Managing Alaska Groundfish and Steller Sea Lions – at the same time and same place

1. Managing Alaska Groundfish and Steller Sea Lions – at the same time and same place Doug DeMaster Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NMFS Seattle, WA

2. Steller sea lion population decline Western SSL Stock listed as Endangered in 1997

3. Proximate Cause of Decline • Reduction in juvenile survival • Life table analyses (modeling) • Marking-Resighting (I.e., branded animals) • Changes in pregnancy/lactation rates of adult females between 1970s and 1980s • Data in 1970 and 1980s primarily from lethal sampling; similar data are not available for the 1990s

4. Ultimate Cause(s) of Decline • Entanglement in Marine Debris • Increased predation • Pollution • Harassment • Pup/Subsistence Harvests • Disease • Oceanographic Changes • Indirect effect of Fisheries } Prey Availability

5. Jeopardy (Sec.7 ESA- avoid jeopardy) Jeopardize the continued existence of means to engage in an action that reasonably would be expected, directly or indirectly, to reduce appreciably the likelihood of both the survival and recovery of a listed species in the wild by reducing the reproduction, numbers, or distribution of that species.

6. Adverse modification of CH (Sec 7 ESA – fed. Agencies are to avoid Ad. Mod.) Destruction or adverse modification means a direct or indirect alteration that appreciably diminishes the value of critical habitat for both the survival and recovery of a listed species. Such alterations include, but are not limited to, alterations adversely modifying any of those physical or biological features that were the basis for determining the habitat to be critical.

8. Food Items GOA EBS/AI Pollock 73% 54% Pacific cod 34% 21% Atka mackerel 5% 78% Arrowtooth fl. 22% 4% Cephalopods 5% 16% Herring 11% 8% Salmon 43% 20% Sandlance 14% 3% Frequency of occurrence of Steller sea lion prey from scats > 10% (1990-1998)

9. FO by Region and Season E. Bering Sea C. GOA E. Aleutians C. & W. Aleutians

10. 1998 E. Bering Sea A-Season Total Catch 498,600 mt

11. Eastern Bering Sea Pollock Catch Distribution 1977-98

12. Analysis of Fisheries Data: Leslie Depletion • Catch per unit effort (CPUE) is a function of cumulative catch (Kt ) • CPUEt= q B0 - q Kt • q =catchability (proportion of B0 caught per Unit Effort) • B0 = Biomass of prefished population

13. But – what is the direct evidence for nutritional stress in western SSL? • Is It Food? Workshop (1993)- strong support for nutritional stress in the western SSL population in the 1980s • Is It Food? II Workshop (2001) – 7 studies all reported data inconsistent with nutritional stress hypothesis (but noted adequate sampling remains to be done)

14. 30 Nov 2000 Biological Opinion- BiOp 3 • Conclude that implemented the groundfish FMP is likely to jeopardize the western Steller sea lion • Conclude that the FMP is likely to adversely modify the designated critical habitat of western Steller sea lions

15. Reasonable and Prudent Alternative in BiOp 3 • Global Control Rule • CH Closures to Eliminate Competition (66%) • 3 nm no-entry zones around rookeries and major haulouts • Seasonal harvest limits in CH (4 seasons) • Seasonal harvest limits outside CH (2 seasons) • Closure in CH from 1 Nov through 20 January • Spatial apportionment of TAC in open areas in CH • Monitoring requirement (3 blocks, 13 areas)

17. So what happened next? • Judge Zilly dropped the injunction • Industry estimated BiOp 3 would cost $500 million to implement (fishery value-$700 m) • Senator Stevens attached a rider to an appropriation bill early in FY01 that delayed implementation of the 30 Nov BiOp • North Pacific Fishery Management Council established an RPA Committee to develop alternate reasonable and prudent alternatives

18. RPA Committee: Goals and Objectives • Goal: Develop an EIS RPA alternative for 2002 and beyond that meets the mandates of the ESA, MSFCMA, and other applicable laws, while conserving marine biodiversity and sustaining viability of the diverse fishing communities dependent upon the Alaska fishery resources. • Objectives: • Remove jeopardy and adverse modification. • Develop a sound experimental design for monitoring. • Minimize social and economic impacts. • Minimize bycatch of PSC and other groundfish. • Promote safety at sea.

19. RPA Committee: Recommended Open/Closed Areas (BiOp 4- Oct 2001)

20. Final Action in 2001 • Council at its October 2001 meeting amended the recommendations of the RPA committee (e.g., no pollock fishing in the Aleutians) • NMFS found that the proposed action did not pose jeopardy or adv. Modify CH of western SSL • BiOp 4 finalized in October 2001 • Legal action by plaintiffs - uncertain

21. Conclusions • ESA requires fishery managers to consider stewardship of other resources, not just harvest strategies and fishery efficiencies • ESA mandates and lawsuits shift burden of proof to fisheries managers • Determination of no-jeopardy is difficult when information is uncertain • Determination that conservation measures are effective is difficult

22. STELLER SEA LION- FISHERY INTERACTIONS SUMMARY CAUSES OF DECLINE • Entanglement in debris • Subsistence harvest • Pollution • Harassment • Increased predation • Disease • Oceanographic changes • Indirect effects of fisheries LEGAL CHALLENGES • 8 Aug 2000 – Injunction against all trawling in Critical Habitat • Remand to prepare comprehensive Biol. Opinion • Remand to prepare Suppl. Env. Impact Statement • 30 Nov 2000 – BiOp completed; injunction lifted • Draft Programmatic SEIS – completed Jan 2001 • BiOp on 2002 TAC setting process done Oct 19 2001