Annual Reports

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council produces annual reports for each of its five Fishery Ecosystem Plans (FEPs). The reports attempt to summarize annual fishery performance looking at trends in catch, effort and catch rates as well as provide a source document describing various projects and activities being undertaken on a local and federal level. The reports also describe several ecosystem considerations including fish biomass estimates, biological indicators, protected species, habitat, climate change, and human dimensions. Information like marine spatial planning and best scientific information available for each fishery are described. The reports provide a summary of annual catches relative to the annual catch limits established by the Council or national quotas developed through regional fishery management organizations.

The Council produces annual reports on its fisheries through contributions of data and analyses from local and federal partners including the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Office, Western Pacific Fisheries Information Network, American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife, Guam Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources and Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources.