United States Bering Sea Groundfish Fisheries

Groundfish fisheries in the United States portion of the eastern Bering Sea are federally managed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC), one of eight regional councils created by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Witherell et al., 2000). The eastern Bering Sea groundfish fisheries are prosecuted by three different fleets that employ bottom and pelagic trawl gear with median vessel lengths between 38 m and 100 m. These fisheries are managed by the Bering Sea Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (BSAI FMP). This FMP is guided by the ten National Standards for sustainable and responsible fisheries management as set forth in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act (MSA) of 1976 and subsequent reauthorizations. Harvest specifications are based on best scientific information available (BSIA). Harvest specifications are reviewed annually based on scientific reviews conducted by the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Groundfish Plan Team (BSAI GPT) and the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) of the NPFMC.

Portions of the Bering Sea groundfish fisheries are managed through two catch share programs outlined in the BSAI FMP and through U.S. Congressional action (Fissel et al. 2019). The American Fisheries Act (AFA) was passed by Congress in 1998 and provided an opportunity to form fishing cooperatives for walleye pollock. The AFA Pollock fleet comprises two sectors, catcher vessels (CV) with a median length of 38m that deliver to shoreside processors as well as at-sea motherships and catcher-processors (CPs) with a median length of 100 m, also targeting walleye pollock. The pelagic trawl fishery primarily targets walleye pollock, and is the largest groundfish fishery in the EBS and largest by volume in the U.S. The other main catch share program in the EBS is the non-AFA groundfish catcher-processor bottom trawl catch share program, which was authorized through the 80th amendment to the BSAI FMP and is also known as Amendment 80 or A80. The A80 fleet has a median vessel length of 57 m and primarily targets flatfish, Pacific cod, and Atka mackerel (Atka mackerel fisheries operate predominantly in the Aleutian Islands). The primary flatfish species of interest are yellowfin sole, arrowtooth flounder, flathead sole, northern rock sole, Greenland turbot, Alaska plaice, and other flatfish. The third fleet fishing for groundfish in the EBS is the BSAI CV bottom trawl fleet which has a median length of 44 m and primarily targets flatfish and Pacific cod (Fissel et al., 2022). These fleets also to a lesser degree target rockfish species in the eastern Bering Sea including: Pacific Ocean perch, northern rockfish, blackspotted-rougheye rockfish, other rockfish and Atka mackerel. The AFA and A80 Programs both operate with cooperative structures and the individual vessels have “sideboard” restrictions that limit their ability to expand fishing beyond historical norms outside of the programs, but both fleets rely substantially on non-catch share species program revenues (both in the BSAI as well as the Gulf of Alaska (GOA)) for their operations. Some species such as Pacific cod are targeted using multiple gears and this case study considers non-trawl fisheries only within the context of the portfolio of possible adaptation options available to groundfish fishers.

In addition to the protection measures put in place by National Standard 8 to ensure the sustained participation of place-based fishing communities, the NPFMC also developed the community development quota (CDQ) program, implemented in 1992, to provide opportunities for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands coastal communities to benefit from the harvest of, as well as begin participation in the processing of, BSAI groundfish fisheries. Approximately 10% of the annual quotas for BSAI groundfish and crab are allocated to the 6 regional economic development entities authorized by the CDQ Program.

Following the provisions of the MSA, the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) limits are less than or equal to the Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) which is set lower than the Overfishing Limit (OFL). A system level overall Optimal Yield provision caps total EBS groundfish catch at 2 million tons. This OY cap is a major constraint to expansion of groundfish fisheries in the EBS as aggregate single species ABCs have averaged 2.9 million tons from 2000-2022 (NMFS, 2022). A Tier system of catch constraints provides rules for setting the OFL and the maximum permissible ABC given the information available to estimate these reference points. Most of the stocks are managed using biomass and fishing mortality targets and limits and generally decrease fishing mortality when stocks fall below prescribed biomass targets, and prohibit directed fishing when stocks fall below biomass limits. Retention of target species is prohibited when catch exceeds the ABC and directed fisheries are closed in-season when the catch exceeds the OFL. Compliance to these various catch constraints is achieved through in-season monitoring of the catch through the deployment of at-sea observers, electronic monitoring, shoreside observers, log-books and fish tickets. 

