Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Sept. 19, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IF12768 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Anthony R. Marshak |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM; Figure 1)
is a systems-level management approach for living marine
resources (LMRs) that accounts for an ecosystem’s
physical, biological, economic, and social components. This
approach to fisheries management aims to maintain
ecosystems and their dependent fisheries in healthy,
productive, and resilient conditions to ensure they can
provide services to human and biological communities.
EBFM provides various benefits to complement traditional
single-species (or single-stock) fisheries management,
according to some experts. For example, EBFM may
provide additional information regarding how ecosystems
function and how ecosystems may respond to multiple
stressors and their cumulative impacts. EBFM also may
provide insight into trade-offs among different stakeholder
priorities for LMRs and their fisheries. This information
can inform fisheries management decisions. Experts also
have identified challenges regarding EBFM and its
implementation (e.g., potential lack of resonation with
stakeholders). Congress continues to be interested in LMR
management that includes considerations for marine
ecosystems. Congress has authorized the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to manage U.S. LMRs
under multiple mandates, such as the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA; 16
U.S.C. §§1807-1891d) and the Marine Mammal Protection
Act (16 U.S.C. §§1361-1423h). In these laws, Congress has
included directives for LMR management to account for
species’ roles in marine ecosystems.
NMFS assesses and manages more than 500 regulated
fishery stocks and stock complexes, over 100 marine
mammal species, and approximately 100 threatened and
endangered species, some of which are marine mammals.
Over the past decade, NMFS and partners (e.g., Regional
Fishery Management Councils [FMCs]) have worked
toward implementing EBFM in consideration of these
simultaneous mandates and multiple species, including
through the incorporation of ecosystem considerations into
management actions and assessments.
