Managing non-target, data-poor species using catch limits: lessons from the Alaskan groundfish fishery

P>The 2006 reauthorisation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires annual catch limits for all target and non-target species within federally managed fisheries in the United States. In Alaska, both target and non-target species in the Alaska groundfish fisheries have been managed using catch limits since the early 1990s. Non-target species that are caught incidentally in a fishery require monitoring to ensure that the population is not negatively impacted by commercial fishing. Resource assessment scientists have been challenged with obtaining sufficient data to recommend an acceptable catch level for management of these species. This paper reviews three case studies where a catch limit is determined for non-target species when certain data are limited: (1) varying levels of biomass and catch data for all species within a species group or complex; (2) adequate catch data but no biomass data; (3) emerging target fishery of data-poor species, plus an example of how a complex of ecosystem component species is managed.