Enforcement Activities

Ensuring that the many recreational and commercial users of the waters in and around coral reefs are acting in accordance with environmental laws and simple rules of good environmental conduct is the task of environmental enforcement agents. Compliance with restrictions on waters in reef ecosystems is key to effective management of reef fisheries and reef resources, but conducting monitoring and surveillance on thousands of square miles of ocean and beaches are not easy. It requires a large and effective team of people: officers on patrol, coastal zone managers issuing (and rejecting) permits that may impact the reef, and attorneys ready to bring to bear environmental legal tools. The task is enormous and requires coordination between a large number of State/Territorial and federal agencies to bring successful cases and prevent further crimes through cooperation, detection and deterrence.

Conserving coral reef is not only the responsibility of officers, agents and attorneys employed to do the job. It is the responsibility of everyone who uses the resource. This is a range from commercial and recreational fishermen, swimmers, divers, beach goers all the way to those who just eat fish. Efforts to ensure the sustainability of fisheries are not unique to the United States. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations produced a Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. It establishes principles and standards applicable to the conservation, management and development of all fisheries, including those on coral reefs.

Environmental Enforcement Workshops

In response to a request at the October 2003 U.S. Coral Reef Task Force meeting, NOAA in cooperation with the Department of Justice, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Environmental Protection Agency conducted a series of environmental enforcement workshops. In 2004 and 2005, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands benefited from these workshops. The workshop's goals were:

1. To educate territorial agencies on environmental statutes; and
2. How they can be used at the Territorial level and in Territorial waters.

In addition to environmental legal information the topics for the training included:

1. Civil versus criminal cases and why either might be more advantageous;
2. Ethics, building a team and interagency cooperation;
3. Building a case for criminal or civil prosecution; and
4. Civil forfeiture.

Roundtable Discussion on Marine Protected Area Enforcement Issues in the Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council established Madison Swanson and Steamboat Lumps as two marine protected areas (MPA's) off the west coast of Florida. These areas encompass approximately 200 square miles and designed to aid in the restoration of commercially important fishes, primarily gag grouper. In May 2003, NOAA Fisheries Service held a round table discussion on the enforcement issues related to these protected areas. The discussion was center around compliance, enforcement, and education and outreach. The main recommendations/conclusions from this roundtable where:

• To determine compliance with the closure of bottom fishing within these MPA's;
  
• To develop an education and outreach plan for these areas; and
  
• To develop a long-term enforcement plan and cost-benefit analysis of surveillance technologies. Two technologies to assist in enforcement were highlighted: 1) Vessel Monitoring Systems and 2) Radar.

As a result of this roundtable, in 2004 NOAA conducted a pilot aerial survey of fishing in these two MPA's and developed an outreach poster describing these closed areas.

Return to NMFS coral reef fisheries management page.

 

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