This is the Third Edition of Guide to Fishery Management, first published in 1994, under the title Fish Management Manual: Understanding Fisheries Management, to explain fisheries management under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (the Magnuson-Stevens Act, or MSA). Unlike the first two editions of this Guide, the Third Edition is intended to be read in an electronic format and is updated regularly.


Goals

The Guide to Fishery Management is designed to serve as a primer to fishery management. It is intended to be read by anybody with an interest in fisheries, and includes the legal, scientific, economic, and practical aspects that dictate fishery management. It is intended to encourage members of the fishing community to participate in the regulatory process that establishes fish management.

This Guide will explain the underlying federal law that determines how fisheries in federal waters are managed – the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) – and how science influences management decisions.

This Guide focuses on the original MSA and the two significant amendments (in 1996 and 2007) that altered federal fishery management nationwide. Other provisions of the MSA, such as international fishing and shark-finning, are not addressed in this publication.


Guide Chapters

Part 1: Why Fishery Management Is Necessary

Part 2: Participants in Federal Fisheries Management

Part 3: Creation of a Fishery Management Plan

Part 4: Assessing a Fishery’s Health: Stock Assessment

Part 5: Assessing the Age of Stock

Part 6: Assessing the Mortality and Spawning Potential Ratio (SPR)

Part 7: Using Stock Indices

Part 8: Assessing the Health of a Fishery: Fishery Activities

Part 9: What Is in a Fishery Management Plan?

Part 10: Active Management: Setting Harvest Limits in an FMP

Part 11: Limited Access Fisheries

Part 12: Other Influences on Fishery Management

Part 13: Management through Habitat Protection

Part 14: Enforcement and Monitoring

Glossary

List of Acronyms

This publication, No. MASGP-21-010, was supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under NOAA Award NA18OAR4170080 and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of any of these organizations.

Images of fish are from NOAA Fisheries. Additionally, the author thanks Richard K. Wallace and Kristen M. Fletcher, authors of earlier editions of this publication.

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