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The States of Alaska and Washington jointly conducted an independent scientific review of the recent biological opinion by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) concerning the impact of groundfish fisheries on Steller sea lions. The two states assembled a panel of four scientists to determine whether the federal agency used all relevant scientific information and impartially considered those facts in its final Biological Opinion for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska Groundfish Fisheries released last November. This Biological Opinion, which evaluated the impact those fisheries have on the western population of Steller sea lions, was the basis for significant fishery closures and restrictions in the western Aleutians that went into effect January 1, 2011.
Findings of the Scientific Panel include:
- They disagreed with NMFS that the findings of Jeopardy and Adverse Modification were warranted, based on the evidence presented in the Biological Opinion.
- The NMFS theory of nutritional stress from competition with fisheries was not well supported, and other scientific explanations were inadequately examined.
- The Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives in the Biological Opinion were unlikely to contribute to sea lion recovery.
A pre-publication version of the final report is available here. |
