Inventory Atlas
Supplement 1b. NOAAs National Marine Fisheries Service Program Description and Status Summary
Program Mission.
The mission of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
is to rebuild and maintain sustainable fisheries, promote
the recovery of protected species, and protect and maintain
the health of coastal marine habitats. To this end, NMFS establishes
protected areas as one of several tools to conserve and manage
the marine resources that it is responsible for.
Authorizing Legislation. NMFS is responsible for the
conservation and management of living marine resources under
various authorities, including the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA), the Endangered Species
Act (ESA), the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Atlantic
Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act. Under the MSFCMA,
NMFS has established sites for resource protection and fishery
management in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ: 3-200
nautical miles from shore). NMFS has also instituted MPAs
to protect endangered/threatened species and, under the ESA,
designated critical habitat for listed species.
Management. NMFS sites have all been established by
Federal regulations in accordance with the MSFCMA, ESA, MMPA,
and/or ACFCMA. Citations to the regulations can all be found
in the Code of Federal Regulations. These regulations afford
NMFS sites with protections to promote fisheries sustainability,
habitat protection/restoration, and/or species protection/recovery
year-round on a continuing basis for a minimum of four years.
The MSFCMA established eight Regional Fishery Management Councils
that submit recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce in
the form of Fishery Management Plans (FMPs). The NMFS Highly
Migratory Species Division also functions similarly to a Council
and develops FMP proposals for Atlantic tuna, swordfish, and
other pelagic species. To date, NMFS has approved and implemented
41 FMPs. Regulations implementing these FMPs may include area-based
management measures designed for such things as preventing
overfishing or habitat destruction; protecting spawning aggregations
or juvenile nursery habitat; or allowing stocks to rebuild.
These areas may have restrictions on gear, catches, fish size
or time of year when fishing is allowed. Commercial and recreational
fishing is allowed in most sites, but certain gear and fishing
practices may be prohibited.
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The ESA provides for designation of critical habitat
for listed species and includes physical or biological features
essential to the conservation of the species. Critical habitat
may require special management considerations or protection.
Critical habitat designations affect only federal agency actions
or federally funded or permitted activities. Protecting critical
habitats may be accomplished through regulations directly
under the ESA, as in the three nautical mile buffer zones
around Stellar sea lion rookery sites in Alaska. In other
cases, such as the protection of important foraging areas
for monk seals or Steller sea lions, sites may be implemented
to restrict fishing in the EEZ, implemented through regulations
in FMPs under the MSFCMA and may even extend beyond the areas
of critical habitat. Alternatively, sites for northern Atlantic
right whale critical habitat have been implemented through
the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Types of Areas Protected. All sites are located in
state or federal waters, between 0 and 200 miles off the coast
of the United States. The size and protections afforded to
these sites vary greatly depending on the objectives for which
each site was established. The majority are gear-restricted
areas (i.e., areas that prohibit the use of one or more gear
types) established to protect habitats, fishery stocks or
species assemblages, and/or promote the recovery of threatened
or endangered species. A few sites, for instance, the Hind
Bank Marine Conservation District in the Caribbean region,
prohibit all fishing and anchoring within their boundaries.
Additionally, NMFS sites may contain zoned areas that afford
increased protections to a specific subset of the larger site
(i.e., the Experimental Oculina Research Reserve within the
Oculina Bank Habitat Area of Particular Concern). In the majority
of cases, NMFS sites represent areas that contain important
ecological or biological features, such as spawning aggregation
sites. NMFS could also include particularly valuable habitats
such as coral reefs or other habitats essential to the life
history characteristics of particular managed species. Types
of species protected by NMFS sites include marine and anadromous
managed fish species, invertebrates, aquatic plants, marine
mammals, and sea turtles.
Inventory Status of Program Sites. Currently, NMFS
has 36 sites included in the inventory. NMFS sites fall under
three major categories: Federal Fisheries Management Zones,
Federal Threatened and Endangered Species Protected Areas,
and Federal Threatened and Endangered Species Critical Habitats.
Other designated areas of critical habitat (such as Johnsons
seagrass beds in Florida; sea turtle areas in the U.S. Virgin
Islands and Puerto Rico; and the seaward extent of endangered
or threatened salmon migratory routes off the West Coast of
the United States) may not have additional federal regulations
(i.e. beyond their designation as critical habitat), and have
therefore not been included in the initial inventory.
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