Landing a Definition of Fishing Dependent Communities: Potential Social Science Contributions to Meeting National Standard 8

Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act National Standard 8, federal policy now mandates that fishery management plans identify and consider the social and economic consequences of fisheries management actions on fishing communities (MSFCMA Section 301\[a]\[81). This mandate is based on the recognition that conservation and management efforts have expansive social and economic impacts. The act's definition of a fishing-dependent community is “a community which is substantially dependent on or substantially engaged in the harvest or processing of fishery resources to meet social and economic needs, and includes fishing vessel owners, operators, and crew and United States fish processors that are based in such a community” (PL94-265). The definition of fishing community in the act is workable only if the meaning of the phrase, “substantially dependent on or substantially engaged” is defined. Yet the law is not specific as to what constitutes fishing dependence. Consequently section 301 (a) and 303 (b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act as it relates to National Standard 8 (considering the social and economic impacts on fishing-dependent communities) has not been consistently implemented. This article explores the issues related to empirically defining such fishing-dependent communities and suggests a protocol for their identification.