October Net Loss: Overfishing Off the Pacific Coast

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1 October 2007 Net Loss: Overfishing Off the Pacific Coast

2 Net Loss Overfishing Off the Pacific Coast October 2007

3 Acknowledgements Written by Michael Gravitz, Oceans Advocate, U.S. PIRG Education Fund, October , Environment California Research and Policy Center Cover photo: Rock Fish, Michael S. Reay, Shutterstock This report is made possible with funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts The opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily reflect the views of our funders or those who provided editorial review. Any factual errors are strictly the responsibility of the author. For additional copies of this report, please visit our website ( or send $20 check payable to U.S. PIRG Education Fund to the following address: Environment California Research and Policy Center 3435 Wilshire Boulevard, #385 Los Angeles, CA

4 Net Loss: Overfishing off the Pacific Coast Summary America s oceans are home to whales, dolphins, sea turtles, fish and an enormous variety of other sea life. But today our oceans are in trouble. Destructive overfishing, pollution, and habitat damage are putting important marine animals at risk. Many populations are in serious decline. The result of this poor management is a drastic reduction in fishing opportunities for commercial and recreational fishermen. On the west coast, about one in seven (14% or 7 out of 49) of all federally managed fish stocks for which there is adequate information are overfished. 1 Approximately one in twenty (6% or 3 out of 49) stocks are experiencing overfishing and headed in that direction.. Taken together, ten federally managed fish stocks are either depleted or experiencing overfishing. This represents 20% of the 49 fish stocks for which the federal government has enough information to make an assessment. In addition, another ecologically and economically valuable fish, Pacific whiting, is being driven down towards an overfished level with the help of poor decisions from the Pacific fishery management council. 2 Overfished typically means that a fish population has been reduced to below 20-25% of its original population. When eight out of ten fish of any kind are missing from the ocean, it has profoundly negative effects on the rest of the ocean s animals like whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other fish. The ecosystem is unbalanced; predators may not find enough to eat and prey species may explode because there are not enough predators to eat them. Overfishing means that a fish stock is being caught faster than it can replace itself and it is therefore heading towards overfished status or not recovering to healthy levels. Taken together these two terms describe fish stocks in jeopardy or threatened. In an effort to improve fisheries management, Congress revised the primary law governing fishing in U.S. oceans, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, at the end of The Act requires the National Marine Fisheries Service and the regional fishery management councils, which devise and propose local plans that are supposed to maintain healthy fish populations, to follow new rules. These rules are now under development; and this report recommends that the new rules follow important conservation principles. Status of Fish in the Pacific The Pacific Fishery Management Council manages fishing in federal waters (3-200 miles offshore) off three states: California, Oregon, and Washington. According to the most recent government data, the Pacific Council is solely responsible for a total of 167 fish stocks. Fully 75% (122) of those stocks are not assessed, meaning scientists have no idea whether populations of those species are at healthy levels. Of the 49 stocks (these include stocks managed jointly with other councils) with sufficient information to determine status, ten are: overfished, experiencing overfishing, or approaching overfished status. For example, only 11% of the bocaccio population remains. 3 Bocaccio were once a commercially and recreationally valuable species in California, but the Pacific Council allowed overfishing to occur and now bocaccio are at a dangerously low level and will take two decades to recover to a 1

5 healthy level. In the meantime, commercial and recreational fishermen in California have fewer fish to catch and more restrictions on when and where they can go fishing. Status of West Coast Fish Stocks in 2006 Overfished Overfishing Bocaccio* Bigeye tuna Canary rockfish* Yellowfin tuna Cowcod* Petrale sole Darkblotched rockfish* Pacific Ocean perch* Yelloweye rockfish Klamath River fall Chinook salmon** Source: National Marine Fisheries Service, Report on the Status of US Fisheries for 2006, June 22, 2007 pg. 21 & 22. Available at: *Indicates fish stock had same status in 2001 Status of Fisheries report Available at: **Approaching overfished condition, according to the 2006 Status of Stocks report. Bocaccio Source: According the Marine Fish Conservation Network, the Pacific Council has made poor progress in restoring overfished species and preventing overfishing. 4 One indication is that many fish stocks that were categorized as overfished in 2001 are still on the list in Progress has been slow, in part, because the council has ignored scientific advice and set catch levels for overfished species that do not take into account the vulnerable nature of those species, thus delaying the time to restore those species to healthy levels. Why Healthy Fish Populations Are Important Coastal fishing, the communities and the people it supported, and seafood have all shaped the culture of the Pacific coast for generations. The west coast was home to legendary salmon runs exploited by commercial, recreational and tribal fisheries. Dungeness crab, rockfish, and sardines were part of the fabric of many coastal communities like Monterey, CA. But the health of our oceans and some fish populations has declined. Many of the fish listed as overfished or headed in that direction in the Pacific, like the different rockfishes, have been in trouble for decades. 2

