NOAA Fisheries is releasing its final revisions to the guidelines for National Standards 1, 3, and 7 (NS1) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) and the General Section of those guidelines. The NS1 guidelines are a critical component of sustainable fisheries management as they provide a framework for preventing and ending overfishing. The final revised guidelines also include important provisions to facilitate the implementation of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) to achieve resilient and productive ocean fisheries.
The purpose of the revised NS1 guidelines is to improve and streamline the National Standard guidelines to enhance their utility for managers and the public, address concerns raised during the implementation of annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs), and provide flexibility within statutory mandates to address fishery management issues including the need to better align the biology of a fishery and the data available to manage it.
These final guidelines provide important flexibility and tools for a responsive management system that allows fishing industries to better adapt to changes in scientific-based quota management. In no way do the revisions undermine the MSA statutory requirements to prevent and end overfishing.
Friday, October 14, 2-3pm EDT