Preservation, protection, and perpetuation of
the living marine resources through coordinated
management of fisheries within the Exclusive Economic
Zone shall be the primary principle which will guide
the Department's position.
The Department will support harvest strategies
that promote optimum long-term sustainable harvest
levels.
The Department will seek the views of the public,
including those who represent the consumptive and
non-consumptive interest groups when formulating
the Department's position on specific issues before
the councils.
The Department will support balanced representation
of Washington interest on the councils' advisory
groups and committees, including recreational, commercial
and non-consumptive.
The Department will support initiatives and existing
programs which more closely align the harvest capacity
with the long-term sustained harvest quantities
of marine resources. Specifically, the Department
supports individual quota programs and license and
effort limitations programs which promote economic
efficiency and result in maximizing the social and
economic benefits derived from the fishery.
The Department will support tribal fisheries which
are consistent with the applicable federal court
orders while recognizing the need for management
flexibility to optimize fishing opportunity.
Resource allocation positions will consider, but
not be limited to, social implications, impacts
on fishing dependent communities and net economic
benefits to the state.
The Department will support monitoring programs
which gather biological, discard, and bycatach data
from each of the fisheries.
The Department will take a precautionary approach
in the management of species where the supporting
biological information is incomplete and/or the
total fishery-related mortalities are unknown.
The Department will support consideration of the
use of risk-averse management tools to protect the
resources in the face of management uncertainty.
The Department will support management measures
which conserve, restore, and enhance the quality
of essential fish habitats upon which Council-managed
fisheries resources depend.
