{"id":3325,"date":"2010-06-08T09:06:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-08T08:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldfishing.nfdtesting.uk\/icefish-conference\/2010\/06\/08\/noaa-slightly-less-overfishing-in-the-us\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T23:41:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T22:41:52","slug":"noaa-slightly-less-overfishing-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/news\/industry-news\/noaa-slightly-less-overfishing-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"NOAA: Slightly less overfishing in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric Schwaab, the NOAA assistant administrator for fisheries<\/span> has delivered the NOAA\u2019s National Marine Fisheries Service\u2019s Report on the status of US fisheries for 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stocks discussed in this report are characterised under two broad categories: (1) subject to overfishing and (2) overfished.<\/span><\/p>\n

A stock that is subject to overfishing has a fishing mortality (harvest) rate above the level that provides for the maximum sustainable yield. A stock that<\/span> is overfished has a biomass level below a biological threshold specified in its fishery<\/span> management plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

For 2009, NMFS reviewed 5,221 individual stocks and stock complexes and made determinations of both overfishing and overfished status for 193 stocks and complexes; an<\/span> additional 67 have either an overfishing or overfished determination.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two hundred fifty stocks or stock complexes have known overfishing determinations: 212 (85%) are<\/span> not subject to overfishing and 38 (15%) are subject<\/span> to overfishing. These percentages are a slight<\/span> improvement from last year\u2019s report, in which 84<\/span>% were not subject to overfishing and 16<\/span>% were.<\/span><\/p>\n

This slight improvement in the percentages reflects new assessments which have<\/span> added to the number of stocks with known<\/span> overfishing determinations as well as stocks no<\/span> longer subject to overfishing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two stocks are no longer subject to overfishing: scup \u2013 Atlantic coast<\/span> and thorny skate \u2013 Gulf<\/span> of Maine.<\/span> A third stock, pink shrimp \u2013 Gulf of Mexico<\/span>, was found to not be subject to<\/span> overfishing because the previous assessment was invalidated. No stock was listed as subject<\/span> to overfishing in 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two hundred and three stocks have known overfished determinations: 157 (77%) are not overfished and 46 (23%) are overfished. These percentages are unchanged from last year\u2019s<\/span> report.<\/span><\/p>\n

Five stocks are no longer overfished: scup \u2013 Atlantic coast<\/span>, winter skate \u2013 Georges<\/span> Bank\/southern New England, bocaccio \u2013 southern Pacific coast, darkblotched rockfish \u2013<\/span> Pacific coast,<\/span> and sailfish\u2013 western Atlantic<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Four stocks have become overfished: canary<\/span> rockfish \u2013 Pacific coast, coho salmon \u2013 Washington coast: Queets, coho salmon \u2013 Washington<\/span> coast: Western Strait of Juan de Fuca<\/span> and Petrale sole \u2013 Pacific coast<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

One stock, previously listed as unknown, has been determined to be overfished: gag \u2013 Gulf of Mexico<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Four stocks have fully rebuilt to 100% of their BMSY 4 levels: Scup – Atlantic coast, black seabass \u2013 mid-Atlantic Coast, blue king crab \u2013 St Matthews Island,<\/span> and swordfish \u2013 north<\/span><\/span> Atlantic<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Management of four additional stocks has resulted in biomass levels of at least 80% of their maximum sustainable levels: greenstriped rockfish \u2013 Pacific coast, splitnose rockfish \u2013<\/span><\/span> Pacific coast, rex sole \u2013 Gulf of Alaska<\/span>, and walleye pollock \u2013 western\/central Gulf of Alaska<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

NMFS measures progress towards the sustainability of our nation\u2019s fisheries through the Fish Stock Sustainability Index (FSSI).<\/span><\/p>\n

The FSSI measures the performance of 230 key stocks and increases as additional assessments are conducted, overfishing is ended and stocks rebuild to<\/span> the level that provides maximum sustainable yield.<\/span><\/p>\n

This index increased from 357.5 in 2000 to 573 in 2009. The 60% increase in the FSSI in nine years represents<\/span> significant progress in improving the knowledge of stock status and sustainably managing fisheries, said NOAA.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires that NOAA\u2019s<\/span> National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) report annually to Congress and the eight Regional<\/span> Fishery Management Councils (Councils) on the status of fisheries (Sec. 304(e)(1)). This<\/span> report fulfills that requirement.<\/span><\/p>\n

The information in this report was generated by the NMFS\u2019 regional offices and science centres based on the most recent stock assessments as of December 31, 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n

Status determinations are generally made during a formal review of a scientific stock assessment<\/span> using the best available scientific information and status determination criteria specified in a<\/span> fishery management plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

More information about the FSSI can be found at:<\/p>\n

www.nmfs.noaa.gov\/sfa\/statusoffisheries\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has been a small reduction in the number of US fisheries that are deemed as being overfished, according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-3325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3327,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3325\/revisions\/3327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3325"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=3325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}