The task of prioritizing California s marine fisheries for FMPs is complex. The Department decided that a standardized process or approach to prioritizing fisheries was necessary. The guidelines for this process were that it should be objective, quantitative, equitable, reproducible, and justified. Above all, we wanted a process that was transparent and credible. As a first step, we evaluated approaches to fisheries prioritization that were currently being used or developed by consulting groups, government agencies, the American Fisheries Society, and within the Department.
Many species undergo varying degrees and methods of exploitation.
We took components from several of these categories, modified them to better fit California marine fisheries, and developed a preliminary approach to prioritizing fisheries. The draft prioritization approach was sent to marine fisheries experts in academia and the federal government for review. The comments and suggestions we received from the outside review resulted in three separate prioritization approaches. Approaches A and B were developed for finfishes, and differ slightly. It identifies species of greatest concern without ranking them.