Environmental Assessment for the Pacific Sardine Rebuilding Plan

NMFS notified the Pacific Fishery Management Council that it declared the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine overfished in July 2019. The proposed action is to implement a rebuilding plan for the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine by July 2021 in accordance with Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requirements. The associated Environmental Analysis for this action will analyze the effects of three management alternatives to achieve rebuilding targets: 1) "status quo" management, where the existing harvest control rule for Pacific sardine would be used to set annual catch limits until the stock is rebuilt, 2) "zero harvest," which would set an annual catch limit of zero until the stock is rebuilt, and 3) "5 percent of acceptable biological catch", where the annual catch limit would not exceed 5 percent of the acceptable biological catch until the stock is rebuilt. The socioeconomic effects on the fishing industry compared among the three alternatives are expected to vary significantly.