Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan.

This FMP of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (established by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976 to manage fisheries in the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone) concerns sustainbale management and conservation of coastal pelagic species (CPS). It's objectives are to: promote efficiency and profitability in the fishery, including stability of catch; achieve Optimum Yield (OY); encourage cooperative international and interstate management of CPS; accommodate existing fishery segments; avoid discard; provide adequate forage for dependent species; prevent overfishing; acquire biological information and develop long-term research program; foster effective monitoring and enforcement; use resources spent on management of cps efficiently; minimize gear conflicts. The FM is divided into 5 Chapters: Introduction (1); Framework Management (2); Limited Entry (3); Optimum Yield, Maximum Sustainable Yield, Acceptable Biological Catch, Harvest Control Rules, and Overfishing Definitions for the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery (4); Bycatch, Incidental Catch, and Allocation (5).
The FMP includes three management categories or tiers for CPS fish stocks: “Active” management, "Monitored" management, and “Prohibited Harvest” management. "Active" is for stocks and fisheries with biologically significant levels of catch, or biological or socioeconomic considerations requiring relatively intense harvest management procedures. "Monitored" is for stocks and fisheries not requiring intensive harvest management and where monitoring of landings and available abundance indices are considered sufficient to manage the stock. The third category “Prohibited Harvest” is for stocks that are prohibited to fish for, harvest or land in any fishery within the West Coast EEZ. The purpose of Active and Monitored management is to use available agency resources in the most efficient and effective manner while satisfying goals and objectives of the FMP. Active management may be characterized by periodic stock assessments, and/or periodic adjustments of target harvest levels based on MSY control rules. Monitored management, in contrast, involves tracking trends in landings and qualitative comparison to available abundance data, but without periodic stock assessments, or periodic adjustments to target harvest levels. Species in both categories may be subject to management measures such as catch allocation, gear regulations, closed areas, closed seasons, or other forms of Active management. Prohibited Harvest management includes all species of krill occurring in the West Coast EEZ and is intended to ensure that, to the extent practicable, fisheries will not develop that could put at risk krill stocks and the other living marine resources that depend on krill. The framework approach to management of CPS allows changes and modifications to management procedures to be made in a timely and efficient manner without need to amend the FMP. The FMP establishes two framework procedures through which the Council is able to recommend establishment and adjustment of management measures. The "point-of-concern" framework allows the Council to develop management measures in response to resource conservation and ecological issues. The socioeconomic framework allows the Council to develop management measures in response to social and economic issues.
Management measures introduced in this FMP include, amongst others: permits; limited entry; catch restrictions, closed seasons; prohibited species; gear restrictions; reporting requirements; observers; bycatch. The FMP defines Essential Fish Habitat for specified species and allows the Council to use management measures to minimize adverse impacts on EFH from fishing. It also specifies Ecosystem Component Species. In the event that a management agreement between the U.S. and a foreign nation concerning CPS occurs, this FMP authorizes changes or modifications to any management measure through Council processes described herein. All foreign vessels operating in this management area shall have on board a permit issued by the Secretary pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Act. This FMP authorizes implementation of measures to control CPS fishing to support conservation objectives identified under overfishing definitions adopted by the Council, the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), or other applicable law, while minimizing disruption of the CPS fishery.