Take action: Tell NOAA to Ensure Quality Data is Used for Fish Conservation
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) has proposed a new rule that would deny scientists the data they need to measure the impact of "bycatch" – the term used to describe animals caught but unwanted by fishermen. These fish and other wildlife, such as sea turtles and seabirds, are often dead or dying when discarded at sea.
One out of five fish caught in the U.S. is bycatch, and reducing this waste can help promote fisheries sustainability. Properly monitoring the amount of bycatch is the first step in reducing it. Unfortunately, NOAA Fisheries’ proposed rule weakens scientists' ability to monitor bycatch by failing to require the collection of accurate and statistically-significant data.
If bycatch measurements are incomplete, incorrect, or insufficient, scientists can't make accurate assessments and managers can't make well-informed decisions. We could see more overfishing and more depletion of vulnerable species.
Act now: Urge NOAA Fisheries to withdraw this rule that would prevent scientists and managers from having the data they need to reduce bycatch.
Dear NOAA Fisheries,
You have a responsibility to minimize bycatch and bycatch mortality under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. But your new rule on the programs that are meant to determine how much bycatch is occurring (Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodologies, or SBRMs) would undermine your ability to fulfill this duty.
SBRMs should be designed to provide quality data to scientists, so they can assess how much bycatch is occurring in each fishery and among fisheries. Fishery managers then use those assessments to promote sustainable management of fish populations by reducing bycatch. But your proposed rule undercuts this process in several ways by:
- Allowing SBRMs that do not provide accurate data.
- Requiring SBRMs to only consider the collection of data, not the analysis of that data.
- Complicating efforts to establish national or regional bycatch estimates by allowing each fishery to have its own SBRM, making it more difficult to collect standard information.
It simply doesn't make sense to design data collection programs that do not meet the needs of scientists and managers. This rule is a mistake, and jeopardizes the sustainable management of fish and marine wildlife populations. I urge you to withdraw this seriously flawed rule.
[Your Comment]
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
