ISSUES OF NATIONAL CONCERN

INTRODUCTION

	The management of living marine resources is extremely complex and
involves many biological, economic, social, and political factors.
Each region and each fishery discussed in this report, and even
those fisheries that are currently well managed and yielding near
their long-term potential for the Nation's benefit, must
continually adjust and adapt to ever changing conditions which can
undermine management. If the Nation is to increase the long-term
benefits from currently overutilized and depleted resources, we
must confront the difficult issues and practices which have
resulted in overutilization and resource depletion.
In each of the 24 fishery unit reports, major issues affecting the
resource and its management are discussed. Although each fishery
unit has unique features, there are common themes that are
significant to many, if not all, units. These can be summarized
under eight headings: Management Concerns, Bycatch and Multispecies
Interactions, Resource Allocation, Jurisdiction and Transboundary
Issues, Habitat Concerns, Underutilized Species, Recovery of
Protected Species, and Scientific Information and the Adequacy of
Assessments. These issues are briefly considered here, along with
recent progress made in addressing them.

MANAGEMENT CONCERNS

	Ultimately, the management strategies employed must be a
consideration when many fish stocks are overutilized or when
populations are too low to produce the LTPY. Management is also a
concern when the economic performance of a fishery is poor because
there are more vessels than needed to harvest the available amount
of fish (i.e., overcapitalization). Table 3 summarizes the status
of utilization for each fishery unit. Some stocks are overutilized
in most units (28% of all stocks and 40% of the stocks where status
is known, Fig. 6). The situation is about the same with respect to
the status of stock levels. The list of stocks that are
overutilized and/or below the level required to produce LTPY
includes some of the Nation's most valuable fishery resources, such
as New England groundfish, Atlantic sea scallops, Gulf shrimp,
several pelagic highly migratory stocks (including Atlantic bluefin
tuna and swordfish), some Pacific salmon stocks, many nearshore
stocks (including some oyster populations, bay scallops, abalones,
Pacific striped bass), some rockfish stocks off Alaska, and Alaska
king crab.
	Many U.S. marine fisheries, including both the overutilized and
fully utilized stocks, are overcapitalized. As generally
understood, this means that there are more fishing vessels and gear
trying to catch fish than are necessary to harvest the resource
efficiently. In effect, this means that the Nation may be losing
more production of other valuable goods and services than it gains
from the fish being harvested by excess capital. Such
overcapitalization is a major factor contributing to
overutilization of a resource. Where fisheries are overcapitalized
and performing poorly in economic terms, short-term economic
concerns tend to receive undue weight relative to the steps needed
to cut back harvests and to achieve the long-term biological and
economic potential. The excess capital may maintain pressure to
increase catch limits beyond potential yield levels, depleting the
resource, and once depleted, preventing its recovery. Many of the
other issues discussed in this report are aggravated by
overcapitalization. For example, when there is an excess number of
boats, fish allocation and bycatch problems are exacerbated.
Economic theory and experience in most U.S. fisheries (and
worldwide), indicates that overcapitalization is an inevitable
consequence of fisheries management that allows anyone who wants to
participate in the fishery to do so. Only recently have U.S.
fisheries managers begun to control access to fisheries (see
Progress section, page 22).
	Although only discussed as a major problem in a few units, economic
issues are important in all the fisheries described in this report.
Data for evaluating the economic performance of most of our
fisheries are scarce. More economic information will be needed to
improve management of our living marine resources. 

BYCATCH AND MULTISPECIES INTERACTIONS

	The issue of bycatch (i.e., the incidental capture of nontargeted
species) and interactions between species affects most of the units
in this report. The management of many LMR's, including the
recovery of protected species of marine mammals and sea turtles,
can potentially be undermined by their bycatch in other fisheries.
For example, the recovery of depleted reef fishes in the Gulf of
Mexico (Unit 8) may be slowed or prevented by bycatch of young fish
in the shrimp fishery. Bycatch issues affect management decisions
on the allocation of resources to user groups as well. Groundfish
trawl fisheries off Alaska (Unit 19) are now restricted to reduce
the bycatch of Pacific halibut and crabs. Bycatch of marine mammals
and sea turtles by the commercial fisheries may need to be reduced
to promote recovery of these stocks (e.g., Atlantic harbor
porpoise, Unit 22). 
	Many others, such as the Pacific groundfish fishery (Unit 15),
catch a wide variety of species on a single fishing trip.
Management is complicated here because each species is affected
differently by the different fishing mortality rates. Finding a
management scheme which allows full utilization of a highly
productive species, while protecting species with low productivity,
when they are harvested together, is a major challenge.
Ecological interactions may also affect management of LMR's.
Harvesting one component of an ecosystem may shift the balance
towards other, less valuable, species. In the U.S. northeast,
commercially important groundfish once dominated the fish biomass,
but now skates and dogfish make up a much larger share (Unit 1).

