National Marine Fisheries Service: Seeking Partners for Its National Habitat Plan and Identifying Essential Fish Habitats

摘要

In the May 1994 issue of Fisheries, I responded to an editorial by American Fisheries Society (AFS) Executive Director Paul Brouha that cited several rndependent reports documenting the need for a stronger National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Habitat Conservation Program. In response. I accepted the challenge and acknowledged the need for many improvements in our delivery of services to meet the NMFS habitat mission. I am pleased to report that we have made significant progress. As a result of more than 18-months' effort, I have approved the agency's first National Habitat Plan (NHP), which includes a wide range of strategies to protect existing aquatic habitats from human impacts, restore degraded habitats, and create fish habitats with greaterecological productivity It also identifies the need for more understanding of the scientific linkages between habitats and marine resource populations as well as for improved effectiveness of operations in the NMFS Habitat Program. Key recommendations related to protection and conservation call for integrating habitat requirements into our fishery management strategies and protected species activities through modification of fishery management and recovery plans; strengthening our legislative mandatesto protect living marine resource habitats as has been started through the reauthorized Magnuson Fisheries Conservation and Management Act; establishing national and regional habitat protection policies such as the recently adopted policy on gravel extraction; and expanding partnerships with other agencies and private organizations. Key recommendations related to restoration and habitat creation call for restoration to be an integral part of all our resource and ecosystem efforts, including fishery management plans and recovery plans for protected species. We also must execute more rapidly our trustee responsibilities to clean up oil spills, toxic chemical contamination, and other physical injuries to habitats.