Eric Schwaab, Administrator of NOAA Fisheries (National Marine Fisheries Service) spoke at the International Seafood Show in Boston on March 21:
I am here today for four reasons:
1. To emphasize that the nation’s fisheries are being actively monitored, managed and enforced to ensure their sustained use and abundance;
2. To highlight the importance of this year – 2011 – and the milestone it represents in reaching the national objective of sustainable fisheries and the supply of seafood;
3. To reach out and engage with you as members of the broader seafood supply industry and make our information more accessible and useful to you and your customers; and
4. To further focus and increase attention on the challenges that face us ahead.
How do we do a better job of getting out the word on the progress made in management of domestic fisheries? That, coupled with increasing awareness of the health benefits of seafood is a challenge, but one that we’ve taken on at NOAA Fisheries. We have established a website for consumers and retailers called ‘FishWatch”. This site profiles the species I’ve just mentioned along with more than 80 others — and more to come. FishWatch provides you and the consumer a thumb-nail profile of the status of these stocks, their ecosystem considerations, including issues of habitat and bycatch impacts associated with their harvest, and how these impacts are managed, monitored and controlled through the fishery management process. While there are many messages out in the market place, we know that US fisheries – – managed under the MSA and its prescriptive standards to base decisions on the best available science, protect habitat, minimize bycatch, and set sustainable harvest levels – – are inherently sustainable and have a valuable story to tell.
Read the complete text of Mr. Schwaab's speech.