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...marine fisheries bycatch central to several of the NMFS's governing statutes, including the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
In recent years, NMFS's constituents have shined bright spotlight on the issue of bycatch and the agency's handling of its various mandates to monitor and reduce bycatch. In March 2003, NMFS launched its National Bycatch Strategy (NBS), which was aimed at building upon previous efforts to address bycatch to forge new ground in the areas of bycatch monitoring and reduction. This article reviews the major components of the NBS and discusses its progress to date.
Mandates for Bycatch Reduction
The NMFS has several strong mandates for fish and protected species bycatch reduction, including the MSFCMA, ESA, and MMPA. These mandates are discussed in the following subsections.
Magnuson-Stevens Act
In 1996, Congress amended the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act (becoming the MSFCMA) in part to define the term "bycatch" as well as to require that bycatch be minimized to the extent practicable. Bycatch, as defined by the MSFCMA (16 U.S.C. [section] 1802 (2)), "means fish which are harvested in a fishery, but which are not sold or kept for personal use, and includes economic discards and regulatory discards. The term does not include fish released alive under a recreational catch and release fishery management program." "Economic discards" are "fish which are the target of a fishery, but which are not retained because of an undesirable size, sex, or quality, or other economic reason." The term "regulatory discards" means "fish harvested in a fishery which fishermen are required by regulation to discard whenever caught, or are required by regulation to retain but not sell." Note that because the definition of "fish" refers to "finfish, mollusks, crustaceans, and all other living forms of animal and plant life other than marine mammals and birds" the bycatch reduction requirements in the MSFCMA do not apply to all living marine resources under NMFS's jurisdiction.
National standard 9 of the MSFCMA requires that "conservation and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, (A) minimize bycatch and (B) to the extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such bycatch" (16 U.S.C. [section] 1851(9)). Sec. 303 of the MSFCMA expands on this requirement somewhat, stating that fishery management plans are required to "establish a standardized reporting methodology to assess the amount and type of bycatch occurring in the fishery, and include conservation and management measures that, to the extent practicable and in the following priority (A) minimize bycatch and (B) minimize the mortality of bycatch which cannot be avoided" (16 U.S.C. [section] 1853(11)).
Endangered Species Act
The ESA requires the Federal government to protect and conserve species and populations that are endangered, or threatened with extinction, and to conserve the ecosystems on which these species depend. Some of these threatened and endangered species, including certain species of sea turtles (for example, the leatherback turtle, Dermochelys coriacea), Pacific salmon (for example, some evolutionarily significant units of chum salmon, Oncorhynchus keta, and marine mammals (for example, the northern fight whale, Eubalaena glacialis), are captured or taken as bycatch in the nation's fisheries. The bycatch reduction requirements of the ESA follow from Section 9(a)(1)(B) and 9(a)(1)(C) of the ESA, which prohibit the take of endangered species within the United States or the territorial sea of the United States, and on the high seas, respectively. "Take" is defined by the ESA as "to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or attempt to engage in any such conduct" (16 U.S.C. 1536(18)). ESA Sections 4, 6, 7, and 10 provide mechanisms for the limited take of ESA-listed species. Of particular relevance for fisheries bycatch is Section 7, which provides that "Each Federal agency shall...insure that any action authorized, funded, or carried out by such agency ... is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered species or threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of habitat of such species ..." (16 U.S.C. [section] 1536(a)(2)). For example, Section 7 consultations and resulting biological opinions and reasonable and prudent alternatives have resulted in fishery regulations to prevent bycatch of endangered and threatened sea turtles in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Several seabird species, such as the marbled murrelet, Brachyramphus marmoratus, and short-tailed albatross, Phoebastria albatrus (excluding U.S. populations), are protected under the ESA as well. In cooperation with the Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the NMFS monitors and reports the bycatch of these and other seabirds. Additionally, international conventions and treaties also play a significant role in the national approach to bycatch management. For example, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Committee on Fisheries, developed the International Plan of Action for Reducing Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries. This plan is being implemented by NMFS and other fishing countries via corresponding National Plans of Action.
Marine Mammal Protection Act
The MMPA seeks to maintain populations of marine mammals at optimum sustainable population levels, principally by regulating the take of marine mammals. Under the MMPA, "take" is defined as "to harass, hurt, capture, or kill, or attempt to harass,...
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