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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competency and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was a Governing Board Theme Initiative project and funded by the Academy Industry Program Fund, the Mellon Fund, and the Casey Fund of the National Research Council, and the Kellogg Endowment Fund of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
Cover art was created by Alfredo M. Arreguin. Mr. Arreguin is an internationally recognized artist who lives in Seattle, Washington. For many years he has painted the world's endangered ecosystems—the jungles and wetlands, as well as the salmon of the Pacific Northwest. His work is displayed in numerous collections, including the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sustaining marine fisheries / Committee on Ecosystem Management for Sustainable Marine Fisheries, Ocean Studies Board, Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources, National Research Council.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-309-05526-1 (casebound)
1. Sustainable fisheries. 2. Fishery management. 3. Marine ecology. I. National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Ecosystem Management for Sustainable Marine Fisheries.
SH329.S87 S87 1998
639.3′2—dc21
98-58059
Sustaining Marine Fisheries is available from the National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; 800-624-6242 or 202-334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); http://www.nap.edu
Copyright 1999 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
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COMMITTEE ON ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE MARINE FISHERIES
HAROLD MOONEY, Chairman,
Stanford University, California
DAYTON LEE ALVERSON,
Natural Resources Consultants, Seattle
NATHANIEL BINGHAM,
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, Mendocino, California*
JERRY CLARK,
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Washington, D.C.
FREDERICK GRASSLE,
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
EILEEN HOFMANN,
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia
EDWARD HOUDE,
University of Maryland, Solomons
SIMON LEVIN,
Princeton University, New Jersey
JANE LUBCHENCO,
Oregon State University, Corvallis
JOHN MAGNUSON,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
BONNIE McCAY,
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
GORDON MUNRO,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
ROBERT PAINE,
University of Washington, Seattle
STEVEN PALUMBI,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
DANIEL PAULY,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
ELLEN PIKITCH,
Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, New York
THOMAS POWELL,
University of California, Berkeley
MICHAEL SISSENWINE,
National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Staff
DAVID POLICANSKY, Study Director
LORA TAYLOR, Senior Project Assistant
OCEAN STUDIES BOARD
KENNETH BRINK Chairman,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
ALICE ALLDREDGE,
University of California, Santa Barbara
DAVID BRADLEY,
Pennsylvania State University, State College
DAN BROMLEY,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
OTIS BROWN,
University of Miami, Florida
WILLIAM CURRY,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
RANA FINE,
University of Miami, Florida
CARL FRIEHE,
University of California, Irvine
ROBERT GAGOSIAN,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
JOHN HOBBIE,
Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
EILEEN HOFMANN,
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia
EDWARD HOUDE,
University of Maryland, Solomons
JOHN KNAUSS,
University of Rhode Island, Narragansett
ROBERT KNOX,
University of California, San Diego
RAY KRONE,
University of California, Davis
LOUIS LANZEROTTI,
Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, New Jersey
NANCY MARCUS,
Florida State University, Tallahassee
B. GREGORY MITCHELL,
University of California, San Diego
NEIL OPDYKE,
University of Florida, Gainesville
MICHAEL ORBACH,
Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina
TERRANCE QUINN II,
University of Alaska Fairbanks, Juneau Center
JAMES RAY,
Equilon Enterprises LLC, Houston, Texas
GEORGE SOMERO,
Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California
PAUL STOFFA,
University of Texas, Austin
KARL TUREKIAN,
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Staff
MORGAN GOPNIK, Director
EDWARD R. URBAN, JR., Senior Program Officer
DAN WALKER, Senior Program Officer
SUE ROBERTS, Program Officer
ROBIN MORRIS, Administrative Associate
SHARI MAGUIRE, Senior Project Assistant
LORA TAYLOR, Senior Project Assistant
JENNIFER WRIGHT, Senior Project Assistant
ANN CARLISLE, Project Assistant
COMMISSION ON GEOSCIENCES, ENVIRONMENT, AND RESOURCES
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER, Chair,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
PATRICK R. ATKINS,
Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
B. JOHN GARRICK,
PLG, Inc., Newport Beach, California
THOMAS E. GRAEDEL,
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
DEBRA KNOPMAN,
Progressive Policy Institute, Washington, D.C.
KAI N. LEE,
Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts
JUDITH E. McDOWELL,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts
RICHARD A. MESERVE,
Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C.
