WASHINGTON – Wednesday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report entitled, Federal Fisheries Management: Efforts to Reduce and Monitor Unintentional Catch and Harm Need Better Tracking. The report found that federal efforts to monitor and reduce bycatch in U.S. fisheries are lacking.

“Alaskans and our fishing families know bycatch is a huge problem, but we also know there are steps we can take to fix it—since I’ve been in office, industry folks have taken notice and have self-selected into better practices that have already reduced chum salmon bycatch by 50%!” said Rep. Peltola. “We also know NOAA is slow-walking the National Standards update—we need action. That’s why I introduced the Bycatch Reduction and Mitigation Act, which would increase funding for NOAA’s Bycatch Reduction and Engineering Program and establish the Bycatch Mitigation Assistance Fund.”

Earlier this year, Representative Mary Peltola introduced the Bycatch Reduction and Mitigation Act, aimed at investing in new tech to help fisherman reduce their bycatch. She also introduced the Fisheries Improvement and Seafood Health (FISH) Act to which mandates a GAO study on U.S. seafood competitiveness in international markets and a separate study to assess federal programs that support domestic seafood production.

View text of the FISH Act HERE. View a one pager of the FISH Act HERE.

Report Background, Findings, and Recommendations

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries (NMFS) monitors bycatch primarily through fisheries observers, who are deployed on fishing vessels at sea. The GAO report found that observer coverage varies widely across fisheries — from zero to 100% — and that recruitment and retention of observers is a major challenge. When fisheries do not have adequate observer coverage, the development of bycatch estimates is significantly more difficult, complicating fishery management and decision-making.

To address these issues, the GAO issued four recommendations:

1. NMFS should assess and communicate the resources needed to support fisheries observers.
2. NMFS should identify measurable performance goals for reducing and monitoring bycatch.
3. NMFS should develop a process for tracking progress towards performance goals.
4. NMFS should develop a comprehensive plan for reporting bycatch estimates.

Read the full GAO report HERE.

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  bycatch, gaps, nmfs, peltolla