Information on Ecosystem-Based management
Ecosystem-based management represents a new paradigm of management that builds on
existing processes and emerging technology and research. Recent
national-level ocean reports and the Bush Administration’s Ocean
Action Plan have highlighted the importance of pursuing an ecosystem
approach to fisheries.
The Council already accounts for many
ecosystem considerations in its management approach: environment and
climate regimes, habitat that may be affected by fishing, non-fishing
impacts on living marine resources, particularly fishery target
species, bycatch management, endangered or threatened species or
depleted marine mammal stocks, uncertainty and risk in fishery
management decisions, and scientific needs. However, the shift to
ecosystem-based fishery management is an ongoing process.
Ecosystem Committee
The Council
reconstituted its Ecosystem Committee in 2004, with a new membership
and Ms Stephanie Madsen as chair. The committee’s mission statement is
to discuss current ecosystem-related initiatives and assist in shaping
Council positions relative to: (1) defining ecosystem-based
management;
(2) structure and Council role in potential regional ecosystem
councils;
(3) implications of NOAA strategic plan;
(4) draft guidelines for ecosystem-based approaches to management;
(5) draft MSA provisions or requirements relative to ecosystem-based
management; and
(6) generally coordinating with NOAA and other initiatives regarding
ecosystem-based management.
The history of the
Ecosystem Committee’s discussions and recommendations is listed below.
|
Meeting in Seattle, February 6, 2008 |
Agenda |
|
|
Meeting in Juneau, August 22,
2007 |
Agenda |
Minutes |
|
Meeting in Seattle, May
21, 2007 |
Agenda |
Minutes |
|
Meeting in Portland, February 6 |
Agenda |
Minutes |
|
January 10-12, 2007 AFSC |
Agenda |
Report |
|
Teleconference October 3, 2006 |
Agenda |
Minutes |
|
Meeting in Seattle May 19, 2006 |
Agenda |
Minutes |
|
Meeting in Seattle February 7th,
2006 |
Agenda |
Minutes |
|
Meeting in Anchorage, December 6,
2005
|
Agenda |
Minutes |
|
Meeting in
Girdwood, June 2, 2005 |
Agenda |
Minutes |
|
Meeting in
Anchorage, April 4, 2005 |
Agenda |
Minutes |
|
Teleconference, March 14, 2005 |
Agenda |
Minutes |
|
Meeting in
Seattle, February 7, 2005 |
Agenda |
Minutes |
AI Fishery
Ecosystem Plan
The Council has initiated development of an AI Fishery
Ecosystem Plan (FEP). The FEP will be a strategic policy and planning
document, to guide the Council in its management actions relating to
the Aleutian Islands.
AI Fishery Ecosystem Plan, December 2007;
Overview
For the purposes of the FEP, the boundary of the Aleutian
Islands ecosystem area will be identified as the Aleutian Islands west
of Samalga Pass (169˚ W. longitude), which is approximately the area
identified in the BSAI Groundfish FMP as the Aleutian Islands subarea.
However, the boundary should not constrain the FEP from accounting for
species moving in and out of the area, and other external inputs.
Intended
products:
1. Status of AI
document (integrate across FMPs, understand cumulative effects,
identify sources of uncertainty and data needs, describe modeling
efforts)
2. Glossy
synthesis of status of AI
3. Develop
selective AI indicators linked to management objectives
The Council has
created an AI Ecosystem Team to assist in the writing of the FEP (see
below).
HISTORY:
Revised discussion paper, March 2006,
Discussion paper for Ecosystem Committee
recommendations, November 2005,
Update to Council, October 2005,
Council's action, June 2005,
Staff Discussion Paper, May 10, 2005
AI Ecosystem Team
The Council
created a technical AI Ecosystem Team to assist Council staff in
developing the FEP. The Team was appointed during the summer of 2006,
based on recommendations by the SSC. Team members with their
associated area of expertise are listed below.
NPFMC: Diana
Evans (management)
AFSC: Sandra Lowe (Atka mackerel)
Steve Barbeaux (pollock)
Paul Spencer (rockfish)
Sarah Gaichas (modeling)
Jennifer Sepez (socioeconomics)
Sarah Gaichas (modeling)
PMEL: Carol
Ladd (oceanography)
ADFG:
Forrest Bowers (state fisheries)
USFWS: Vernon
Byrd (seabirds)
NPRB:
Francis Wiese (research)
AKR:
John Olson (habitat, GIS)
Alaska Marine
Ecosystem Forum
The Council has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with 10
Federal agencies and 4 State agencies, to create the Alaska Marine
Ecosystem Forum (AMEF). The AMEF seeks to improve coordination and
cooperative understanding between the agencies on issues of shared
responsibilities related to the marine ecosystems off Alaska’s coast.
