Mission Statement
Resource managers and other stakeholders, including the public at large,
cannot make well informed decisions concerning the conservation and management
of living marine resources without a sound basis for assessing a wide range of
potential effects, including the economic and sociocultural effects of those
decisions. Therefore, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management
Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the
Regulatory Flexibility Act, Executive Order 12866, and other Federal laws
include requirements for economic and social analysis of Federal management
actions and policies. The primary mission of the Economic and Social Sciences
Research Program is to provide economic and sociocultural information that will
assist NMFS in meeting its stewardship responsibilities. Those responsibilities
are in part identified by the Federal regulatory analyses requirements.
Activities in support of this mission include: (1) collecting economic and
sociocultural data relevant for the conservation and management of living marine
resources; (2) developing models to use that data both to monitor changes in
economic and sociocultural indicators and to estimate the economic and
sociocultural impacts of alternative management measures; (3) preparing reports
and publications; (4) participating on NPFMC, NMFS, and inter-agency working
groups; (5) preparing and reviewing research proposals and programs; (6)
preparing analyses of proposed management measures; (7) assisting Alaska
Regional Office and NPFMC staff in preparing regulatory analyses; and (8)
providing data summaries. Many of these are cooperative activities conducted
with other scientists at the Center, other NMFS sites, the NPFMC, other natural
resource agencies, and universities. Currently, the research topics being
addressed cooperatively by program staff and scientists at the University of
Washington, the University of Alaska, and the University of California, Davis
include regional economic impact models, behavioral models of fishing
operations, indicators of economic performance, and the non-market valuation of
living marine resources.
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