As the legal guardians of public resources, NMFS and the fishery management councils have a statutory obligation to implement management systems that will promote economic efficiency while ensuring the conservation of fishery resources. Thus, the responsibilities of fishery managers extend beyond setting the optimal TAC and ensuring the conservation of fishery resources and habitat. Fishery managers are required to consider the economic impacts that regulations have on the individuals and communities which benefit from the use of fishery resources. For example, how, when, by whom, and under what conditions the TAC is taken. Currently management lacks the type of economic data, including fishery revenue, cost, and employment data, that is necessary to perform basic analyses.
Management has some revenue and production data, but it is incomplete.
However, prices for products produced at-sea are collected only from the processors that supply them voluntarily, and none of the product prices are available by product grade. There is even less cost and employment data. In fact, no data on the costs of production and very little on employment are routinely collected. Without information about costs it is not possible to determine whether the industry is making a profit or a loss, much less the magnitude of the profit or how it has been or might be impacted by regulatory changes. The absence of employment data means that it is not possible to state the number of individuals employed in the fishery, their earnings, and how they are impacted by management decisions.