August 30, 2016 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Resilient, productive ocean fisheries are critical to our economy and way of life.  Managing these fisheries over the long-term means taking into account more than just one species at a time. It requires a holistic, science-based approach that looks at the entire ecosystem. This approach is known as Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management (EBFM).

NOAA Fisheries has developed an agency-wide EBFM policy, which outlines a set of principles to guide our actions and decisions over the long-term. It directs continued progress toward development and implementation of EBFM approaches. It also ensures our commitment to incorporate EBFM into the agency’s resource management decisions.

NOAA also recently released a EBFM draft “road map” to guide implementation of the EBFM policy over the next five years. The road map outlines actions we can take now to further the policy’s 6 guiding principles:

• Implement ecosystem-level planning
• Advance understanding of ecosystem processes
• Assess risks and vulnerabilities
• Explore trade-offs
• Incorporate ecosystem considerations into management advice
• Maintain ecosystem resilience and social well-being

Interested parties can send their comments on the draft road map no later than October 15, 2016 to Heather.Sagar@noaa.gov and Jason.Link@noaa.gov.  Further information can be found online here.