Enforcement Problems Hinder Effective Implementation of New Fishery Management Activities

The Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 extended U.S. fisheries management to 200 miles from the territorial sea baseline. The Act authorizes management plans and implementing regulations to protect the fishing stocks from overfishing and to rebuild overfished stocks. It also prohibits foreign fishing in these waters if the domestic vessels have the capacity to catch the optimum yield of the fishery. The U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) have joint responsibility for enforcing the regulations to implement these fishery management plans. Plans for about 70 species will be developed, and GAO reviewed two of the nine plans already in effect.