Purse Seine, Sitka Alaska
Age Structured Analysis (ASA) - "ASA uses estimates of recruitment, age, growth, maturation, natural mortality, weight-at-age, and spawning escapement to forecast herring abundance. Age and growth formation is obtained by samples collected from test fishing, commercial harvests, mid-water trawling (department survey), and sampling on the spawning grounds by the department." For more information see 2006 Report to The Alaska Board of Fisheries: Southeast Alaska - Yakutat Herring Fisheries.
Discrete - "...NMFS has defined a 'discrete' population to be markedly separated from other populations of the same taxon as a consequence of physical, physiological, ecological, or behavioral factors. If physical (geographic) separation is not clears, then quantitative measures of life history, morphological, or genetic discontinuity are used to determin whether a population is 'discrete'."
Distinct - "The meaning of 'distinct population segment' is clarified in a joint US Fish and Wildlife Service and NMFS interagency policy on vertebrate populations (USFWS-NOAA 1996, 61 Fed. Reg. 4722-25): To be considered 'distinct' a population must be first 'discrete' from other populations and then second 'significant' to the biological species as a whole."
Magnusun Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MFCMA) 1976 (Public Law 94-265, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) - The Fishery Conservation and Managment Act (FCMA) was signed April 13, 1976 and went in effect March 1, 1977, this Act established U.S. fishing territory extending 200 miles from shore. The Act was renamend "The Magnusun Fishery and Conservation Act" in 1980 in honor of the late Senator Warren Magnusun. For more information, principles and purposes of the MCMA see: Improving the Managment of U.S. Marine Fisheries (1994). Commission of Geosciences, Environment and Resources .
Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 - (16 U.S.C. §§ 1361-1421h, October 21, 1972, as amended 1973, 1976-1978, 1980-1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992-1994 and 1996) "The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was enacted on October 21, 1972. All marine mammals are protected under the MMPA. The MMPA prohibits, with certain exceptions, the "take" of marine mammals in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens on the high seas, and the importation of marine mammals and marine mammal products into the U.S." For more information see NOAA Fisheries, Office of Protected Resource.
Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) – “The highest theoretical equilibrium yield that can be continuously taken (on average) from a stock under existing (average) environmental conditions without affecting significantly the reproduction process. Also referred to sometimes as Potential yield.” Usually determined by models (ex. Schaefer model) that estimate population growth and reduction as related to death, spawn, and stock fluidity. Also: maximum equilibrium catch (MEC) and sustainable catch.
Source : United Nations Atlas of the Oceans
Migratory Stock - "Herring have generally been divided into migratory and resident life history categories (reviewed in Stout et al. 2001)...migratory stocks...are long-lived and make extensive summer feeding migrations."
Optimum Yield - "The yield from a fishery which provides the greatest overall benefit to the nation with particular reference to food production and recreational opportunities; it is based on MSY as modified by economic, social or ecological factors."
Source: NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Resident Stock - "Herring have generally been divided into migratory and resident life history categories (reviewed in Stout et al. 2001)... resident stocks...make comparitavely short feeding migrations (or no migrations at all)."
Significant - "A 'significant' determination is based upon '1) persistence of the discrete population segment in the ecological setting unusual or unique for the taxon, 2) evidence that loss of the discrete population segment would result in a significant gap in the range of the taxon, 3) evidence that the discrete population segment represents the only surviving natural occurrence of a taxon that may be abundant elsewhere as an introduced population outside of its historic range, or 4) evidence that the discrete population segment differed markedly from other population of the species in it's genetic characteristics' (Stout et al. 2001)."
Species - "The ESA as amended in 1978 defines 'species' as 'any subspecies of fish or wildlife of plants, and any distinct population segment of any {biological} species of vertebrate fish or wildlife which interbreeds when mature'"
Threshold Level - "The threshold level is the herring biomass needed to meet minimum spawning and/or allocation requirements." For example: Revilla Channel Fishing Area Threshold Level is 6,000 tons. For more information see 2006 Report to The Alaska Board of Fisheries: Southeast Alaska - Yakutat Herring Fisheries.
More Key Terms to Come....
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