This action modifies the Council’s risk policy by accepting a higher level of risk for stocks that are at or above biomass targets, resulting in the ability for the Council to set higher catch limits for healthy fisheries. This action also removes the typical/atypical species designation when applied to the current risk policy allowing the Council to better use improvements in stock assessment and modeling approaches that can more appropriately account for and address overfishing vulnerability.
The Council and its Scientific and Statistical Committee used this modified risk policy in recommending ABCs for scup and black sea bass for the 2021 fishing year that begins on January 1, 2021.
