Chapter 6 Conservation Goals and Priorities
• Develop and distribute a wide array of technology pertaining to resource assessment, conservation planning, and conservation system installation and evaluation. • Provide financial assistance to encourage the adoption of beneficial land-treatment practices that conserve and protect our nation’s valuable natural resources. 6.4.5 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries unit (formerly known as the National Marine Fisheries Service) is the federal agency responsible for the stewardship of the nation’s living marine resources and their habitat. NOAA Fisheries is responsible for the management, conservation, and protection of living marine resources within the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone (waters 3 to 200 miles offshore). North Carolina is part of the Southeast Region, which operates a research lab in Beaufort. NOAA Fisheries works to promote sustainable fisheries and to prevent lost economic potential associated with overfishing, declining species, and degraded habitats. NOAA Fisheries strives to balance competing public needs and interest in the use and enjoyment of our oceans’ resources. Using the tools provided by the Magnuson-Stevens Act, NOAA Fisheries assesses and predicts the status of fish stocks, ensures compliance with fisheries regulations and works to reduce wasteful fishing practices. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, NOAA Fisheries recover protected marine species (e.g., whales, sea turtles) without unnecessarily impeding economic and recreational opportunities. NOAA Fisheries research and conservation priorities in North Carolina are carried out by the Southeast Fisheries Science Center facility in Beaufort. The programs highlighted below represent work they focus on. Information about their programs and resources that support these priorities is available online at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/southeast-fisheries- science-center. • Collect and analyze data describing the individual and population biology of living marine resources, with emphasis on exploited fish species (e.g., snappers and groupers), coral reefs (e.g., fish spawning aggregations), and protected resources (e.g., marine mammals and sea turtles). • Conduct research to understand the structure and function of the southeast United States continental shelf large marine ecosystem. • Assess fish stocks, primarily in the Atlantic. • Work to understand fisheries’ ecosystems, primarily in the Atlantic. • Assess population and health of sea turtles and dolphins, primarily in the Atlantic. • Conduct aging of reef fishes. • Collect data and samples and conduct assessments with commercial menhaden fisheries and recreational charter or headboat fisheries in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
6 - 36
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator