May 29, 2012 – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Technical Committee (TC) and Stock Assessment Committee (SAC) process is supposed to be a simple one that allows the members, who come from state agencies, federal agencies and academia, to do the technical work necessary to manage marine fisheries. One primary object of this process is to allow only qualified, independent scientists to populate the committees, who can be expected to produce results that are not biased towards any one sector or another. Such scientists insulated from the grind of fishery politics are the very engine on which marine fisheries management runs.
The Commissioners may be the drivers, but the TC and SAC folks provide the horsepower. This process can quickly fall apart if it appears that someone with an agenda is sitting on the committee. Earlier this week, I witnessed just such an event, perhaps the most egregious I’ve seen in attending TC and SAC meetings for 13 years.
To set the scene, the Menhaden Stock Assessment Subcommittee and Technical Committee met to determine what information will go into an assessment update, essentially the data from 2009-2011 which was collected since the last benchmark assessment. As is well known, menhaden are undergoing overfishing and the Board recently set new fishing mortality reference points that are more conservative than the old reference points. To end overfishing, the Board is currently developing Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic menhaden, which will reduce menhaden harvest for all harvesters.
As is also well known, this will be the first time the menhaden reduction industry – Omega Protein in Reedville, Virginia – will have to operate under a quota and will have to limit its harvest to end overfishing.
It was no surprise, then, that Omega Protein hired two pre-eminent stock assessment scientists to represent them at the TC and SAC meeting. Many groups, including Coastal Conservation Association, had representatives there to observe the proceedings. But the Omega representatives went a step further and interacted freely with the Committee. One of them spoke more than any member of the stock assessment committee. At one point, he essentially led the discussion on whatsensitivity analyses were appropriate for the assessment.
Read the full story at Save Menhaden.
Analysis: Richen Brame of the Coastal Conservation Association writes that the participation of Drs. Michael Prager and Doug Butterworth “cast doubt on the validity” of a recent meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Menhaden Stock Assessment Subcommittee. However, Brame does not offer evidence that the participation of Drs. Prager and Butterworth unduly influenced the process, and does not mention that such participation in the stock assessment process is common.
Drs. Prager and Butterworth are internationally recognized experts in stock assessment methodology, as Brame recognizes. Their work at the hearing was not to advocate an agenda, as Brame alleges, but to use their undisputed technical expertise to work with the committee to produce the best possible stock assessment that will ensure the health of the menhaden population. Because the committee process eventually resulted in a consensus agreement among the members, it is more likely that Drs. Prager and Butterworth’s participation positively contributed to the process, rather than hindered it.
Dr. Prager has impeccable credentials to participate in the workshop, having previously been the Senior Fisheries Scientist at NOAA’s Southeast Science Center. During his time as a NOAA employee, Preger previously studied the uncertainties in menhaden stock assessment models, publishing papers on the topic. This background knowledge and his employment as a government scientist at NOAA for 21 years make him a more than an appropriate candidate to provide opinions in the Menhaden Stock Assessment Subcommittee meeting.
Rather than being a breach of protocol, participation by outside experts in stock assessment workshops is commonplace. Dr. Butterworth has a wealth of experience in the stock assessment field and has been brought in on numerous other surveys as a contributing specialist. Below is a list of some of the assessments he has contributed his expertise to:
● NOAA Gulf of Maine Cod Stock Assessment
● California Department of Fish and Game Stock Assessment: Red Abalone 2009
● Marine Stewardship Council Russian Pollock Assessment Team, West Bering Sea Team
● NOAA SCAA/ASPM Assessment of White Hake
● Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organzation: Report of the Fisheries Commission Working Group on Greenland Halibut Management Strategy Evaluation (WGMSE) (EU and Canada)
● NOAA Gulf of Maine Winter Flounder Stock Assessment 2011
● Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)
● Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) – 2001 Southern Bluefin Stock Assessment
● Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)/ Food and Agriculture Organization – Third FAO Expert Advisory Panel for the Assessment of Proposals to Amend Appendices I and II of CITES Concerning Commercially-Exploited Aquatic Species, 2009
● South African Marine and Coastal Management Stock Assessments for all major fisheries and deepwater species
● Food and Agricultural Organization Workshop on the Assessment and Management of Deepwater Fisheries 2003: Orange Roughy off of Prince Edward Island
● NOAA GARM III Groundfish Assessment Review 2008
● International Commission for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tunas – Assessment of North Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
● Among many others with contributions across the globe in Argentina, the Caribbean, Chile, Iceland, Namibia, Norway, and Japan. With a wide variety of specimens such as whales, hake, redfish, and seals.
Here is a short list of some of the many international conferences Dr. Butterworth attended as a specialist invitee and expert speaker on assessments:
● Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCBST)
● International Commission for the South East Atlantic Fisheries (ICSEAF)
● International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
● International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas ICCAT
● International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
● International Whaling Commission (IWC)
● North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO)
● North Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO)
Other well-known independent scientists contribute to a wide variety of stock assessments and provide expert advice about stock assessments to conferences and workshops. Here we include Drs. JJ Maguire, Andre Punt, and Frank J. Hester as examples of distinguished scientists who have similarly used their independent expertise for the betterment of survey studies and modeling assessments.
