Improving Fisheries Management: Actions Taken in Response to the Academy's 2002 Report

Congress asked the Academy, in 2002, to conduct an independent study of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and its ability to meet its legal missions and requirements.

At that time, an increasing number of fishery management actions were being challenged in federal courts, legislated mandates had created increased and sometimes conflicting responsibilities, and fishery productivity had leveled off at about ten percent below its high in the early 1990s.