The National Marine Fisheries Service (I can't seem to wrap my head around their new name, NOAA FIsheries) is proposing major rule changes designed to reduce overfishing more quickly. From the NMFS fact sheet:
NOAA Fisheries Service is proposing to modify the guidelines that help fishery managers implement National Standard 1 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. National Standard 1 requires fishery managers to prevent overfishing and rebuild stocks in federal waters - from three to 200 miles off U.S. coasts - while achieving the optimum yield from each fishery. Overfishing is a level of fishing that threatens the long-term health and sustainability of a fishery. Optimum yield is based on the maximum sustainable yield a fishery can produce, as reduced by ecological, economic and social considerations.
If put into effect, economic analysis, such as it is in fisheries, will have more influence and fewer fish will be caught because economists are better fish conservationists than biologists.
First, the basic economic analysis of the fishery. As more people fish more hours with more gear (all called "effort" in fisheries jargon) catch and revenue increases. That is, up to a certain point. Somewhere along the way people catch too many fish and "recruitment" (baby fishes being born) falls and fish stocks fall. At this point, more effort actually decreases catch and revenues.
Now for the costs. The costs of fishing increase with more effort. Done.
So, imagine an unregulated fishery. Boats fish until there is no more profit to be earned. This occurs when the catch, revenues, and stock of fish are at low points. Fishers don't make much money. Biologists try to improve on this by regulating for the "maximum sustainable yield" (MSY) MSY is the maximum catch that can occur every year. In effect, MSY maximizes revenues.
When economists enter the picture they scratch their heads and wonder why biologists regulate to maximize revenues instead of profits. In other words, why do biologists ignore the costs of fishing? Economists promote the "optimal sustainable yield" (OSY) where the effort level is set where the difference between revenues and costs is maximized. As it turns out, the OSY effort level is usually below the MSY effort level. Lower effort leads to less catch and healthier fish stocks.
That is why I think I can get away with saying that economists are better fish conservationists than biologists.
So back to the NMFS proposed rule. The OSY part of it is this:
Councils would set the target catch, called the optimum yield, for a given fishery at less than the maximum sustainable yield. The current guidelines allow the Councils to set optimum yield equal to the maximum sustainable yield. This change would reduce the risk of overfishing by providing a buffer between the target fishing rate and the rate that would produce the maximum sustainable yield.
This part of the proposed rule, and others, are generating lots of heat. From NMFS's weekly Fishnews email:
This month "Bill's Corner" sets the record straight on NOAA Fisheries' proposed changes to the National Standard 1 Guidelines to end overfishing and the misrepresentation of these important changes that have appeared in the press.
"Bill" is Bill Hogarth, NMFS Director. He says:
Since the proposal is primarily scientific and technical in nature and has been misunderstood and therefore misrepresented in the press, I want to be very clear about our goal and what we would achieve. Our goal is an end to overfishing, resulting in healthy, sustainable stocks and fisheries.
So, if you like efficiency and/or healthy fish stocks, here is your chance to have some impact:
NOAA Fisheries Service will extend for an additional 60 days the public comment period on its proposed modifications to the National Standard 1 Guidelines of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. ... Comments will be accepted through October 21, 2005, and may be submitted by e-mail to [email protected], through the Federal e-Rulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov (include in the Subject line "Comments on Proposed Rule for National Standard 1") or by mail to Mark R. Millikin, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Hwy Room 13357, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910.
