Caring for marine resources requires attention to what a reporting system can actually tell us. The National Marine Fisheries Service final rule published January 19 makes uncertainty part of bycatch methodology design. Councils must be able to describe uncertainty in the resulting data, either quantitatively or qualitatively, rather than present every observation as equally exact. [2017-02592][2017-00405]

The text says councils should seek to minimize uncertainty while recognizing that different degrees may be appropriate for different fisheries. That distinction matters ethically as well as technically: acknowledging limits need not mean abandoning better information. It also avoids treating an aspiration to improve estimates as proof that environmental protection has already improved. [2017-02592][2017-00405]

Practical responsibility runs in both directions. Implementation must be feasible in cost, technical and operational terms, and councils must consider adjustment as costs and funding change. But feasibility does not exempt a fishery management plan from having a methodology. Observer programs, electronic approaches and self-reported mechanisms offer choices without making any one approach a universal answer. [2017-02592][2017-00405]

A February 8 notice moved the January rule's effective date to March 21, still future for this February 11 reflection. Together, these records describe a pending framework, not measured conservation results. The stewardship question is how to collect usable information without concealing either its uncertainty or the work needed to obtain it. Responsible stewardship calls for a feasible reporting method and an honest account of its limits, rather than reliance on any one technology. [2017-02592][2017-00405]

Source documents

  1. Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodologyhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-02-08/html/2017-02592.htm
  2. Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodologyhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-01-19/html/2017-00405.htm