WASHINGTON — November 19, 2012 — The New England Fishery Management Council’s (NEFMC) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) meeting today in Boston attempted to determine an overfishing limit (OFL) for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder. After a great deal of discussion, however, the SSC determined the OFL value to be "unknown."
While the Committee considered a number of options for how the OFL might be set, they eventally decided that the most appropriate course of action was to not set on OFL for Georges Bank yellowtail.
Listen to Dr. Steve Cadrin, of the Department of Fisheries Oceanography at the School of Marine Science and Technology, recommend the inclusion of an option that specifies the OFL as “unknown.”
The SSC then outlined the rationale behind their decision to not set an OFL value. These points can be found in the audio clips below.
Audio Clip 1 : There were a wide range of catch projections provided by the Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee (TRAC) models and they did not select a single model. Furthermore, many of the catch projections did not revise the overfishing reference point and, as a result, not all of the models can be used to determine an OFL.
Audio Clip 2 : The allowable biological catch (ABC) of 1,150 metric tons is not based on the 2012 assessment, thus making it increasingly difficult to set an OFL.
Audio Clip 3 : There is discomfort with the assessment as it stands. The assessment did, however, give the SSC an “understanding of the nature of uncertainties.”