Charting the Course to Best Choice for the Alaska Pollock Fishery January 12, 2010 The goal

of the Monterey Bay Aquariums Seafood Watch program is to provide market incentives to develop more sustainable seafood production practices. Through our analysis of pollock fishery practices, we hope to offer suggestions to chart a course toward a Best Choices ranking. Measurable improvements in stock status, bycatch and habitat impacts in the future could result in an improvement in the overall Seafood Watch recommendation for Alaska pollock. Despite highly effective management of the fishery, stock status and bycatch rank as moderate conservation concerns. Habitat damage from trawls ranks as a serious conservation concern. A proactive approach to addressing these issues presents an opportunity for the pollock fishery to demonstrate its leadership on fisheries sustainability and ecosystem-based management, and an opportunity to return to a Best Choice ranking. The most serious conservation concern weve identified is the habitat damage caused by midwater trawls that frequently contact the seafloor, as analyzed in the Alaska Region Essential Fish Habitat Environmental Impact Statement, produced by NOAA scientists. One of the most important changes the fishery and/or fishery managers could make is to strictly prevent midwater trawls from contacting the bottom; and to enforce a prohibition on bottom contact through a stronger, verifiable performance standard that ensures no bottom contact occurs. If such a regulation or other action were demonstrated to effectively eliminate bottom contact from pollock trawls, it could change the ranking for Criterion 4: Effects of Fishing Practices on Habitats and Ecosystems so it would no longer be considered severe. In addition, implementing experimental closures to evaluate management strategies for Steller sea lions (as per prior Marine Stewardship Council conditions) and to evaluate effects on habitat (as per the Center for Independent Experts recommendations) could provide additional information relevant to the ranking of Criterion 4. We also encourage the pollock fishery to take additional strong measures to ensure the bycatch of Chinook salmon consistently stays at low levels. The success of the Chinook bycatch reduction plan scheduled for implementation in 2011 will largely depend on the efficacy of Incentive Plan Agreements (IPAs) designed by industry. In future reports, Seafood Watch will evaluate the effectiveness of these measures to address the bycatch concern. If the fishery implements effective IPAs or other measures that are demonstrated to constrain salmon bycatch to low levels over time and/or Yukon River salmon runs show significant recovery, the ranking of Criterion 3: Nature and Extent of Discarded Bycatch for Alaska pollock may change to a low conservation concern. Finally, in setting the level of TAC, we encourage managers to consider a more precautionary harvest rule for Pollock, given the uncertainty inherent in the stock assessments and the importance of pollock as a prey species. Management could show leadership in crafting more precautionary harvest rules to offset potential errors in estimates of stock size and recruitment, and to allow for predation by Steller sea lions, fur seals and other important predators in the

ecosystem. While stock fluctuations will occur regardless of harvest strategy, stocks with more conservative harvest rates are predicted to return more quickly to levels above BMSY. If this improvement in stock status occurs, Seafood Watch will re-evaluate the fishery and the Criterion 2: Status of Wild Stocks ranking may change to a low conservation concern. Seafood Watch will continue to monitor developments in the pollock fishery. If the fishery takes actions that lead to measurable improvements in stock status, sustained low bycatch of species of special concern (such as Chinook salmon), and substantially reduced habitat impacts, it is likely to result in a change in the recommendation for Alaska pollock from a Good Alternative to a Best Choice. The Seafood Watch team welcomes further discussion with fishery representatives and managers regarding the specifics of how potential changes in the pollock fishery could affect the Seafood Watch rankings.