A Letter from NMFS

By Janet Coit

ishermen sometimes catch and discard animals they do not want, cannot sell, or are not allowed to keep, creating what we know as bycatch.

Left unaddressed, bycatch a ects threatened and endangered species and protected marine mammals and can close directed sheries, signi cantly impacting U.S. economic growth. Reducing bycatch delivers many bene ts to our marine resources and can actually increase shing opportunities and e ciency, as well as catch rates for target species.

Bycatch reduction is a key component in managing and maintaining sustainable sheries and supporting America’s coastal communities. In fact, it’s one of the 10 National Standards under which U.S. sheries are managed. In the last decade, NOAA Fisheries committed over $20 million to fund more than 100 projects through the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program.

This year, we announced $2.2 million for 12 bycatch reduction projects.

NOAA works collaboratively with partners to nd creative approaches and strategies to reduce bycatch, seabird interactions, and post-release mortality in federally managed sheries. We work side by side with shermen on their boats to develop and test shing gear and other technologies to confront some of the top bycatch challenges facing our nation’s sheries and their habitat.

We will continue to study and address bycatch to maintain sustainable sheries, recover protected species, and support the Blue Economy.

Janet Coit is the assistant administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service. She oversees the federal agency responsible for recreational and commercial fi sheries.