Risk Policy Resources
The Council’s new Risk Policy recognizes that fisheries management is based on uncertain information and that marine ecosystems are changing. It also recognizes that Council decisions have social and economic impacts on fishing communities and is being used in management decisions.
How the Risk Policy Works
The policy uses a systematic process to assess key risk factors and support consistent, informed decision-making. It combines the Council’s policy preferences with data for each Fishery Management Plan to determine a level of risk tolerance, from high to low.
The policy is bi-directional, emphasizing caution when stock conditions are poor, recruitment is low, or environmental conditions are unfavorable, while allowing higher catch limits for healthy stocks that can support greater risk.
Stability is an important component of the Risk Policy. It considers economic, resource, and management stability alongside risk, helping ensure that management decisions respond to changing conditions while avoiding unnecessary disruption to harvesters and the fishing industry.
Accessing Risk Policy Data
The Council created the Risk Policy Toolkit.
which is a public tool for accessing data on each Council managed stock. As the Council works through applying risk policy to more stocks, this tool gives access in the top links to both the “Recommended Probability” of risk and a “Matrix” of stock information.
Background
Work to revise the Council’s original Risk Policy began in March 2023 with the formation of the Risk Policy Working Group. The policy was approved in September of 2025 and finalized for implementation in June 2026. Moving forward, the Policy will be applied to individual Fishery Management Plans and integrated into management decisions.