The U.S. Pacific Region

Abstract

This chapter describes the Pacific region and the major issues facing this marine fisheries ecosystem, and presents some summary statistics related to the 90 indicators of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) criteria. The Pacific contains the sixth-highest number of managed taxa in the nation, including commercially and recreationally important salmon, Pacific sardine, and other coastal pelagic species, Pacific groundfish (e.g., rockfishes, flatfishes, halibut, Pacific hake, Pacific cod, sablefish, lingcod), cephalopods, Dungeness crab, and highly migratory fishes. The Pacific ecosystem emerges as an environment with biota and marine communities that are responding to the consequences of historical overexploitation of its fisheries resources, habitat loss, increasing coastal development, nutrient loading, HABs, ocean acidification, climate forcing, marine heatwaves, and other ocean uses. Overall, EBFM progress has been made at the regional level, and to a certain degree within subregions, in terms of implementing ecosystem-level planning, advancing knowledge of ecosystem principles, and in assessing risks and vulnerabilities to ecosystems through ongoing investigations into climate vulnerability and species prioritizations for stock and habitat assessments. While information has been obtained and calculations and models developed, and some progress has been made toward incorporating ecosystem information in LMR management, limited progress has been made on using ecosystem-level emergent properties in management frameworks or exploring system trade-offs.