Sustainable Fisheries

The Sustainable Fisheries Division is based primarily in Miami, Florida. We do research and conduct assessments of managed species throughout the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean.

NOAA Fisheries’ stock assessments are key to marine resource management. They provide high-quality science information to managers to answer important questions such as:

What is the current status of a stock relative to established targets? (e.g. Is the stock experiencing over fishing or is it over fished? Is a marine mammal stock depleted?)

How much catch is sustainable while maintaining a healthy stock?

If a stock becomes depleted, what steps are required to rebuild it to healthy abundance levels?

Answers to these questions help managers make the best decisions to ensure sustainable fisheries, healthy ecosystems, and productive coastal communities. NOAA Fisheries’ scientists work with other scientists, fishermen, resource managers and others from around the country and world to ensure NOAA stock assessments represent the best science information available.

Scientists from the Sustainable Fisheries Division also conduct innovative research throughout the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean to better achieve NOAA strategic objectives, such as:

Examine the effects of ecosystem, habitat and climate attributes on managed species.

Explore opportunities for alternative management strategies that amplify the economic value of recreational and commercial fisheries, while ensuring sustainable harvest.

Identify and develop approaches that foster robust management of data-limited stocks.

Conduct research that advances our understanding of the biology of managed species, and the fisheries that prosecute these species.