The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) kept a promise made at the National Recreational Fishing Summit, February 2014, by its leader, Eileen Soebeck, Assistant Administrator in September 2014, when it released the first draft of the policy. The agency subsequently accepted public comments and in February 2015 at the Progressive Miami Boat Show released its finished version of the Policy, which establishes goals and guiding principles to be incorporated into all of NOAA’s fishery management processes. The goals include: 1) support and maintain sustainable saltwater recreational fisheries resources, including healthy marine and estuarine habitats; 2) promote saltwater recreational fishing for the social, cultural, and economic benefit of the nation; and, 3) enable enduring participation in, and enjoyment of, saltwater recreational fisheries through science-based conservation and management.
This April, following the release of the National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Policy, NMFS released its National Saltwater Recreational Fishing Implementation Plan this April. The implementation plan is intended to serve as a blueprint for managing, promoting and fostering recreational fishing at the federal level. There are four pillars of this plan including commissioning an independent research council to review the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP), better engagement with fishing communities, improving electronic trip reporting for charter boats in the Gulf and Atlantic states, and developing models to assessment the impacts of any management decisions on anglers.

TBF working with other recreational fishing advocacy groups is also pushing to ensure that recreational fishing is also addressed by the overarching, Magnuson Stevens Act that is set to be reauthorized for 2015. Within the act, fishing groups would like to see the inclusion of the issues identified in the Morris-Deal Commission which includes the establishment of national policy, a revised approach to recreational fishing, allocating marine fisheries for the greatest benefit to the nation, creating reasonable latitude in stock rebuilding timelines, codifying a process for cooperative management, and managing for the forage base. TBF will be submitting comments to NMFS in the upcoming weeks.

For more information please visit http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/management/recreational/policy/index.html