The initial focus of the AMEF will be on the Aleutian Islands marine
ecosystem.
Memorandum of Understanding
Alaska Marine
Ecosystem Forum Members
(Alaska agency heads, or their representatives)
North Pacific Fishery Management Council
Federal: National Marine Fisheries Service
Fish and Wildlife Service
Minerals Management Service
National Park Service
Bureau of Land Management
Environmental Protection Agency
United States Forest Service
United States Coast Guard
Alaskan Command
United States Army Corps of Engineers
State: Department of Environmental Conservation
Department of Fish and Game
Department of Natural Resources
Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic
Development
HISTORY:
Meeting Summary, Federal-State-Council
meeting, April 2006,
Update on Federal-State-Council meeting, November 2005:
draft meeting summary,
agenda/proposal,
Update to Council, October 2005,
Council's action, June 2005,
Staff Discussion Paper, April 8, 2005
SSC Workshops
on Ecosystem Modeling
The SSC has begun an annual tradition of holding a scientific workshop
at its February meeting.
February
2005 Multispecies and Ecosystem Modeling
The SSC workshop on multispecies and ecosystem modeling was organized
around three themes: approaches implemented on a stock assessment
scale, strategies/reference points and multispecies models, and
developing approaches. Scientists associated with the Alaska Fisheries
Science Center, the University of Washington School of Aquatic and
Fishery Sciences, and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, School of
Ocean Science, gave eleven presentations on North Pacific modeling
efforts relating to these themes. The agenda for the meeting, a
summary of the presentations, and the presentation powerpoint slides,
can be accessed below.
AGENDA AND PRESENTATION
SUMMARIES
February
2006 Ecosystem Modeling: Climate and Lower Trophic Level Models
The
SSC conducted a workshop on lower trophic level modeling, organized by
Jeff Napp (FOCI, AFSC) and Phyllis Stabeno (FOCI, PMEL). The workshop
provided an excellent opportunity for the SSC to interact with AFSC
and PMEL staff on new and ongoing modeling studies conducted by the
FOCI group. Jim Overland provided an overview of recent trends
in climate that suggest a very different climate regime for the Bering
Sea and a continuing warming trend (although 2006 seems to be a cold
year with early ice formation). Al Hermann reported on the Regional
Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) models for the Bering Sea and Gulf of
Alaska. ROMS model output can be used to provide indices of transport
and mixing processes and can be linked to lower trophic level models.
Sarah Hinckley described an NPZ model that is driven by an earlier
version of the ROMS model, which in turn drives an individual-based
model for pollock in the western Gulf of Alaska. Janet Duffy-Anderson
presented ongoing research on several flatfish species that provides
good evidence for an important role of larval advection in the
recruitment process. Bern Megrey presented some results from a
basin-wide NPZ model that includes age-structured dynamics of Pacific
saury (western Pacific) and Pacific herring (eastern Pacific). The
model has been used to examine saury and herring dynamics in a number
of specific locations around the Pacific Rim. Jeff Napp and Phyllis
Stabeno provided an overview of projects funded through the North
Pacific Climate Regimes and Ecosystem Productivity (NPCREP)
initiative. These include monitoring efforts in the Bering Sea to
continue and expand existing time series such as Mooring 2 on the
southeastern Bering Sea shelf, statistical approaches to develop and
refine aggregate ecosystem indices for the Bering Sea and Gulf of
Alaska, attempts to incorporate such indices into stock assessments,
and a project to make real-time data available to stakeholders through
the Internet. [from SSC minutes,
2/06]
AGENDA. Presentation
summaries to follow
December 2002
Observations of Ecosystem Change and Development of Ecosystem
ConsiderationsOn December 3, the Council sponsored a forum entitled
“Observations of Ecosystem Change and Development of Ecosystem
Considerations”. This one day forum was held to get the latest
information on the status and trends of the marine ecosystems off
Alaska, and to discuss how this information might be used in the
fishery management process. An audience of over 100 people listened
to talks from prestigious panel of speakers including Nathan Mantua
(UW), George Hunt (UCI), Ward Testa (NMML), Doug DeMaster (AFSC),
David Irons (USFWS), and Pat Livingston (NMFS).
AGENDA,
Summary