Dr. Jean Jacques Maguire is an independent consultant on fisheries science and management since 1996. His previous work includes prominent positions in the fishing divisions of the Canadian government. Below is a list of some of the assessments he has contributed his expertise to.
● Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Maryland Striped Bass Stock Assessment
● MSC Northwest Atlantic Canadian Longline and Harpoon Swordfish Commercial Fisheries Full Assessment
● Scottish Fishermen Federation: analysis of the rebuilding potential of North Sea white fish stocks and technical support 2000
● Monkfish Defence Fund (Northeast USA) : Stock assessments and monkfish specific co-operative survey with the USA National Marine Fisheries Service (ongoing since May 2000).
● Fisheries and Oceans Canada Technical Report Herring and Mackerel Resources on the East Coast of Canada
● Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources Review of Northeast Fishery Stock Assessments
● MSC Gulf of St. Lawrence Northern Shrimp Full Assessment
● International Development Research Centre : evaluation of the Chilean Fisheries Research Institute (IFOP), 2000
● Canadian Auditor General: evaluation of the performance of the DFO in managing fisheries for invertebrate species, 1998
● Government of Japan Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna
● Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna : external expert charged recommending improvements to the stock assessment process, 1998.
● Norad (Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation) : chairing of a hake stock assessment meeting in Namibia (October 1997).
● Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Nova Scotia and Fisheries Research Division, Québec worked on Atlantic mackerel, cod (2 stocks), pollock, redfish (sebastes) and bluefin tuna
● Faeroese Fisheries Laboratory and Marine Institute, Ireland: technical support to the stock assessment teams.
Examples of conferences Dr. Maguire attended as a specialist invitee and scientific advisor on stock assessments:
● International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission (IBSFC)
● Northeast Atlantic fisheries Commission (NEAFC)
● North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO)
● Chair of Advisory Committee on Fishery Management (ACFM) which advises International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the European Commission, IBSFC, NEAFC, and NASCO.
● ICES North Western Working Group
○ Stock assessments for stocks in Greenland, Iceland and the Faeroes reviewed
● North Sea Commission Fishery Partnership and North Sea Regional Advisory Council
● North Sea Regional Advisory Council (NSRAC) formulation of position on MSY.
Dr. Andre Punt is a professor at the University of Washington. His lab works on developing new methods for assessments and analyzing current models for accuracy and uncertainty. Below is a list of some of the assessments he has contributed his expertise to.
● National Marine Fisheries Service West coast Groundfish Stock Assessment (2000-2003)
● International Whaling Commission Modeling of North Atlantic Humpback Whales
● SGS New Zealand Hoki Stock Assessment
● Many others including sea lion populations and Bluefin tuna.
Conferences attending as a specialist invitee and an expert speaker on stock assessments:
● NOAA 11th Annual National Stock Assessment Workshop
● Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Fisheries Management Studies Working Group 2001.
● DFO Workshop on Implementing the Precautionary Approach in Assessment Advice 2001.
● 24th Annual North Atlantic Fisheries Organization meeting, Santiago de Compostela,2002.
● American Fisheries Society, 133rd Annual Meeting, Quebec, 2003.
● Workshop on Assessment and Management of Deepsea Fisheries, 2003.
● Deep Sea 2003 Conference, Queenstown 2003.
● World Fisheries Congress, Vancouver, 2004.
● 2004 World Conference on Natural Resource Modelling, Melbourne, Keynote Speaker
● International Council for the Exploration of the Sea Symposium on Fisheries Management Strategies 2006.
● 10th National Stock Assessment Workshop, Port Townsend, 5-8 2008.
● 5th World Fisheries Congress, Yokohama, 2008. Keynote Speaker
● National Ecosystem Modelling Workshop II, Annapolis, 2009.
Dr. Frank J. Hester began his career in fisheries in 1960 working on studying the tuna fishery for the US Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. Since 1974, he has been an independent consulting scientist advising on fisheries management for the industry, government and non-governmental fishery organizations. Below is a list of some of the assessments he has contributed his expertise to.
● International Whaling Commission for St. Vincent and the Grenadines Scientific Advisor since 1989
● Directed Shark Fishery Association and NOAA Shark Evaluation Workshop (SEW) and Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) evaluation and assessments.
● International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna Bluefin Tuna Stock Assessment Meeting
● Southeast Fisheries Association Red Snapper in SEDAR 15
● Southeast Fisheries Association SEDAR 25-RW10 On Steepness 2011
● South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s King Mackerel Stock Assessment
● Directed Sustainable Fisheries Inc Consultant on SEDAR 15 Stock Assessments
● California Seafood Council Project Report on Pacific Sardine
● And many others including work with NOAA on skipjack tuna and several other shark assessments for different councils