Ecosystem approaches to fishery management through essential fish habitat

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act recognizes tha t fish stocks depend on healthy ecosystems and requires that fishery manage rs expand their management regimes to include the very basis of healthy fis heries-the habitat itself. The 1996 amendments to this primary United State s marine fishery-management law include a new mandate to identify habitats essential to managed living marine resources and to take steps to ensure th at those habitats remain healthy and can support sustainable fisheries. Unt il now, the legislative mandate for protecting habitat for marine and anadr omous stocks came through statutes not specifically focused on the needs of commercial and recreational fish species. Now, there is explicit linkage b etween fishery-management programs, traditionally designed to manage the ha rvesting activity itself, and efforts to ensure that fishing and nonfishing activities do not undermine the productivity of the stocks. This emphasis on habitat health and productivity brings a broader ecosystem perspective t o traditional fishery management. The insertion of essential fish habitat ( EFH) provisions into fisheries management has been an enormous undertaking. The agency and the regional fishery management councils, working with othe r partners, completed the first stage of the process within very tight stat utory deadlines. The councils have made use of all of the tools provided th em under the act and the EFH regulations, such as designating habitat areas of particular concern (EFH-HAPCs), recommending fishing restrictions withi n special areas, defining priority research and information needs, and docu menting threats and conservation measures appropriate for federal actions t hat may adversely affect EFH. This effort has entailed a great deal of scie ntific as well as policy analysis. We are currently implementing the federa l consultation process to address threats to fish habitat in a consistent a nd timely manner. This new habitat thrust will align fishery managers and s cientists with new allies in the habitat arena, increasing benefits to mari ne resource-management programs and fishery management. As suggested by the theme of this issue, an understanding and consideration of marine reserves and other special-area management concepts can benefit federal fishery man agement. This article gives an overview of how the fishery-management counc ils are fulfilling the essential fish habitat mandate by using a broader ec osystem approach to conservation that considers the ecological role of mana ged species, analyzes species' habitat needs from state waters to the high seas, and examines shifts in population health and sustainability over the course of decades.