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Proposal to the Pacific Fishery Management Council to Modify Groundfish Essential Fish Habitat Designation, Conservation, and Enforcement

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Proposal to the Pacific Fishery Management Council to Modify Groundfish Essential Fish Habitat Designation, Conservation, and Enforcement Proposal to the Pacific Fishery Management Council To Modify Groundfish Essential Fish Habitat Designation, Conservation, and Enforcement Comprehensive Conservation Proposal Top: Rosy rockfish nestled in black coral at Cochrane Bank, GOFNMS. Bottom: Diverse seafloor habitat at Cape Arago Reef off Oregon, Oceana. July 31, 2013 Comprehensive Conservation Proposal Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Ocean Conservancy July 31, 2013 Proponents: Geoff Shester Seth Atkinson California Program Director Oceans Program Attorney Oceana Natural Resources Defense Council 99 Pacific Street, Suite 155-C 111 Sutter Street, 20th Floor Monterey, CA 93940 San Francisco, CA 94104 831-643-9266 415-875-6133 [email protected] [email protected] Ben Enticknap Greg Helms Pacific Campaign Manager and Senior Scientist Manager, Pacific Program Oceana Ocean Conservancy 222 NW Davis Street, Suite 200 1528 Castillo St. Portland, OR 97209 Santa Barbara CA 93101 503-235-0278 805-963-4332 [email protected] [email protected] 2 Comprehensive Conservation Proposal Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Ocean Conservancy July 31, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Proposal summary 4 II. Why this proposal is warranted 8 A. Description of proposal objectives 8 B. Consistency of proposal with PFMC responsibility to identify and protect EFH, and to 9 minimize to the extent practicable, the adverse effects of fishing i. Deep sea corals and sponges 12 ii. Coral and sponge longevity and recovery rates 15 iii. Hard and mixed substrates 17 iv. Submarine canyons 17 v. Effects of trawling on seafloor habitats 17 C. How new or newly available information indicates that the EFH description, its components, or associated management measures should be modified 22 III. Proposal development and outreach to date 23 IV. Coastal Treaty Tribes’ Usual and Accustomed Areas 24 V. Proposed actions 24 A. Spatial changes to current EFH Conservation Areas and proposed new EFH Conservation Areas 24 B. Gear regulation changes: midwater trawl gear 31 C. Changes to the description and identification of Groundfish EFH 31 i. Waters deeper than 3,500 m 31 ii. Major prey species for groundfish 34 D. Enforcement changes 39 VI. Analysis and supporting information for proposed spatial changes 40 A. Description of spatial analyses 41 B. Description of individual proposed areas (Areas 1-75 and concept area 76) 43 VII. References 78 VIII. Appendix A. figures A.1 to A.42 - proposal map series IX. Appendix B. figures B.1 to B.2 - maps of proposed areas in relation to Oregon shrimp trawl effort X. Appendix C. Tables - spatial analyses A. Baseline analysis of existing permanent trawl closures B. Analysis of individual proposed areas C. Analysis of baseline protection, plus proposed areas XI. Appendix D. Coordinates for proposed spatial changes 3 Comprehensive Conservation Proposal Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Ocean Conservancy July 31, 2013 I. Proposal Summary Protecting ocean habitats is a critical and integral part of responsible fishery management, for ensuring long-term sustainable and productive fisheries, vibrant coastal communities and healthy marine ecosystems. As a result, the mandate to identify and protect essential fish habitat (EFH) was added by Congress to federal fisheries law through the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996. The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC or Council) has been at the forefront of fish habitat protections nationally and internationally since the implementation of Amendment 19 to the Groundfish Fishery Management Plan in 2006, which implemented coastwide seafloor habitat protections focused primarily on minimizing and preventing the adverse effects of bottom trawling to the extent practicable. The Council’s approach was to establish an array of EFH Conservation Areas prohibiting bottom trawling in areas known to have sensitive habitat (criteria included hard substrate, biogenic habitats such as corals and sponges, submarine canyons, seamounts, ridges and other areas of interest), and to freeze the bottom trawl footprint by closing waters deeper than 700 fathoms as a precautionary measure. Particularly for managed groundfish which are known to associate with and utilize physical and biogenic seafloor structures as habitat, these habitat protections should ideally maintain and enhance the overall productivity of the groundfish fishery, resulting in a dual long-term conservation and fishery benefits. The initial implementation of this approach was groundbreaking and precedent-setting on a global stage, however, due to the general