Abstract

A frequently referred to hindrance to the operationalization of environment based fisheries the executives is the absence of an administration structure that unequivocally gives the power and system to carrying out this allencompassing way to deal with fisheries the board. However, the idea of optimum yield appears to be an explicit mandate and framework that can and should be utilized to operationalize ecosystem-based fisheries management in the United States and other parts of the world. Due largely to chance, this optimum yield policy has been hidden from view for close to 40 years due to other factors that have obscured the concept’s original intent. This paper explains how ecosystem-based fisheries management and optimum yield are similar, how it has been overlooked in the past, and how the idea can be used to make ecosystem-based fisheries management real.