Non-regulatory Programs

The National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP) is a Federal, state, and private cooperative effort to focus fish habitat conservation efforts through regional fish habitat partnerships (FHPs) that establish priorities based on scientific assessment and strategic planning. Local efforts to protect, enhance, and restore habitat are magnified in their effect by the strategic direction and leveraging of resources provided by the FHPs.  In this sense, NFHAP and the FHPs provide a strategic framework for community-level programs and individual habitat conservation efforts.

The Cooperative Habitat Protection Program (CHPPs) is one kind of community-level program that can be used with NFHAP or on its own to facilitate individual and community-level habitat protection efforts.  CHPPs works through NOAA Fisheries regional staff to provide funding and technical assistance for habitat protection efforts like small-scale fish habitat mapping and assessment, community and watershed planning that take living marine resources into account, upgrading or replacing structures to be more habitat-friendly and promoting local stewardship and marine resource awareness.