NMFS SCIENCE CENTER REPORT IN RESPONSE TO COUNCIL REQUEST: “HAS AMENDMENT 19 WORKED?”

This document is intended to address the PFMC’s request to provide a potential approach to evaluating the question of whether current essential fish habitat (EFH) designations are working as expected, including criteria for objective evaluation of the question. Essential fish habitat boundaries for groundfish and a number of habitat areas of particular concern (HAPCs) were established in Amendment 19. The entire shelf and slope area was designated as EFH, but this designation alone does not provide any fishing restrictions. Also through Amendment 19, a number of areas were permanently closed to certain types of bottom contact gear to protect groundfish EFH – the Amendment 19 EFH Conservation Areas. Amendment 19 also included several fishing gear restrictions that are not area specific and recommendations for addressing non-fishing impacts. Together, these measures were designed to fulfill the requirements for EFH established by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Note that a number of management activities, including the establishment of the spatial and temporal closures termed the Rockfish Conservation Area in 2002, were put in place prior to Amendment 19. We focus most of our discussion in this report on issues related to Amendment 19