Pacific ocean perch stocks are at a low level of abun- 

 dance and in poor condition. ABC for all rockfishes was es- 

 tablished at EY for Pacific ocean perch alone, so that catches 

 of perch would be less than EY for that one species and some 

 rebuilding of the stock would be expected to occur. 



Sablefish stocks have been overfished and cannot now 

 produce MSY. The source of recruitment to these stocks is 

 unknown but may be spawning in the Gulf of Alaska. In that 

 case rebuilding is a function of the Gulf spawning stocks 

 rather than the Bering Sea-Aleutian stocks. ABC was set equiv- 

 alent to EY. 



For Atka mackerel, ABC was set at 15% of estimated MSY. 



Review : The North Pacific Fishery Management Council 

 recognized the inadequacies of the traditional single species 

 approach for present day fisheries management : 



"Changes in abundance and distribution of one species 

 (e.g., caused by a fishery) affect the abundance and 

 distribution of other species as well. Therefore wise 

 management requires the quantitative knowledge of all 

 these interactions ; single species population dynamics 

 approaches are no longer fully adequate for modern 

 fisheries management." (1978 draft plan, p. 139). 



However, the Council chose to adhere very strictly to single 

 species management techniques in establishing OY for the ground- 

 fish fishery. 



Even though this fishery management plan covered some 300 

 species, it was single species in approach. No account was 

 taken of ecological interactions between species , nor of how 

 such an intensive fishery on all of the species affected the 

 assumptions underlying MSY calculations. Calculating all the 

 MSYs separately, and then adding them together, was still single 

 species type management. 



OYs were set at essentially the same levels as recent 

 catches. These levels were not necessarily appropriate since 

 catches have been declining from a peak of 2.25 million metric 

 tons in 1972. This decline suggests a history of overfishing 

 in the region, a trend which will not be corrected by continuing 

 intensive fishing. 



OY was set essentially at MSY for all species considered 

 except yellowfin sole, Pacific ocean perch and sablefish, which 

 are depleted and presently at population levels well below those 

 producing MSY. For those depleted species OY was set at EY , so 

 that stock size is expected to remain the same without any re- 

 building. Such intense fishing on all groundfish in the area is 



F-6 



