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 risk of overfishing and SEEM (social, economic, ecological and management uncertainty) scores.
The council is also set to take action on modifying the Guam bottomfish rebuilding plan.
The 2018 stock assessment determined that the Guam bottomfish complex was overfished. Based on that determination, the National Marine Fisheries Service informed the council of a change in stock status for Guam bottomfish, which required the council to end overfishing and develop a rebuilding plan within 15 months.
In response, the council specified lower catch limits to reduce overfishing and developed a rebuilding plan that would help to restore the bottomfish stocks. However, the council noted issues with the data and stock assessment and asked NMFS to reassess the stocks.
A new stock assessment update for Guam bottomfish management unit species was presented to the council in June. It included previous recommendations to conduct a data workshop to discuss the data and its application to the stock assessment.
Although the stock assessment result found that the fishery was not overfished, the bottomfish fishery was not rebuilt based on the criteria of the rebuilding plan and status determination criteria under the Mariana Archipelago Fishery Ecosystem Plan.
The new assessment was reviewed by the Western Pacific Stock Assessment Review (WPSAR) panel and the council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee and deemed the best scientific information available for the Guam bottomfish stock.