Ocean Conservation News

SEATTLE—Only 18% of fish populations off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington are known to be healthy, and that number has not improved since 2001, according to an analysis of government statistics in a new report published today by the Marine Fish Conservation Network (Network) and WashPIRG. The Pacific Fishery Management Council is the primary agency responsible for managing fishing activities and ensuring the health of 167 marine fish populations of which only 49 have been assessed to determine whether or not they are at healthy levels.

“We have two problems in the Pacific region: a fishery management council that has not been assertive enough about preventing overfishing and restoring overfished populations, and inadequate resources to assess managed fish populations,” said Karen Garrison co-director of the Oceans Program with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

"Shell Game: How the Federal Government is Hiding the Mismanagement of Our Nation’s Fisheries," reveals that although the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) continues to tout a downward trend in the number of stocks that are overfished or experiencing overfishing, these improvements have primarily been due to manipulations of the data presented in its annual report to Congress on the status of fish stocks. The Network’s analysis showed that 60 percent of the overfished stocks and 75 percent of the stocks experiencing overfishing between 2001 and 2004 were taken off the list due to administrative shuffling. Nationally, only 91 ocean fish stocks – currently 13 percent of all federally managed ocean fish stocks – are known to be healthy, and this number has not improved since 2001.

“NMFS has not been straightforward with Congress or the American public because it consistently manipulates data to mask management failures from year to year,” said Lee Crockett, executive director of the Network, the largest national coalition devoted to promoting sustainable marine fisheries. “We need to take an honest look at what is and isn’t working in fisheries management if we are to make any progress in the future.”

The Network will submit the report to Congress and will urge lawmakers to strengthen overfishing protections when renewing and amending the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law that governs U.S. ocean fisheries. A bill proposal by the National Marine Fisheries Service and a new bill introduced by Barney Frank (D-MA) both proposed to roll back overfishing protections and extend time frames for rebuilding depleted populations.

The report points out that regional fishery managers often do not have adequate scientific information on fish populations, but that when they do that information is not followed in making management decisions. As documented in the report, this failure to follow scientific advice has resulted in overfished populations and lengthy time to restore overfished populations. One House bill, the Fisheries Science and Management Enhancement Act of 2005, H.R. 1431, would require fishery managers to base all management decisions on sound science. According to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, this common sense principle represents a key step toward sustainable fisheries management.

Shell Game analyzed federal data and regional fishery management plans to find trends in how well fishery managers have implemented the law to end overfishing and restore depleted fish stocks over the last five years. The report recommends preventing overfishing by adopting enforceable annual catch limits based on scientific recommendations of how many fish should be caught. It points out that regions, such as the North Pacific, that have used these annual catch limits have been more successful than regions, such as New England, that have tried to control overfishing with indirect management measures such as limiting the number of fishing days.

“We’ve got to manage our fisheries based on science both in setting catch levels and flow levels,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “To work though they have to be based on the best science and be enforceable,” he added.

The use of annual catch limits is perhaps one of the most controversial issues facing Congress as it reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The Senate Commerce Committee was unable to resolve this issue when it met to consider its bill, S. 2012, to renew the fisheries law in December 2005. A delegation of Senators from New England objected to including enforceable annual catch limits in the bill despite strong support for them from Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Daniel Inouye (D-HI), the Co-chairs of the Commerce Committee. The Network strongly supports the inclusion of these limits in the final Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization bill.

Editor’s note: Key findings and Pacific Fact Sheet can be found at:

Pacific Fact Sheet

Key Findings Fact Sheet


The Marine Fish Conservation Network is a coalition of more than 175 national and regional environmental organizations, commercial and recreational fishing groups, aquariums, and marine science groups dedicated to conserving marine fish and to promoting their long-term sustainability. For more information, please visit www.conservefish.org.