Scientists study how many fish are necessary to keep a healthy fishery, and they give fishery management councils a number of fish that can be caught. Fishery management councils must plan to rebuild fisheries that are being over-fished. Councils might plan that to fish sustainably they need to reduce the number of boats allowed to fish. These fish are called bycatch . What the 1996 amendments said What that means Fishery management councils are required to reduce bycatch.
Councils can reduce bycatch by banning fishing in areas where there are lots of non-target species.
Fishery management councils are required to minimize the mortality of bycatch. In hook and line fishing, a fisherman can gently take the fish off the hook and release them immediately. Observers will receive better training and guidelines. Observers have the job of riding on fishing boats and collecting data. There are supposed to be enough observers to get accurate data on bycatch.