Ecosystem-Based Management Planning in the Pacific Fishery Management Council

The 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) brought national attention to the concept of ecosystem-based management (EBM) for marine fisheries.  That act anticipated managers’ needs for guidance on implementing marine EBM by funding an advisory panel to develop recommendations on the application of ecosystem principles in fishery conservation and management activities.  Although the Ecosystem Principles Advisory Panel came out with its recommendations 1998, few fishery management councils (FMCs) immediately explored organized EBM for their fisheries.  The subsequent Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act of 2006 signaled Congress’s intent to limit its advice on EBM to a finding that “a number of the [FMCs] have demonstrated significant progress in integrating ecosystem considerations in fisheries management using the existing authorities provided under this Act.”  Despite this lack of Congressional enthusiasm, fisheries science and ecosystem modeling continued to advance, and managers’ interest in EBM grew.  In 2003 and 2004, respectively, the Pew Oceans Commission and U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy called for ocean and coastal resource management to move away from traditional single-species management to more comprehensive and holistic governance.  Many federal, state, and tribal fisheries managers, including FMC participants, followed policy development in these commissions, receiving greater encouragement to embrace EBM philosophies for the resources in their charge.  The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC,) like other FMCs, has found itself addressing a wide variety of EBM-related issues in recent years, ultimately spurring its interest in more organized EBM planning.  Concurrent with increased PFMC work on EBM, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its West Coast partners have initiated an Integrated Ecosystem Assessment for the California Current Ecosystem.  These emerging science and policy processes are together shaping West Coast EBM for marine resource management.