SSC Ecosystem Working Group Report

SSC Ecosystem Working Group

Objective: assist the Council in developing short term and long term objectives to advance the operational use of ecosystem information in management decisions

Outcomes for the Council:

An OFL CV process that makes better use of ecosystem information in determining the ABC
Evaluation of multiple ecosystem indicators and potential development of thresholds for use in a revised EAFM risk assessment and/or other Council processes
Increased range of opportunities for relevant ecosystem information to be considered in management decision processes

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Progress

Objective 1: Expanding and clarifying the ecosystem portion of the SSC OFL CV determination process (short term objective)

Simulation analyses evaluating impact of ecosystem indicators on stock productivity and assessment uncertainty (OFL CV) in progress

Initial indicators and analyses presented evaluating ecosystem overfishing and ecosystem performance given environmental conditions

Objective 3: Collaborating with relevant working groups in developing the stock-specific Ecosystem and Socio-economic Profiles (ESP) process to specify stock-specific Ecosystem ToRs (moderate-term objective)

Ecosystem socioeconomic profiles in progress for several MAFMC stocks, and multiple SSC members involved in Research Track working groups

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Feedback: Ecosystem overfishing

How might the Council use indicators of Ecosystem overfishing?

What information would be most useful in decision making?

SSC discussion:

Define based on regional ecosystem productivity
Thresholds define a "safe operating space"
- Define the bounds where fishing causes poor system performance
- Identify tradeoffs across species within the safe zone
Provide advice on options to correct ecosystem overfishing
Use social benefits to measure outcomes

Figure key:

Orange background = Tipping point overfishing threshold, Link and Watson 2019

Green background = Optimal range, Link and Watson 2019

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Declining commercial and recreational landings can be driven by many interacting factors, including combinations of ecosystem and stock production, management actions, market conditions, and environmental change. While we cannot evaluate all possible drivers at present, here we evaluate the extent to which ecosystem overfishing (total landings exceeding ecosystem productive capacity), stock status, and system biomass trends may play a role.

Feedback: Index Numbers

How might the Council use an Index Numbers approach?