Definition of Management Units

Under the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 (FCMA), the United States assumed responsibility for the establishment of fishery management plans and policies for the fish stocks that are endemic to an area designated as the Fishery Conservation Zone (FCZ). Fishery management plans (FMP) prepared pursuant to the FCMA must carefully define the nature of the fishery which is expected to be subject to the provisions of the plan and the objectives which these provisions are expected to achieve. The FCMA, however, provides little specific guidance in determining the appropriate dimensions of a management unit, although National Standard 3 requires that to the extent practicable, an individual stock of fish shall be managed as a unit throughout its range, and interrelated stocks shall be managed as a unit or in close coordination. This national standard requires management to recognize two aspects of a management unit: (1) species naturally co-occur on fishing grounds, and as such are subject to being jointly harvested; (2) species commonly interact at the harvesting, processing, and market levels, so that net benefits to the industry derive from a range of commercially and recreationally important species. 1980 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) NEFSC (Northeast Fisheries Science Center) Library Public Domain 1864