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Wespac Committee Advances Bottomfish Rebuilding Plan

18Sep

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Wespac Committee Advances Bottomfish Rebuilding Plan

Members of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee have advanced a Guam bottomfish rebuilding plan, with a focus on balancing sustainable fishing opportunities with stock recovery goals. The Council announced in Honolulu on Sept.13 the committee’s recommendation that sets the annual catch limit (ACL) of 34,500 pounds, allowing for fishing to continue while ensuring the stock is rebuilt by 2031. The Scientific and Statistical Committee met in Honolulu during the second week of September. The Guam bottomfish fishery was declared overfished in 2019, which mandated the council to rebuild the Guam bottomfish stock in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law governing marine f...

Wespac Set to Take Final Action on Deep 7 Bottomfish for 2024-27

Final action on an alternative for the Main Hawaiian Islands Deep 7 Bottomfish fishery for 2024 through 2027 is on the agenda for the 200th meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Wespac) from Sept. 23-25 in Honolulu. Specific information on joining the meeting, instructions for connecting to Webex and providing oral public comments during the meeting will be posted on the council website at https://www.wpcouncil.org/event/200th-council-meeting. Remote participation is to be available via web conferencing. A benchmark stock assessment received by the council in March found that the fishery was not overfished and not experiencing overfishing. For now, the council’s preferred alternative is for an annual catch limit of 493,000 pounds, based on the ris...

Wespac Science Advisors Endorse Hawaii, Guam Bottomfish Stock Assessments

Science advisors to the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Wespac) have endorsed two bottomfish stock assessments for the main Hawaiian Islands and Guam as the best scientific information available. The council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) accepted the stock assessments on March 14. The assessments found that main Hawaiian Islands deep-seven stock is not overfished and not experiencing overfishing and that Guam stock likely is not overfished and likely not experiencing overfishing relative to reference points. The SSC endorsed the 2023 benchmark stock assessment and recommended that the council initiate the process for setting an updated acceptable biological catch and specifying annual catch limits. The council noted that significant improvem...