The West Coast Groundfish Fishery: fisheries success or failure?

The fishery for groundfish off California, Oregon and Washington has been the subject of much concern especially regarding the status of several species of rockfish.  The management actions by the Pacific Fishery Management Council were among the first to specifically address the problem of overfishing.  I review the history of the 33 species that make up almost all the catch of this fishery, and show that the total biomass was depleted by about 50% from 1950 to the mid  1990s and has been growing ever since.  Fishing mortality rates are now perhaps the lowest in the world and all overfished stocks are rebuilding.  I explore the trade-off between sustainable yield,  conservation of biodiversity and profitability, and show that both conservation and economic objectives suggest considerably lower fishing pressure than would maximize long term sustainable yield.  I show that at the height of "overfishing" about 3% of the sustainable yield was lost due to excess fishing pressure, but that the rebuilding program is causing about 30% of the potential food production to be foregone.

Speaker: Ray Hilborn, Professor, University of Washington

Room 105