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the maximum sustainable yield ... as modified by any 

 relevant economic, social, or ecological factor ." 54 The 

 reference to an "ecological factor" in the Magnuson Act is 

 clearly intended to reguire modifications to maximum 

 sustainable yield fishery levels when necessary to ensure that 

 fishing levels will not disrupt the balance of marine 

 ecosystems, such as by over-fishing prey species for marine 

 mammals and seabirds. 



In 1989, the demand for comprehensive multi-species- 

 oriented management of marine resources was taken up by 41 of 

 the world's leading marine biologists in testimony submitted 

 under the Magnuson Act. The scientists noted that marine 

 ecosystems are complex and subject to naturally occurring 

 changes in their constituent elements. However, human 

 interventions "can and do have stabilizing or destabilizing 

 influences on the natural variability and cause or accelerate 

 severe shifts in the composite ecosystem." 55 They noted the 

 severe destabilizing impacts of these interventions in several 

 fisheries around the world. To address this problem, the 

 scientists called for, among actions, amendments to the 

 Magnuson Act "to promote a total ecosystem perspective in 

 managing the Nation's fish stocks, taking into account the 



54 Id=. S 1802(1) (emphasis added). 



"statement of Concerned Scientists on the Reauthorization of the 

 Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act 3 (1989). 



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