Southeast and Gulf of Mexico
The Fiscal Year 2002 budget request for National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) totals $734.2 million, including $598.0 million for research and management programs and $136.2 million in associated funding. The requested funding provides important new investments critical to the long- term stewardship of the Nation’s living marine resources, including $11.9 million in new funding to enhance and modernize NOAA Fisheries’ activities in the Southeast and Gulf of Mexico.
Who is Southeast NOAA Fisheries?
NOAA Fisheries’ expansive Southeast Region extends from the Mexican border to the Virginia- North Carolina state line and includes the South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea - a total of 29,900 miles of tidal shoreline. The 2.2 billion pounds of seafood harvested by the region's estimated 85,000 commercial fishers are worth more than $950 million annually and a testament to the region’s economic ties to the sea. The region is home to the nation's most valuable commercial fishery (shrimp) and second largest fishery in volume (menhaden). Southeastern recreational fisheries are the largest in the Nation. In 1999 alone, 7.3 million saltwater anglers took over 30 million fishing trips in the Southeast and caught an estimated 200 million fish. Vast fragile habitats including wetlands and coral reefs also characterize this region’s abundant and complex ecosystems, and serve as home to many important species, including more than 30 protected marine species under the jurisdiction of NOAA Fisheries. The region includes 300 estuaries and 83 percent of the coastal wetlands in the coterminous U. S. upon which 96% of commercial fisheries and 70 percent of recreational fisheries depend. Valuable highly migratory species such as Atlantic bluefin tuna and various species of shark and billfish populate this region and are dependant on our ability to influence international stewardship and design effective domestic management tools.
Research Challenges
The success of NOAA Fisheries in fulfilling its mandate for the residents and stakeholders of the Southeast will depend on an ability to establish the core data and statistics collection programs capable of providing the accurate and timely information Federal managers need to sustain and rebuild regional marine resources. These fundamental national programs will set the protocols for extending data collection programs and partnerships that can be tailored to the biological realities and socio- economics of the resources under the purview of the Southeast region and its fishing communities. Specifically, the FY 2002 request includes new funding for additional stock assessments to improve our knowledge regarding Southeast species and continues $8.3 million in funding for red snapper research and monitoring included in the FY 2001 appropriation. The collection of additional socio- economic data is essential to ensure the potential adverse impacts of needed management measures are minimized. The FY 2002 request includes an increase for restoration of South Florida's living marine resources through protection of essential fish habitat, restoration of protected species and their habitats, monitoring of important habitat characteristics, and measurement of pesticide and contaminant levels. Additional funding will enable NOAA Fisheries to research the effects of contaminant inflow on fisheries and marine mammal species. Finally, the request increases funding provided last year to establish a cooperative research program in the Southeast. These funds will be used to partner with fishermen to undertake projects that investigate matters with direct application to fishery management while fostering improved understanding among industry, scientists, and managers.
Our Management Partners
Three of the eight regional fishery management councils - South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Fishery Management Councils - are in the Southeast Region and oversee 40 percent of the Nation's Fishery Management Plans. The FY 2002 request seeks additional funds for each of the three councils to ensure they are able to continue to meet the demands of implementing the Sustainable Fisheries Act. The Gulf and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissions and a host of Federal and state agencies and stakeholder groups are involved with the region in applying science, management and enforcement to sustain marine resources. For the first time, full funding is included in the request for the GULF FIN data collection program and implementation of the Atlantic Coastal Act. The National Fisheries Information System will act in concert with GULF FIN and be an integrated, web-enabled information system by which fishers, scientists, and managers can collect and exchange information in a timely manner and improve management decisions. Regional personnel also work with many government agencies and stakeholder groups to identify and restore essential fish habitat throughout the region, reviewing thousands of habitat- related activities each year. Scientists are working to understand the structure, function and interactions of diverse marine ecosystems like coral reefs, seagrass beds, salt marshes, and mud flats. Finally, new funding is needed to expand current enforcement programs in the Southeast and Gulf of Mexico and speed the implementation of vessel management systems that employ the latest satellite technology to better track vessels to ensure compliance with regulations and improve safety at sea.
Recovering Protected Species
An increase is requested for sea turtle conservation and recovery efforts. Commercial fishery impacts on sea turtles continue to be a threat and NOAA Fisheries is taking the lead in identifying innovative solutions to these threats to ensure species recovery. Additionally, dedicated efforts are needed to identify habitats essential for migration, feeding, and mating so that recovery efforts can be more carefully tailored based on habitat needs. An increase is also critical for dolphin conservation and recovery efforts in the Southeast. Funding will be used to expand current activities in stock identification and assessment, to reduce mortality incidental to commercial fishing activities, and to initiate efforts to use bottlenose dolphins as an indicator of the health of the ecosystems they occupy.