Managing U.S. Marine Fisheries

This Heinz Center  project on U.S. fishery conservation and management began in 1998; its goal was to create and disseminate nonpartisan policy options to inform the debate surrounding reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 2000.

The project first examined the historical experience, current practice, and critical issues for American fishery management.  The results, Fishing Grounds: Defining a New Era in American Fishery Management,  is available from Island Press.  

The project then hosted a series of eight regional council roundtables, hosted by The Heinz Center in the summer and fall of 1999.  These roundtables were used to identify consensus-based policy options for improving the effectiveness of fishery management through out MSFCMA reauthorization.

The results of the roundtables are documented in

• Improving Federal Fisheries Management: A Synthesis of Views Presented during Roundtable Meetings Conducted in the Eight Fishery Management Council Regions
  
• Summaries of Views Presented during the Eight Regional Fisheries Management Roundtables

For these reports please visit our publications page.