Science and Its Role in the National Marine Fisheries Service (2002) / Chapter Skim
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7. Findings and Recommendations
7. Findings and Recommendations
Pages 50-68
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From page 50... ...
Kammer (2000) found that there was a plateau in NMFS's base funding for stock assessments and other science operations, particularly those with a long-term focus.
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From page 51... ...
· Funding. ADEQUACY OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION FOR FISHERIES MANAGEMENT Finding: Past National Research Council committees found that NMFS stock assessments generally have been done correctly given the data available and have used reasonable assumptions.
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To accomplish that goal, it will be necessary for NMFS stock assessment scientists to be trained more broadly in the use of different models and to be less prone to use models as "black boxes." Other important recommendations from those NRC reports are that NMFS and the regional FMCs should find ways to use fishery-dependent data more effectively and collect and use more social and economic data in the stockassessment process to evaluate the social and economic impacts of different management strategies. NMFS cannot afford to assess all fisheries to the same degree.
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From page 53... ...
Both items are essential to increase the likelihood of successful fisheries management. ADEQUACY OF SCIENCE RELATED TO MARINE ECOSYSTEMS AND PROTECTED SPECIES Finding: NMFS is responsible for administering a wide array of legislative mandates, requiring broader scientific knowledge than is available from scientific activities traditionally conducted by NMFS.
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From page 54... ...
With improved understanding of how various fish stocks interact as parts of marine ecosystems, there is increasing recognition that landings are not adequate measures of the health of ocean resources. NMFS has the capabilities and facilities through its science centers and its relationships with academic scientists to obtain observations and conduct the experiments necessary to improve our biological understanding of fish populations and marine ecosystems sufficiently to improve the management of fisheries and such protected resources as marine mammals, marine turtles, and seabirds.
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From page 55... ...
It is important that NMFS staff employed in protected resources, habitat, and sustainable resources communicate effectively to plan, coordinate, and conduct needed research. Ecosystem research will have substantial costs and should be considered in NMFS funding priorities without diminishing support for routine stock assessments and biological research.
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From page 56... ...
Because critical social and economic data are not routinely collected and analyzed, it is difficult to determine whether population fluctuations measured by landings, for example, result from changes in the magnitude of the stock or from changes in associated economic or social factors. Without adequate social and economic data and analysis, it is often impossible to determine the total cost of management alternatives.
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From page 57... ...
; it is well past time to give economic and social data equal consideration with biological data in the development of FMPs. With respect to adequacy of social and economic data, plans need to be made for the regular collection, storage, and retrieval of this type of data in a manner that is analogous to data for stock assessments.
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From page 58... ...
NMFS generates stock assessments and other information about managed fisheries, habitats, and protected species. The information is provided to the regional FMCs (usually to their science and statistical committees)
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From page 59... ...
and NMFS managers when the latter act on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce and compromise with council recommendations that are in violation of laws (for example, recommendation by NMFS and approval by the Secretary of Commerce of a quota with only an 18 percent chance of achieving target fishing mortality rates in the summer flounder fishery)
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The committee agreed that a different structure in the agency one that better insulates the science from the management decision process could improve the ability of NMFS tO con~UCt science and enhance the quality of science available for fisheries management. The committee also believes that NMFS science needs to be open and transparent to their constituents, but at the same time, NMFS scientists need to be able to provide their best scientific work in an environment insulated from political influence that can occur in the management.
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From page 61... ...
NMFS has already developed institutions, such as the NOAA-university cooperative institutes and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center's Cooperative Marine Education and Research Program that foster partnerships with universities. The partnerships provide environments to develop innovative science by combining efforts of agency and academic scientists.
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Some recent lawsuits under the ESA and NEPA have resulted in injunctions against fishing activities and caused considerable economic disruption in relation to potential impacts of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands fisheries on Steller sea lions; the Hawaii-based, pelagic longline fleet effects on sea turtles; and the effects of the lobster fishery around the Northwest Hawaiian Islands on Hawaiian monk seals (Greenpeace u NMFS, LeatherlDack Sea Turtle u NMFS, and Greenpeace Foundation u Mineta, respectively)
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From page 63... ...
Center for Independent Experts Traditionally, most stock assessments and much of the science on which NMFS bases its regulations and recommendations to the councils were reviewed almost entirely in NMFS. That practice led to a distrust of NMFS science on the part of some constituents and increasing use of the courts to challenge NMFS scientific findings.
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From page 64... ...
Most FMPs include some quantitative goals, particularly in relation to fishing mortality and harvest levels, but fisheries management would be more effective if additional quantitative goals were included in FMPs and data were collected to monitor and evaluate the goals with a formal analysis that focused on specific plans. There has been little analysis of which fishery management measures are effective or ineffective, either for specific fisheries or nationwide.
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From page 65... ...
Most NMFS science activities are conducted internally. The academic community of marine fishery scientists is relatively small, and NMFS has substantial capabilities in its regional fishery-science centers with respect to fisheries biology and population dynamics.
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From page 66... ...
Because NMFS scientists often do not have the time to conduct fundamental research related to NMFS's mission, it is important in the short term for the agency to maintain strong linkages with academic scientists through joint projects and extramural funding. Many innovative ideas and techniques are developed in the academic community that can support the NMFS science mission.
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From page 67... ...
· Development of ways to link social and economic data with biological data in modeling and other analyses. Such models should help to make fishery-dependent data more useful in stock assessments by revealing how non-biological factors affect catch per unit effort and other variables important in stock assessments.
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From page 68... ...
Regional FMCs tend to develop FMPs that require accurate and precise estimates of fish stock sizes and of the effects of alternative management options to prevent management failure. Many FMPs do not provide for a buffer to allow for uncertainties.
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