ABSTRACT
Populations of Pacific rockfish-the 60 or so species that include yelloweye, canary rockfish, and bocaccio-are in trouble. Trawling nets dragged across the continental shelf catch these fish and everything else in their paths. About half of the global continental shelf is now trawled, and the repercussions of inefficient fishery management are widespread. The annual revenue of commercial fishers in the United States is $4 billion. Fish processors receive another $7 billion and distributors receive another $14 billion. Falling fish populations and efforts to rejuvenate them will necessitate cutbacks in the fishing industry. Those in industries associated with fishing and those who eat seafood will share the losses. Disturbances in fish stocks also affect species above and below them in the food chain. For example, populations of the Steller sea lion, which competes for food with commercial fishing operations in the heavily trafficked north Pacific, have dropped by 80 percent since 1960.1
A fishery is an area where fish are caught-a fishing ground-or a firm in the fishing business. Bycatch is the term used for fish, birds, turtles, and marine mammals caught in a fishery, but discarded because they have little or no commercial value or they do not meet regulatory requirements. Bycatch represents an estimated 60 billion pounds or 25 percent of the overall global catch each year. Under the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) of 1996,2 a fish species that falls below 25 percent of its natural (unfished) population must be rebuilt to 40 percent of its natural population.3 Many species of rockfish meet this criterion for overfishing.
