The North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) adopted Conservation and Management Measure CMM 2025-08 to establish interim effort and catch controls for Pacific saury fisheries in response to scientific advice indicating low stock biomass. The measure reaffirms the Convention’s principles of maintaining or restoring stocks to sustainable levels and preventing overfishing, and is based on the latest stock assessments and recommendations of the Scientific Committee and its Small Working Group. It limits the number of authorized vessels, requires reductions in 2025 catch relative to 2018 levels, and sets an interim harvest control rule linking total allowable catch (TAC) to biomass, with a cap of 202,500 metric tons for the entire area. The CMM introduces real-time monitoring, weekly reporting, a collective closure trigger at 90% TAC, full retention of Pacific saury, temporal area measures to protect juveniles, and provisions for vessel monitoring and catch allocation between EEZs and the Convention Area. It is framed as an interim measure pending a full management procedure and is non-prejudicial to future CMMs, while recognizing small island developing States’ development considerations.
2025-05-01