That knowledge or lack of knowledge came home with a vengeance this fall when the Pacific Fisheries Management Council ordered cuts of between 19 percent and 66 percent in 1998 harvest limits for five groundfish species because of pessimistic forecasts of stock trends. But Sampson, who is intimately familiar with the methods the council uses to establish harvest guidelines, isn't sure how much better the information will ever get. The same complaints came up again during November's PFMC meeting in Portland, where industry representatives called for better and more frequent stock assessments in the future. To a degree, fishermen have a point, Sampson says.
Stock assessment is a relatively young science in the Pacific.
The first assessment survey was conducted in 1979, with updates every three years since then. By contrast, some Atlantic fisheries have been surveying groundfish stocks twice a year for nearly 30 years. The most common source of assessment data, the survey, typically involves using trawl gear to sample randomly selected reaches of ocean, and counting and weighing the fish that are caught. Pot surveys, by contrast, set traps to catch the fish in various locations. And scientists also use hydroacoustic gear to bounce sound waves off schools of whiting and determine the fish population by measuring the echoes that bounce back.