Dan Hull, Chairman
Chris Oliver, Executive Director
SUBJECT: title
EFH Fishing Effects Proposed Methods for Analysis - Discussion paper
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STAFF CONTACT: Steve MacLean
ACTION REQUIRED: recommended action
Review proposed methods to evaluate effects of fishing on BSAI and GOA Groundfish and BSAI Crab EFH in Alaska.
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BACKGROUND:
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires regional Fishery Management Councils to describe and identify Essential Fish Habitat for all fisheries and to minimize to the extent practicable the adverse effects of fishing on EFH. At the October 2016 meeting, the NPFMC passed a motion to update EFH descriptions for the BSAI Groundfish, GOA Groundfish, BSAI Crab, Arctic, and Salmon (marine waters only) FMPs. However, because new, model-based definitions of EFH exist only for the BSAI and GOA Groundfish and BSAI Crab FMPs, these new proposed methods to evaluate the effects of fishing only apply to those FMPs.
In 2005, the EFH EIS concluded that fisheries have long term effects on habitat, but these impacts were determined to be minimal and not detrimental to fish populations or their habitats. In 2010, fishing effects were again analyzed employing the Long-term Effects Index (LEI), which estimated the eventual proportion of reduced habitat features from a theoretical unaffected habitat state, if current fishing patterns occurred indefinitely.
For the current review cycle, the Council requested several updates to the LEI. In response, the Fishing Effects (FE) model was developed. The FE model updates the LEI Model in several ways: (1) the FE model is cast in a discrete time framework allowing impact and recovery rates to be used to estimate proportion of reduced habitat, (2) the FE model implements sub-annual tracking to allow estimates of habitat disturbance for any month from January 2003, (3) the FE model utilizes the Catch-In-Areas database to provide the best available spatial data of fishing locati...
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