National Standard 1 – Related Resources

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 established new requirements to end and prevent overfishing through the use of annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs). It also strengthened the role of scientific advice by requiring that ACLs cannot exceed the regional fishery management councils’ Scientific and Statistical Committees' recommendations for acceptable biological catches (ABC). Through a series of public comment opportunities, a proposed rule, and a final rule, NOAA Fisheries revised the National Standard 1 guidelines to address these requirements. Below are a variety of resources and historical documents pertaining to the National Standard 1 guidelines, past revisions, and related topics.

Technical Memoranda

• Calculating Acceptable Biological Catch for Stocks that have Reliable Catch Data Only (Berkson et al., 2011)

• Proceedings 11th National Stock Assessment Workshop, Joint Session of the National Stock and Habitat, and First National Habitat Assessment Workshop (Blackhart, 2010)

• Estimates of Sustainable Yield for 50 Data-Poor Stocks in the Pacific Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (Dick & MacCall, 2010)

• Use of Productivity and Susceptibility Indices to Determine Stock Vulnerability, with Example Applications to Six U.S. Fisheries (Patrick et al., 2009)

• Technical Guidance On the Use of Precautionary Approaches to Implementing National Standard 1 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Restrepo et al., 1998) (PDF, 56 pages)

• National Standard 1 Technical Guidance for Designing, Evaluating, and Implementing Carry-over and Phase-in Provisions (Holland et al., 2020) (PDF, 51 pages)

• National Standard 1 Technical Guidance on Managing with ACLs for Data-Limited Stocks: Review and Recommendations for Implementing 50 CFR 600.310(h)(2) Flexibilities for Certain Data-Limited Stocks (Macpherson et al., 2022) (PDF, 33 pages)

Fishery Bulletin Articles

• A meta-analytic approach to quantifying scientific uncertainty in stock assessments (Ralston et al., 2011) (PDF, 15 pages)

• Using productivity and susceptibility indices to assess the vulnerability of United States fish stocks to overfishing (Patrick et al., 2010) (PDF, 18 pages)

• Fish assemblages and indicator species: reef fishes off the southeastern United States (Shertzer & Williams, 2008) (PDF, 13 pages)

• A probability-based approach to setting annual catch levels (Shertzer et al., 2008) (PDF, 8 pages)

Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) Workshop Reports

• Ecosystem and Social Science Considerations in U.S. Federal Fishery Management, October 2011

• ABC Control Rule Implementation and Peer Review Procedures, October 2010

• Establishing a Scientific Basis for Annual Catch Limits, November 2009

Historical Documents

2016 Revisions to National Standard 1 Guidelines – Proposed Rule Materials

Advance Notice of Proposed Rule (ANPR)

• National Standard 1 ANPR, May 2012

• Extension of public comment period for the National Standard 1 ANPR, July 2012

• Reopening of the public comment period for the National Standard 1 ANPR, September 2012

• Summary of comments received on the National Standard 1 ANPR, March 2013 (PDF, 25 pages)

In addition to the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, issues related to the National Standard guidelines were discussed at other public forums including:

• Managing Our Nation’s Fisheries 3 conference held in May 2013 in Washington, D.C.

• National Research Council’s report on “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Fish Stock Rebuilding Plans in the United States”.

• Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee Recreational Fishing Group’s white paper on recreational fisheries perspectives (PDF, 19 pages).

• Commission on Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Management’s report on “A Vision for Managing America’s Saltwater Recreational Fisheries.”

• Council Coordination Committee meetings – February 2013 update (PDF, 17 pages)

Proposed Rule

• Proposed rule.

• Regulatory Impact Review (PDF, 20 pages). 

• Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis (PDF, 3 pages).

• Red-line document showing the proposed changes (PDF, 25 pages).

• Presentation (PDF, 30 pages).

2009 Revisions to National Standard 1 Guidelines

• Request for comments, February 2007

• Summary of comments, July 2007 (PDF, 53 pages). This report summarizes the comments that NOAA Fisheries received between February 14 and April 17, 2007, on the scope and issues to consider in developing National Standard 1 guidance.

  • Appendix A-F (PDF, 91 pages).

  • Appendix G1 (PDF, 74 pages).

  • Appendix G2-G4 (PDF, 152 pages).

  • Appendix G5-G6 (PDF, 115 pages).

• Regulatory Impact Review and Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis (PDF, 43 pages), Revisions to National Standard 1 guidelines to address annual catch limit and other measures to end overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks, May 2008.

• Proposed rule to revise the National Standard 1 guidelines, June 2008.

• Final rule to revise the National Standard 1 guidelines, January 2009.

• Overview presentation of 2009 National Standard 1 guideline revisions, January 2009 (PDF, 44 pages).

• List of references cited in the final rule to revise the National Standard 1 guidelines, January 2009 (PDF, 1 page).

• Frequently Asked Questions related to ACLs and National Standard 1 (PDF, 11 pages).

2005 Revisions to National Standard 1 Guidelines

• Proposed rule, June 2005

• Withdrawal of proposed rule, August 2008

1998 Revisions to National Standard 1 Guidelines

• Proposed rule, August 1997

• Extension of comment period, December 1997

• Final rule, May 1998

1989 Revisions to National Standard 1 Guidelines

• Proposed rule, December 1988 (PDF, 6 pages).

• Final rule, July 1989 (PDF, 21 pages).

1983 Revisions to National Standard 1 Guidelines

• Proposed rule, June 1982 (PDF, 14 pages).

• Final rule, February 1983 (PDF, 17 pages).

1977 Initial National Standard 1 Guidelines

• Proposed rule, September 1976 (PDF, 11 pages).

• Final rule, July 1977 (PDF, 12 pages).