HUGH C. MORRIS,
Canadian Global Change Program, Delta, British Columbia
RAYMOND A. PRICE,
Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario
H. RONALD PULLIAM,
University of Georgia, Athens
THOMAS C. SCHELLING,
University of Maryland, College Park
VICTORIA J. TSCHINKEL,
Landers and Parsons, Tallahassee, Florida
E-AN ZEN,
University of Maryland, College Park
MARY LOU ZOBACK,
U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California
Staff
ROBERT M. HAMILTON, Executive Director
GREGORY H. SYMMES, Assistant Executive Director
JEANETTE SPOON, Administrative and Financial Officer
SANDI FITZPATRICK, Administrative Associate
MARQUITA SMITH, Administrative Assistant/Technology Analyst
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Acknowledgment of Reviewers
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC's Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the NRC in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The content of the final report is the responsibility of the NRC and the study committee, and not the responsibility of the reviewers. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report:
Chris Blackburn, Alaska Groundfish Data Bank
John Chipman, University of Minnesota
Ellie Dorsey, Conservation Law Foundation
Richard Haedrich, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Susan Hanna, Oregon State University
Raymond Hilborn, University of Washington
James Kitchell, University of Wisconsin, Madison
John Ledyard, California Institute of Technology
Kai Lee, Williams College
Pamela Matson, Stanford University
Ransom Myers, Dalhousie University
William Pearcy, Oregon State University
C.H. Peterson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Terrance Quinn II, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Juneau Center
While the individuals listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, it must be emphasized that responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the NRC.
Foreword
Fishery issues continue to receive enormous, and growing, public attention. A particularly good example can be seen in the groundfish fisheries off New England, where increasingly stringent regulations have been implemented to limit the capture of cod, haddock, flounder, and other fishes. Many other marine fisheries are similarly troubled. Yet, despite considerable study, the exact causes of the problems and the means to solve them are often difficult to understand.
The National Research Council's Ocean Studies Board (OSB) has been actively involved in a number of studies related to marine fisheries, leading to such reports as An Assessment of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (1994), Improving the Management of U.S. Marine Fisheries (1994), and Improving Fish Stock Assessments (1998). The issues presented by studies such as these highlight the need for taking a broad view of fishery problems. Thus, the Ocean Studies Board designed the study that is the subject of this report, assembling a group of experts to produce the broad-based overview presented here. In addition, several topics raised in this volume are currently being explored in greater detail by ongoing OSB study committees including the Committee to Review Individual Fishing Quotas, the Committee to Review Community Development Quotas, the Committee on the Evaluation, Design, and Monitoring of Marine Reserves and Protected Areas in the U.S., and the Committee on Improving the Collection and Use of Fisheries Data.
We look forward to continuing to make the connections between fishery science and policy that are necessary to achieve sustainable resource management.
KENNETH BRINK, CHAIRMAN
OCEAN STUDIES BOARD
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Preface
Producing this report was a difficult challenge because of the complexity of the issue—that of trying to bring new insights and approaches into the ways that fisheries are viewed and managed. The need for this evaluation is clear. Many of the fisheries of the world's oceans are under threat. These threatened fisheries are important economically, culturally, and for supplying protein to a growing human population. The ecosystems to which the targeted fish, invertebrates, and plants belong provide additional goods and services to society, so they too must be considered in a holistic view of the problem.
It is this holistic viewpoint that we have sought. The Ocean Studies Board committee that produced this report was unusually broad in its expertise and included fishery scientists, ecosystem and population ecologists, fishers, and social scientists, including economists. Its membership includes people from the fishing industry and from nongovernmental organizations. As can be imagined, achieving a convergence of viewpoints among such a diverse group was challenging. However, it is just such a convergence that is necessary, as discussed in this report, to open new approaches to the difficult problem of sustaining marine fisheries.
In addition to the direct input of committee members, we sought advice at a conference in Monterey, California, from a larger group of international experts representing, again, a diversity of approaches. The results of the discussions at that meeting were presented in a recent special issue of Ecological Applications and also importantly influenced the committee's deliberations, as reflected in this report.
The committee also sought advice and insight from a group of fishers and conservationists at two discussion groups, one in Seattle and the other in Washington, D.C. These meetings clearly indicated the history of the problems and the universal desire to find equitable and achievable ways of addressing the issue of the health of fishery resources.
As will be seen in this report, the committee has no silver bullet to offer. The problem is too large and too complex for a single solution. What we do offer is an overview of the problem and the history of its development. We do point to some pervasive parts of the problem that must be addressed and then offer specific approaches, many of which are already in place, that need amplification and further development. Most of all, the committee proposes a new context, an ecosystem viewpoint in which humans are the major player, in which we must proceed in order to have any hope of maintaining sustainable fisheries in a world in which climate is changing and the human population is growing.
Many individuals and organizations helped the committee in its work. We are grateful to scientists around the world who provided us with information, literature citations, and advice. The National Marine Fisheries Service and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization were particularly helpful with documentation.
This study was stimulated by the actions of Mary Hope Katsouros, former director of the Ocean Studies Board. For her extraordinary energy and insights the committee is grateful. We are pleased that the National Research Council (NRC) agreed that this problem is so important that it funded this study from internal sources. The committee also thanks NRC Chair Bruce Alberts and NRC Executive Officer E. William Colglazier for their personal interest in and help with this project. The staff of the Ocean Studies Board provided the usual excellent backup for the project. The committee is especially grateful to project officer David Policansky, the quintessential professional, for his never-flagging, crucial, and substantial input in bringing this report to fruition.
HAROLD A. MOONEY, CHAIRMAN
COMMITTEE ON ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE MARINE FISHERIES