Rebuilding our fisheries is a top priority at NOAA. Doing so is essential to preserving the livelihoods of fishermen, the vibrancy of our coastal communities, a sustainable supply of healthy seafood, and restoring ocean ecosystems to a healthy state.
To succeed, we must work closely with recreational and commercial fishermen, scientists, conservationists and everyone with a stake in healthy fisheries. We must innovate. We must act boldly. And, we must make tough decisions firmly grounded in scientific information.
A new report in the July 31 issue of Science provides useful guidance. It highlights both some important successes and challenges for our fisheries. The two-year study, “Rebuilding Global Fisheries,” concludes that efforts to end overfishing around the world are beginning to pay dividends. The message is loud and clear: When we set firm fishing limits, fish and habitats can recover.
Co-authored by 21 of the world’s leading marine ecologists and fisheries scientists from academia and government, including NOAA’s Dr. Mike Fogarty, this consensus paper is the first exhaustive evaluation of 31 of the world’s most economically and ecologically important marine ecosystems and more than 160 individual fish stocks.
“This is the first time we’ve seen academic marine biologists and fishery population experts coming together with one voice to assess both the state of individual fish populations and the health of marine ecosystems,” says Dr. Steve Murawski, chief scientist for NOAA Fisheries.
The paper revealed a number of key findings, including:
- Five of the 10 most intensely studied large marine ecosystems are showing positive signs of recovery. These include three in the United States: the Northeast Continental Shelf (Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras, N.C.); the California Current (stretching from the coast of Washington to Mexico); and Alaska’s eastern Bering Sea.
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