Numerous gear and time-area provisions have been established to reduce bycatch, reduce gear conflicts and protect essential fish habitat (Hollowed et al., 2011). Groundfish fisheries are constrained by prohibited species catch quotas which limit the amount of Pacific halibut, salmon, crab and herring that can be caught during directed groundfish fishing. Pacific halibut bycatch is the primary constraint on flatfish fisheries. Salmon bycatch is the primary constraint on pollock fisheries. Directed fisheries for forage fish (capelin, krill, smelt, eulachon) or squid are prohibited and bycatch of forage fish and squid in directed groundfish fisheries is monitored. In the early 2000s spatial closures, seasonal allocations of the TAC and minimum stock size thresholds for opening directed fisheries of pollock, cod and Atka mackerel were put in place to protect endangered Steller sea lions.

Collectively, time, area, and catch constraints have proven successful in sustaining viable groundfish populations and fisheries. The non-pelagic trawl groundfish fishery primarily targets flatfish and Pacific cod (also targeted by pot and longline) across time and space spreading the footprint of trawl impacts (Smeltz et al., 2019). The major flatfish stocks exhibit evidence of niche partitioning and can be targeted effectively during some seasons. However, Pacific halibut (a prohibited species) exhibits a broad spatial distribution making time or area partitions an ineffective management tool for managing halibut bycatch (Baker & Hollowed, 2014). Therefore, managers rely on prohibited species catch limits as the main constraint to the catch of halibut in groundfish trawl fisheries in the EBS. To date, spatial closures for reducing crab bycatch (the Bristol Bay Red King Crab Savings Area) have been effective when coupled with prohibited species caps in limiting crab bycatch.

As in most high latitude marine ecosystems, the eastern Bering Sea stocks are influenced by interannual and multi-year shifts in ocean conditions. In recent years, extreme events (marine heat waves) have resulted in marked shifts in reproductive success, spatial distribution and growth of several key groundfish. These serve as a harbinger for future changes in these fisheries. To address these issues, the NPFMC considers the ecosystem status report (ESR) prior to setting harvest specifications and documents assessment related considerations, population dynamics, ecosystem considerations and fishery performance. The NPFMC proactively considers how it can improve ecosystem approaches to fishery management within its Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) which includes task teams focused on climate change and improving ways to include Local knowledge, Traditional knowledge and the uses of these species for subsistence and food security purposes in decision making.

Resilience Attributes and Linkages

The current management system has sustained groundfish fisheries for over 40 years (MSA40Booklet). The degree of resilience in the groundfish trawl fishery varies across sectors. Past vulnerability analyses concluded that the vulnerability to climate risk in these domains was low, in both the ecological and socio-economic dimensions (Himes-Cornell & Kasperski, 2015; Spencer et al., 2019). However, recent heat waves have resulted in abrupt shifts in distribution and abundance of gadids and snow crab suggesting that it is unclear whether the management system is capable of sustaining fisheries under some climate change and ocean acidification scenarios (Holsman et al., 2020; Punt et al., 2016; Stevenson & Lauth, 2019).

Fishers, processors and distributors are highly organized and sophisticated. Many fishers have access to further financial knowledge and innovation capital. Processors have aligned their products to meet market demands. Provisions in the FMP prohibit discards and unused product is processed as fish meal and oil. A diverse product line has evolved to effectively process the fish to multiple markets. Alaskan groundfish is distributed to both domestic and international markets. Industry participants understand the fisheries management system and the importance of adapting and learning. They regularly attend North Pacific Fishery Management Council meetings and provide oral or written testimony on multiple decisions. However, while catch share programs retard entry into new fisheries (Szymkowiak & Rhodes-Reese, 2020), the harvest privileges for the major groundfish and crab fisheries in the EBS are already allocated to different fishers through limited access privilege programs (https://www.npfmc.org/allocationand-program-review/). 

The participatory management system allows managers to consider the opinions of multiple stakeholders and be advised by several independent bodies (SSC and Advisory Panel) as well as many standing and ad-hoc committees. This system adheres to the scientific advice of the SSC. The Advisory Panel (AP) allows for input on TAC setting, FMP amendments, and regulatory changes.

Acknowledgements

We thank Ingrid Spies (NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA, USA), Diana Evans (North Pacific Fishery Management Council, Anchorage, AK, USA) for their review of an earlier draft of our scores, Michael D. Smith (NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA, USA) for his review of our case study and Christine Baier (NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA, USA) for technical editing.