Progress Update: A Vision for Managing America’s Saltwater Fisheries

In response to the interests of the recreational angling community, NOAA Fisheries has established a number of recent policies and directives and has made significant progress toward addressing the primary recommendations contained in the Commission on Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Management’s report, A Vision for Managing America’s Saltwater Recreational Fisheries.

NOAA Fisheries recognizes that many challenges remain regarding recreational fisheries management. We believe the only route to healthy, satisfying, and enduring recreational fisheries is through partnership and collaboration. We will continue to approach these dynamic challenges by listening to the needs of our constituents and following through on our commitments.

Below are the six primary recommendations outlined in the report, with a brief synopsis of Progress Report to date.

1. Establishing a national policy for recreational fishing NOAA Fisheries committed to developing a national saltwater recreational fishing policy in March 2014 and released the final policy in 2015. Through extensive dialogue with the recreational fishing public, which included nearly three dozen meetings around the nation, we produced the policy with three overarching principles.
2. Support and maintain sustainable saltwater recreational fisheries resources, including healthy marine and estuarine habitats.
3. Promote saltwater recreational fishing for the social, cultural, and economic benefit of the nation.
4. Enable enduring participation in, and enjoyment of, saltwater recreational fisheries through science-based conservation and management

NOAA Fisheries then produced both national and regional implementation plans to ensure the effective and timely application of the policy. The policy and associated implementation plans serve as a roadmap for establishing priorities and annual planning efforts that have led to many of the successes outlined in this document.