Participants also examined management strategies that might lead to better conservation of vulnerable stocks. The proceedings of the symposium were published in the book Life in the Slow Lane. Building on the information developed from the symposium, the outcome of a March 1999 workshop sponsored by the Marine Fisheries Section and Tidewater Chapter of AFS, and workshops sponsored by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife, Japanese Government, and the World Conservation Union, AFS developed criteria to define risk that can be used in recognizing vulnerable marine populations in North American waters. These criteria are rarity, small range and endemics, specialized habitat requirements, and population resilience to decline. Most stocks face more than one risk factor, but life history limitations such as low or very low reproductive capacity are most important.
Habitat degradation follows as the second most important risk factor.
The criteria were presented to the society s members for review in the December 1999 issue of Fisheries. AFS then developed and presented its policy recommendations on how to assess risk of some of the Nation s most vulnerable fisheries. The policy statements were published in the March 2000 issue of Fisheries. AFS determined that it is important to recognize those populations potentially at risk at an early stage in their declines and to implement conservation measures that will preclude further population reductions or extinction. Strategies and objectives were formulated through society meetings and symposia, and through interaction with federal and other regulatory agencies that govern offshore commercial fisheries.