6 Canary Rockfish Source: Canary Rockfish Healthy fish populations provide an important economic engine to coastal communities through both commercial and recreational fishing. The total Pacific commercial fishery brought in $434 million dollars from direct sales off vessels in 2006 unadjusted for any economic multiplier effect from shore processing, wholesale jobs, or retail sales. 5 The value for recreational fishing is not directly comparable to the value from commercial landings because the recreational figure does include the economic multiplier effect from things like hotel stays, meals and secondary employment in service jobs. Recreational saltwater fishing generated more than $2.9 billion dollars (adjusted for inflation to 2006 dollars) in Including the multiplier effect, recreational fishing accounted for an estimated 24,500 jobs in A History of Mismanagement The Council s management of the groundfish fishery (e.g., rockfishes) in the 1980s and 1990s was so ineffective that the federal government declared the Pacific ground fish industry a disaster in The disaster resulted in massive job losses and payments by the federal government to unemployed fishermen and processors to mitigate the financial damage.. As demonstrated in the next table, overfishing went on for so long that many fish stocks will take several decades to recover. This is especially true for the rockfishes that live long, grow slowly and are late to sexually mature and reproduce. Overfished Species Managed by Pacific Council Species % of Population Remaining Bocaccio 11% 21 Canary rockfish 9% 66 Cowcod 17% 84 Darkblotched rockfish 17% 24 Pacific ocean perch 23% 20 Widow rockfish 31% 32 Yelloweye rockfish 17% 52 No. of Years to Restore Population to 40% Source: Marine Fish Conservation Network, Pacific Fishery Management Council Report: 2006, 2007, pg. 7 3

7 Recently, the Pacific Council demonstrated that it is continuing to ignore scientific advice. In 2006, and again in 2007, the council set catch levels unsustainably high for Pacific whiting, an important species both ecologically and economically. 7 Pacific whiting play a key role as food for other bird, fish and mammal species in the ocean and are caught in a $30 million fishery. Instead of maintaining the species at a healthy level, the council approved an annual catch limit for 2007 that comes dangerously close (within.01%) to crossing the threshold into overfishing. Recommendations For the National Marine Fisheries Service In December 2006, Congress unanimously approved changes to federal laws governing U.S. fisheries by reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act. Currently, the federal government is preparing and revising regulations to implement the new law. The administration should enact strong, clear rules that implement Congress intention for overfishing to end. The regulations should follow these important conservation principles: There must be strong conservation minded rules that sustain healthy fish populations, including numerical annual catch limits for the amount of fish that can be caught. The catch limits should be set to minimize the potential for overfishing. Decisions about annual catch should be based on science, not self interest. Independent science advisors must set limits on the amount of fish caught. In the past, fishery managers often ignored the advice of independent scientists and the limits were set at unsustainable levels. The rules need to be enforced. If the limits on amount of fish caught are exceeded, there must be consequences. Fishing should be stopped or catch limits lowered for the next fishing season. Fishery managers and fishermen should be held accountable. For the Pacific Fishery Council The changes enacted into the new Magnuson-Stevens Act were in direct response to the failure of the Pacific Council and other councils to prevent overfishing and act in accord with scientific advice. The new law requires the Pacific Council to prevent overfishing by setting precautionary catch levels based on scientific advice. The council may not set the catch level higher than the safe level recommended by its scientific advisors. When overfishing does occur there should be some accountability measure or consequence for the fishery such as closure for the remainder of the season or lower annual catch limits next season to make up for the overage. The council must stop gaming the system and looking for loopholes to allow business as usual. 4

8 Endnotes: 1. National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Sustainable Fisheries, Report on the Status of US Fisheries for 2006, June 2007, Silver Spring, MD. Pages 15 & Calculations based on fish stocks with known overfishing or overfished status (status is Yes or No) in Pacific Fishery Management Council plans plus those fish jointly managed with North Pacific Fishery Management Council and Western Pacific Fishery Management Council. Data available at: 2. Marine Fish Conservation Network, Pacific Fishery Management Council Report- 2006, 2007, pgs Available at: 3. Ibid, Table 4, pg Ibid, pg 1 5. Based on data from query of CA, OR, and WA landings in Query at: Accessed September 20, Data from Table: 2001 State Overview Saltwater Fishing. Available at: Accessed September 20, To adjust for inflation from 2001 dollars to 2006 dollars with the consumer price index, calculation at using the inflation calculator on Bureau of Labor Statistics website. 7. Op cit, Marine Fish Conservation Network, Pacific Fishery Management Council Report- 2006, 2007, pgs. 6-7 for 2006 decisions on whiting. For 2007 decisions by the Pacific Council, see 2007 Pacific Whiting Harvest Specifications and Management Measures Adopted, in Pacific Council News: A Publication of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, Spring 2007, pg. 5. Available at: 5