Partnerships Overview
The most important federal law related to ocean fisheries is the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Under this law, NOAA Fisheries oversees a network of authorities who regularly monitor the health of hundreds of ocean fisheries. NOAA Fisheries and the regional fishery management councils and interstate fisheries commissions use this information to decide how many fish can be taken commercially and recreationally without negatively affecting the long-term health of individual fisheries. They also ensure appropriate measures are taken to recover fisheries in trouble.
State governments also have an important role in conserving ocean fisheries because many saltwater fish thrive in coastal areas or migrate inland. Since many fish also migrate across state boundaries, the federal-state partnership approach is imperative in ensuring the health of these fisheries.
Below is a list of recreational fishing data partners:
NOAA Fisheries Service
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service is the federal agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, responsible for the stewardship of the nation's living marine resources and their habitat.
Cooperative State-Federal Partnerships and State Partners
- Fisheries Information Networks (FINs) and other Partners
Fisheries information networks (FINs) are regional co-operative state-federal programs to design, implement and conduct marine fisheries statistics data collection programs and to integrate those data into a single data management system that will meet the needs of fishery managers, scientist, and fishermen.
- Recreational Fisheries Survey Partners
The following state, regional, and state-federal cooperative programs currently contribute additional resources or help conduct these recreational fisheries surveys:
Maine - www.maine.gov/dmr/recreational/rechomepage.html
Massachusetts - www.mass.gov/dfwele/dmf
Rhode Island - www.dem.ri.gov
North Carolina - www.ncfisheries.net
Georgia - crd.dnr.state.ga.us/
Connecticut - www.ct.gov/dep
New Hampshire - www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Fishing/fishing.htm
Delaware - www.dnrec.delaware.gov
Virginia - www.mrc.state.va.us
Hawaii - hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/surveys/index.htm
Maryland - www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/
Puerto Rico - www.gobierno.pr/gprportal/inicio
ACCSP - www.accsp.org
GSMFC - www.gsmfc.org
ASMFC - www.asmfc.org
PSMFC - www.psmfc.org
Pacific RecFIN - www.recfin.org
WPacFIN - www.pifsc.noaa.gov/wpacfin
Potomac River Fisheries Commission - www.prfc.state.va.us
Countless private organizations have strong interests in protecting ocean fisheries, too. Sometimes partners interests’ conflict, creating intense debate and challenging decision-making about fisheries conservation. But this does not take away from partners’ roles as strong advocates for fisheries conservation who have valuable expertise, perspectives, and resources to share.