive success of the brown pelican is suspected. High anchovy 

 abundance may be required for successful reproduction, although 

 definitive data are not yet available. The Pacific Fishery 

 Management Council became aware of this relationship after the 

 plan had been drafted when comments were made through the NEPA 

 review process. A Section 7 consultation was held as required 

 by the ESA. While no specific action was taken in the final 

 plan, monitoring for impacts of the anchovy fishery on the pel- 

 icans was recommended. Such monitoring is not a Council respon- 

 sibility, however, and funding for it is not guaranteed. Crit- 

 ical habitat for the pelican under the ESA has not yet been of- 

 ficially .designated . 



Summary : The northern anchovy plan provides a good ex- 

 ample of beginning the shift of fishery management techniques 

 from the single species orientation to an ecosystem perspective. 

 MSY was calculated as required under the FCMA, but OY was re- 

 duced substantially from MSY on the basis of ecosystem level 

 considerations, namely the role of anchovies as forage fish and 

 the need to support predator populations in the ecosystem. An 

 endangered species was considered explicitly in the plan. The 

 intents of environmental legislation were recognized and acted 

 upon in the plan, although more could have been done with the 

 available data to gain an ecosystem level perspective on impacts 

 of proposed fishing levels. Rough quantitative estimates of 

 the impact of proposed fishing levels on predators, based on 

 present ecological theory and on data in the plan, could also 

 have been incorporated in the plan. 



Draft Squid Plan, 1978 



The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council developed a 

 management plan for squid in the northwest Atlantic in 1978. 

 These comments apply to the August 1978 draft. 



Species : longfinned squid, Loligo sp . ; shortfinned 

 squid, illex sp . 



F-17 



