Section 7 of the ESA requires all federal agencies to 

 consult with the Department of Commerce (NMFS) or the Depart- 

 ment of the Interior (FUS) to insure that any actions taken 

 do not jeopardize threatened or endangered species or result 

 in the destruction or modification of any critical habitat. 

 The Act as recently amended also requires that recovery plans 

 be developed for all endangered or threatened species. 



IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FCMA 



Councils . In order to put the FCMA into practice, re- 

 gional fishery management councils have been established as 

 required in the legislation. 



Fishery management councils are "quasi-federal" agencies. 

 They operate under a cooperative agreement for administrative 

 and contract work from the Department of Commerce. Most coun- 

 cils have a staff of seven to nine individuals, including ex- 

 perts in biology and economics . Councils meet approximately 

 monthly. 



The regional councils are responsible separately or 

 jointly for the development of FMPs for various fishery 

 stocks. The choice of management objectives for an FMP is a 

 critical one. Councils may hold public hearings on manage- 

 ment objectives for particular FMPs. 



Committees : Each council has established its own sci- 

 entific and statistical committee (SSC) and advisory panels. 

 Membership lists for the councils and SSCs as of late 1979 

 are in Appendix C. Most SSCs have 10 to 20 members who are 

 academic, federal or state employees, or private individuals, 

 including economists, statisticians and biologists. The SSCs 

 function to ensure the scientific validity of management plans, 

 advise on the attainability of objectives, make sure that ex- 

 pectations of the data are realistic, review objectives and 

 test assumptions. Individual SSC members may work in plan 

 drafting groups, but the SSC as a whole does not do any draft- 

 ing. SSC members are aware of research in progress and avail- 

 able data. They identify data gaps and suggest data require- 

 ments. The SSCs may recommend members of plan development 

 teams, review proposals and contract submissions, and provide 

 technical review or data analysis for calculations of MSY, 

 ABC, EY and OY . 



The councils also have established stock specific ad- 

 visory panels of locally knowledgeable individuals represent- 

 ing various interest groups, including commercial and recrea- 

 tional fishermen, consumers and environmentalists. 



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