RESOURCE ALLOCATION

	Allocation of fish between user groups is a difficult socioeconomic
problem in many fisheries. Conflicts often arise between different
sectors of the commercial industry (e.g., inshore and offshore
fishermen in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, Unit 19; longliners
and trawlers on the Pacific coast, Unit 15), between commercial
fishermen and recreational fishermen (e.g., fisheries for coastal
migratory pelagics, Unit 7), and between conservation groups and
 ecotourists  and fishermen (e.g., reef fish resources in the
southeastern U.S.). In many cases, economic analysis may help guide
allocation decisions; in others, social considerations may
predominate.
	At present, it is the responsibility of Fishery Management Councils
and the Federal government to resolve allocation problems. This
amounts to deciding who are the  winners  or  losers,  often times
without objective criteria and adequate information. It may be
possible to reduce the role of government in allocation decisions
by allowing shares in a fishery to be traded (i.e., bought and
sold) between participants. This way, private individuals can
assess the value they place on participation (based on monetary
and/or nonmonetary factors). Economic forces will move to allocate
shares in the fishery to those who place the greatest value on
participation. 
	This approach requires that access to the fishery be controlled
(see section on management concerns), otherwise the value of
everyone's shares will be dissipated by overcapitalization. 

JURISDICTION AND TRANSBOUNDARY ISSUES

	Many living marine resources are shared with other countries,
including our immediate neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Some stocks
of concern to the United States, like Atlantic salmon, migrate
through the waters of more distant nations such as Greenland (Unit
3). In addition, many stocks straddle the boundaries between state
and Federal waters and between state jurisdictions (Unit 21). This
means that several management authorities may have overlapping
responsibilities for the same resource, which include data
collection, scientific analyses, and implementing management
controls. State, Federal, and international agencies may be
involved in the management of some resources such as Pacific
halibut (Unit 19) or Atlantic and Pacific highly migratory pelagics
(Units 5 and 18). The search for agreement among competing
interests and various entities can slow the management process or
undermine it altogether. Thus, it requires careful coordination and
agreement over mutual actions to promote responsible resource use.

HABITAT CONCERNS

	The productivity of a living marine resource is a function of the
environmental conditions in which the species lives as well as its
biological characteristics. If, for example, the quality and/or
amount of habitat available to support young fish is reduced, the
overall productivity of the stock will decrease, and fewer will be
available for harvest. These concerns are particularly important
for anadromous species such as salmon (Units 3, 12, 13) and for
many of the nearshore species, because our rivers and coastal areas
tend to be more affected by pollution and habitat alteration than
areas further offshore. For example, Gulf shrimp (Unit 11) in the
U.S. southeast are fully dependent on nearshore habitat during a
critical early phase of their life cycle. Loss of estuaries and
marshes could have major consequences for the shrimp resource, one
of our most valuable marine fisheries.

UNDERUTILIZED SPECIES

	A few abundant resources, such as pelagic stocks in the
northeastern U.S. (Unit 2), are currently underutilized. A much
larger fishery yield could potentially be obtained from these
stocks, but market conditions or the availability of more valuable
or accessible alternatives has kept the harvest low. Shifting
fishing pressure from one species to another could relieve some
pressure from stressed stocks and aid in rebuilding of depleted
resources while reducing the adverse impact of a rebuilding period
on the industry. However, underutilized fish stocks may inhabit the
same areas as overutilized stocks. In this case, harvest strategies
need to be developed so that the former can be utilized without
jeopardizing the latter.

RECOVERY OF PROTECTED SPECIES

	Many protected marine mammal and sea turtle stocks are listed as
endangered or threatened under the ESA and/or depleted under the
MMPA. Developing and implementing management strategies to minimize
the adverse impact of human activities on these animals and
encourage their recovery, while not unnecessarily restricting
commercial and recreational fisheries, is a major challenge. 

SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION AND ADEQUACY OF ASSESSMENTS

	There is a good scientific basis for assessing the status of most
of the major species harvested in each region. Nevertheless, the
status of utilization is unknown for about 29% (Fig. 6, Table 3) of
the fish species or groups considered in this report. The recent
population size relative to the stock level that would produce LTPY
is also unknown for 29% (Fig. 6). The trend in abundance is unknown
for 83% (Table 2) of the marine mammal and sea turtle stocks. Many
of the stocks whose status is unknown (Unit 8) may have relatively
small potential yields compared to major species such as walleye
(Alaska) pollock or Atlantic cod, however, important fisheries
still focus on these species. Even for the stocks included in Table
3 where the status or trend in abundance is known, the information
is often imprecise. This is usually because of the difficulties of
sampling catches and surveying over large areas for many species.
	Even when new sampling programs have been implemented in recent
years, the lack of historical data complicates the estimation of
population status and trends. There are also large gaps in
fundamental understanding of the structure and dynamics of LMR
populations and the ecosystems of which they are a part. 
Many potential benefits from LMR's may not be achieved because of
insufficient information. When the status of LMR's is unknown or
imprecisely known, it is necessary to harvest conservatively to
guard against accidental depletion. The groundfish fisheries in the
eastern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska (Unit 19) are examples of
such a cautious strategy. On the other hand, lack of precision in
assessments of fishery resources has unfortunately been used in
other cases to argue that the evidence of overutilization was not
strong enough to justify restricting a fishery. This argument has
led to the depletion of many historically abundant stocks (e.g.,
most traditional New England groundfish and flounders in Unit 1). 
	Uncertainty about the relationship between marine mammals and
fisheries now threatens both. For example, Steller sea lions (Unit
23) may rely on many of the same species of fish harvested in the
Alaska trawl fishery. While the sea lion population has declined
substantially, the scientific basis to determine if the fishery is
negatively impacting these marine mammals is inadequate at present.
A potential outcome of making management decisions without
sufficient information could be that, in the case of Steller sea
lions, a valuable fishery is unnecessarily restricted to protect
the population or, alternatively, that the fishery unknowingly
contributes to the further depletion of the sea lion population.