paucity of information on seafloor habitats and their relationship to managed groundfish, it was broadly recognized that the ultimate success of Essential Fish Habitat conservation and management would depend on the incorporation of new scientific information, and refinements of management measures over time through an adaptive management framework. The EFH 5-year review is the process established by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to conduct this ongoing evaluation and adaptive management; representing an important precedent-setting opportunity to demonstrate how newly available science and information can be used to further accomplish the mandate to minimize the adverse impacts of fishing to the extent practicable. To this end, our three conservation organizations have expended considerable time and resources throughout the review process to bring forward data, information, and analyses, including conducting at-sea expeditions to characterize and document new seafloor habitats with remotely operated vehicles. Through our analyses of the data compiled in the EFH Review Process thus far (the PFMC Phase I Report and associated data (PFMC 2012), EFH data portal, and the NMFS EFH Synthesis (NMFS 2013), and meetings with individuals and organizations of the fishing industry throughout the west coast, we have compiled a comprehensive proposal in response to the Council’s Request For Proposals to Modify Pacific Coast Groundfish EFH. The intent of our proposal is to illustrate that further changes to EFH are indeed warranted (i.e., demonstrate why the Council should initiate Phase 3 of the process) and provide a suite of refinements and improvements that can serve as the starting point for specific regulatory changes in the Phase 3 process. 4 Comprehensive Conservation Proposal Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Ocean Conservancy July 31, 2013 This proposal includes: 1. Sixty-six new and modified EFH Conservation Areas prohibiting bottom trawling off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, 2. Nine additional areas proposed to be reopened to bottom trawling, 3. Proposed improvements to the enforcement of EFH Conservation Areas and other bottom trawl closures, 4. New management measures to restrict bottom contact by midwater trawl gear when operating within EFH Conservation Areas, 5. Identification of major prey species for groundfish in the description of EFH and its components, and 6. Addition of all waters deeper than 3,500 meters (m) in the U.S. West Coast EEZ as groundfish EFH. While this proposal has multiple components that fall into the categories of EFH Designation, EFH Conservation and Management, and Enforcement, we view these categories as distinct and they can be evaluated and considered independently of each other. In addition, this proposal considers reopening areas within Monterey Bay State waters to bottom trawling while recognizing that only the California legislature could formally take this action. In this proposal all closed areas would apply to non-Tribal groundfish and state managed bottom trawling in federal waters (including pink shrimp, sea cucumber, and California halibut trawling). Across the entire West Coast EEZ, the net change of all the proposed EFH Conservation Areas and re-openings would result in: An additional 1,311 miles2 of hard substrate protected from bottom trawling (30% increase), An additional 339 miles2 of mixed (hard and soft) substrate protected from bottom trawling (107% increase), Inclusion of 14,793 coral observations in EFH conservation areas (17.6% increase) Inclusion of 10,215 sponge observations in EFH conservation areas (940% increase) An additional 2,786 miles2 of predicted highly suitable coral habitat protected from bottom trawling (45% increase) And a total increase of 137,577 miles2 protected from bottom trawling overall (91% increase) This proposal would maintain over 23,900 miles2 of the continental shelf and upper slope habitat as open to bottom trawling. We propose that 151 miles2 of area currently closed to bottom trawling off California be opened, that and we present an additional 33 miles2 reopening in the Monterey Bay area as a draft concept for further discussion. Thirty-three of the proposed EFH Conservation areas (including modified areas) overlap in part with the year round groundfish trawl Rockfish Conservation Area. In our analysis of the trawl effort data provided in the EFH Review, the proposed 66 closed areas combined included only 5 Comprehensive Conservation Proposal Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Ocean Conservancy July 31, 2013 8.01% of recent (2006-2010) bottom trawl effort. The proposed open areas would restore significant areas that caused bottom trawl effort displacement in 2006. Overall, the proposed spatial components of this proposal would substantially increase habitat protections on a coastwide and regional basis, as measured by total area protected and sensitive
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