July 19, 2013 — This final action amends the guidelines for National Standard 2 (NS2) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) regarding scientific information. Consistent with the President’s memo on Scientific Integrity (March 9, 2009) and NOAA Administrative Order 202– 735D
Synopsis of Changes Made in the Final Action
This final action does not include substantive changes from the proposed guideline revisions. In response to public comments, changes were made to clarify the guidelines and emphasize the importance of public transparency in peer review of scientific information, as recommended by public comments. Language was added to clarify the following: Scientific information includes both established and emerging science; peer reviewers should not make formal fishing level recommendations, because this is the purview of the SSC; no individual can be appointed to a review panel if that individual has a conflict of interest that is relevant to the functions to be performed; peer reviews that require a greater degree of independence should use rotation of reviewers, recognizing that repeated service by the same reviewer may be unavoidable when there is a limited availability of expertise; SAFE reports should contain an explanation of information gaps and highlight needs for future scientific work; and for stocks managed cooperatively by Federal and State governments, the scientific information used for FMP development should include harvest information from both state and Federal waters.
Read text from NOAA Fisheries regarding National Standard 2