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2.0 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 



2.1 Goals and Objectives for Managing the Pacific Coast Groundfish 

 Fishery [Section 2.1, page 2-4; Section 9.3.1 page 9-12 of FMP] 



The Council is committed to developing long-range plans for 

 managing the Washington, Oregon, and California groundfish 

 fisheries that will promote a stable planning environment for the 

 seafood industry, including marine recreation interests, and will 

 maintain the health of the resource and environment. In developing 

 allocation and harvesting systems, the Council will give 

 consideration to maximizing economic benefits to the United States, 

 consistent with resource stewardship responsibilities for the 

 continuing welfare of the living marine resources. Thus, management 

 must be flexible enough to meet changing social and economic needs 

 of the fishery as well as to address fluctuations in the marine 

 resources supporting the fishery. The following goals have been 

 established in order of priority for managing the west coast 

 groundfish fisheries, to be considered in conjunction with the 

 national standards of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and 

 Management Act (MFCMA) . 



Management Goals. 



Goal 1 - Conservation. Prevent overfishing by managing for 

 appropriate harvest levels, and prevent any net loss of the 

 habitat of living marine resources. 



Goal 2 - Economics . Maximize the value of the groundfish 

 resource as a whole. 



Goal 3 - Utilization. Achieve maximum biological yield of the 

 overall groundfish fishery, promote year around availability 

 of quality seafood to the consumer, and promote recreational 

 fishing opportunities . 



Objectives . To accomplish these management goals, a number of 

 objectives will be considered and followed as closely as 

 practicable: 



Conservation . 



Objective 1. Maintain an information flow on the status of the 

 fishery and the fishery resource which allows for informed 

 management decisio:ns as the fishery occurs. 



Objective 2. Adopt harvest specifications and management 

 measures consistent with resource stewardship 

 responsibilities, for each groundfish species of species 

 group . 



Objective 3. For species or species groups which are below the 

 level necessary to produce MSY, consider rebuilding the stock 

 to the MSY level and, if necessary, develop a plan to rebuild 