PROGRESS

	Considerable progress has been made over the last year in improving
the management of U.S. living marine resources, though it may take
several years before the benefits of these activities accrue to the
Nation. In this section progress on various issues is briefly noted
and summarized across the fishery units.
	Management concerns for the overutilized resources in the Northeast
have been addressed by the development of new management strategies
for groundfish (Unit 1) and scallops (Unit 4) by the New England
Fishery Management Council. The plans are not panaceas that will
solve all the problems that affect these valuable fisheries, but
they are an important beginning. Further work is well underway on
lobster management also. For these resources, the proposal is to
control access and facilitate rebuilding of the stocks by
controlling fishing effort. In the short term, this will result in
reduced catches by the commercial fleet, but as the stocks rebuild
it is expected that catches and revenues will recover and exceed
present levels. Management controls to rebuild the summer flounder
stock enacted by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in
1992 already appear to be paying off with signs of improved
recruitment. Resource rebuilding programs are also underway for
western Pacific bottomfish (Unit 17), Gulf and Atlantic coastal
pelagics (Unit 7), reef fish (Unit 8), and drum and croakers (Unit
9). Access control has also been implemented for Pacific groundfish
(Unit 15) and western Pacific pelagic species (Unit 18). Serious
management concerns for the Atlantic shark resource (Unit 6) have
begun to be addressed in a newly implemented FMP. Data collection
will improve, and wasteful fishing practices are prohibited in the
plan. 
	Access control through Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) systems
for surfclams and ocean quahogs in the Northeast (Unit 4) and
wreckfish in the southeastern U.S. (Unit 8) have reduced the size
of the fleets to rationalize the fishery and the shares appear to
be holding their value. A similar system will soon be implemented
in the Alaska region for Pacific halibut and sablefish.
Controlled-access fisheries management, particularly ITQ's, remain
controversial. It is up to the Councils to decide when these
management tools are to be applied. Clearly the trend is in this
direction.
	New initiatives to mitigate the bycatch of nontarget and protected
species have been undertaken in the Southeast with the development
of an industry-NMFS cooperative research plan for bycatch. In the
Northeast shrimp fishery (Unit 4) a device called the  Nordmore
Grate  is being used by the industry to reduce finfish bycatch,
with encouragement from the New England Fishery Management Council
and NMFS. On the Pacific coast the Pacific Fishery Management
Council has amended the groundfish FMP to authorize new management
measures to reduce bycatch of salmon and other nongroundfish
species (Unit 15). The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is
actively managing salmon, halibut, and marine mammal bycatch
problems through time and area closures to groundfish fishing and
bycatch limits for individual vessels. 
	The continuation and expansion of at-sea observer programs around
the country is also an important component needed to address the
bycatch problem. In the Northeast, new analyses of observer data on
bycatch of harbor porpoises (Unit 22) will be used in developing
plans to reduce incidental capture and its impact on the porpoise
population. In the North Pacific, the United Nations' sponsored
moratorium on large-scale driftnet fishing, which went into effect
at the beginning of 1993, has ameliorated the bycatch of mammals
and sea turtles (Units 23 and 24).
	Allocation problems between different sectors of a fishery are
widespread and difficult to address equitably. In Alaska, community
quotas have been instituted which reserve a portion of the total
allowable catch for small scale fishermen from coastal communities
(Unit 19). The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council has
addressed allocation problems in their highly migratory pelagic
species plan (Unit 18) by reserving nearshore areas for certain
gear types and limiting the number of longline permits. Similar
measures have reduced conflicts between fixed-gear and mobile-gear
fishermen in the Southeast (Unit 11). 
	Interjurisdictional issues have been addressed in recovery plans
for summer flounder (Unit 1) and king mackerel (Unit 7), where
state and Federal fishery scientists and managers have worked
together to improve resource management. A major advance for the
conservation of Atlantic salmon (Unit 3) was achieved by
international agreement to close the salmon fishery off
Newfoundland and to keep the quota low for the Greenland fishery.
And now, even that small quota has been successfully purchased by
private action to protect salmon. In the international waters of
the central Bering Sea, cooperative multilateral research and
negotiation has closed the walleye pollock fishery in this zone in
1993 and 1994 to allow rebuilding of this portion of the pollock
resources.
	New research on aquatic habitat needs for invertebrates in the
Southeast (Unit 11), Hawaiian green turtles (Unit 24), and Atlantic
marine mammals (Unit 22) is underway. These studies, along with
other work which has improved our knowledge of the basic biology of
marine resources, are an important component of scientific advice
for management. The scientific basis for management has also
improved through a large number of new assessments (e.g. American
lobster, Unit 4; Atlantic sharks, Unit 6; Atlantic harbor porpoise,
Unit 22; Hawaiian monk seal, Unit 23; Pacific mackerel and Pacific
sardine, Unit 14; California sea lion and eastern Pacific spinner
dolphin, Unit 23; and widow rockfish, Unit 15).  This summary of
progress during the last year is illustrative, not exhaustive.
Improving the management of marine resources requires balancing a
large number of competing concerns and interests and includes many
difficult technical problems. Each year we are improving the
scientific basis for management, strengthening management plans
that maintain productive fisheries, and implementing new plans to
recover overutilized fisheries and conserve protected resources.

STRATEGY FOR THE FUTURE

	Many of the issues and problems described in this national overview
and in more detail in the individual fishery units to follow, have
existed for many years in U.S. and indeed world fisheries. The many
case studies in fisheries management both inside and outside the
United States and the large body of scientific information now
available, which makes a document such as  Our Living Oceans 
possible, is pointing the way to solutions to many of our fishery
management problems. The NOAA Strategic Plan (1993) has as goals,
with respect to marine resources, to build sustainable fisheries
for the long-term benefit of the Nation, recover protected species,
and promote healthy ecosystems. The strategic plan advocates
conversion of fisheries management from open access to controlled
access (recognizing that it is the prerogative of the relevant
Council to decide when such measures need be instituted); rapid
expansion of scientific information; and risk-averse decisions on
management actions. These three general strategies relate to each
of the issues discussed above. Controlling fisheries access
addresses the problems of management controls, overcapitalization,
allocation, and jurisdiction. An increase in scientific information
addresses the approximately 30% of stock groups whose status is
unknown, and provides a stronger basis for the development of
future management controls and recovery plans for protected
species. In addition, improved scientific information will be
essential for ensuring ecosystem health and addressing habitat
concerns. Risk-adverse decision-making is a key element in the
development of any improved management system. This means that
managers should err on the side of caution with respect to
long-term resource health when making decisions. Making decisions
based on short-term goals often places long-term health at risk.
	The NOAA Strategic Plan and the NMFS are tasked with managing
living marine resources for the sustained benefit of the Nation. We
are moving in the right direction and there is great promise for
increased benefits for the domestic fishing industry, recreational
anglers, the general public, and future generations.