The Role of Ecosystem Information in Stock Assessments for U.S. Fisheries

Ecosystem based fisheries management has been widely accepted as an important and necessary step toward better management of marine resources.  Multiple pathways exist in the management process through which EBFM may be implemented. One pathway is the stock assessment process.  Here, we investigate how ecological and environmental information has been incorporated into stock assessments from around the U.S.  We reviewed all current stock assesssments for stock managed by U.S. Fishery Management Councils and scored them based on the degree to which they incorporated five key ecological principles: climate, habitat, trophic interactions, disease, and bycatch. Results indicate that overall, many stock assessment reports arom around the U.S. include ecosystem information in qualitative way.  Far fewer include ecological or environmental parameters in the assessment model. Regional variation exists in the degree to which assessments incorporate aspects of EBFM. We disuss the potential for the value of the stock to play a role in the level of ecosystem information incorporated.  Overall, through the lens of the assessment process, movement towards incorporating ecosystem information in the fisheries management process has occurred.  However, exactly how qualitative information in a stock assessment report may affect policy decisions about each stock remains uncertain.