Analysis of Management Options for Development of a Plan to End Overfishing of Pacific Bigeye Tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean PREFACE

Pacific bigeye tuna are subject to overfishing Pacific-wide and this document sets out alternatives that potentially could be used to end overfishing. Bigeye tuna, like other highly migratory species (HMS) are nomadic in behavior, thus do not recognize boundaries that management, policy, or science have established. Bigeye tuna are fished by many nations in addition the United States, thus future efforts to reduce fishing mortality on bigeye tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) will require coordination and communication among all relevant regional fisheries stakeholders. The capacity for unilateral action by the United States to prevent overfishing, as required under National Standard 1 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1851(a)(1), is limited, as is the capacity of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council), which is required to develop a plan to end overfishing, under 50 CFR 600.310(e)(4)(i)). Pacific-wide, the U.S. annually lands approximately 10,000 metric tons (mt) (Table 3), or about five percent of the total bigeye catch. The Pacific-wide catch for bigeye tuna in the EPO between years 1999 and 2003 was between 88,000 mt and 142,000 mt. The U.S. West Coast commercial catch for this period was less than one percent; hence any unilateral action by U.S. fisheries to end overfishing would have little effect on the stock. Multilateral management action is essential to ensure that overfishing on bigeye tuna in the Pacific Ocean ends. The current resolution that places conservation and management measures on fishing nations in the EPO for bigeye tuna is set to expire in 2006; for that reason this document provides future management options that would address overfishing of Pacific bigeye tuna in the EPO. The Council will choose a West Coast position to advance to the U.S. delegation to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), as domestic management for 2007 and beyond depends on international management actions to reduce fishing on bigeye tuna stocks