NOAA Fisheries: Response to National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2021 Recommendations, In-Season Management
February 10, 2023
This report to Congress provides NOAA Fisheries' response to the National Academies’ of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s recommendations for how NOAA Fisheries is meeting the needs of in-season management of fisheries with annual catch limits.
The Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2018, Public Law 115-405,
mandated that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) commission a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and
Medicine (NASEM) study that evaluates:
“(A) how the design of the Marine Recreational Information Program [MRIP], for
the purposes of stock assessment and the determination of stock management
reference points, can be improved to better meet the needs of in-season management
of annual catch limits under section 303(a)(15); and (B) what actions the Secretary,
Councils, and States could take to improve the accuracy and timeliness of data
collection and analysis to improve the Marine Recreational Information Program
and facilitate in-season management.”
The first requirement was completed in 2021, and this report responds to the
second requirement.