Implementing Ecosystem Management from a State Perspective: A Forage Fish Example

The Marine Life Management Act (MLMA) was passed by the California Legislature in 1998 and is based on the goal of conserving ecosystems as a key approach for sustainable management of the state's marine resources. The MLMA now guides the state's management of many of these resources. Many of the key tenets of the MLMA build upon the federal Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Act, which also requires that management consider the needs of harvested resources as well as the entire ecosystem, and sets a direction toward ecosystem based fishery management. Management of many of the state's fisheries occurs across mixed jurisdictions because the species of focus do not adhere to state or federal boundaries, requiring close coordination with other state and federal partners. One such challenge has been the recent federal initiative to protect unmanaged forage fish in federal waters of the Pacific coast through action by the Pacific Fishery Management Council. This process and the resulting action will be presented from a state perspective and identify some of the key issues encountered as the process commenced, and an update on progress at the state and federal levels.