Shifts in marine species migration and population concentrations are forcing NOAA Fisheries to rethink its regional administrative maps to reflect the new realities of changing ocean habitats.
In guidance released Tuesday, the agency’s Office of Sustainable Fisheries established a framework for when and how regulation of a species should be handed off from one regional fishery management council to another based on shifting species population dynamics. The guidance does not specifically mention climate change, but the effects of warming water on fish migration have been widely acknowledged by NOAA Fisheries, also called the National Marine Fisheries Service, and other experts.
“In anticipation of an increasing number of fish stocks shifting in geographic distribution, new fisheries emerging, and other demographic shifts in fisheries, the National Marine Fisheries Service has identified a need for guidance on determining the geographic scope of fisheries and on how to determine which regional fishery management councils will be responsible for preparing and amending new [and] existing fishery management plans for fisheries that extend or have moved beyond the geographical area of authority of any one council,” the agency said in the guidance document.
But leaders of the eight regional councils, which operate semi-autonomously, have expressed concern about how the guidance will be implemented. In a letter to NOAA Assistant Administrator Janet Coit last October, the Council Coordination Committee representing the eight fishery management councils said, “The proposed process is missing many key details required to understand how it would be implemented.