SARP: An effective partnership to manage the region’s aquatics

The Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP) was initiated in 2001 to address the myriad issues related to the management of aquatic resources in the Southeast. These issues include significant threats to the region’s aquatic resources, as illustrated by the fact that 34 percent of North American fish species and 90 percent of the native mussel species designated as endangered, threatened, or of special concern are found here. Given these stark realities, and the predicted increased pressure on Southeast aquatic resources in the future, SARP was established with the following mission:

With partners, protect, conserve, and restore aquatic resources including habitats throughout the Southeast, for the continuing benefit, use, and enjoyment of the American people.

SARP includes fish and wildlife agencies from 14 States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia); the Gulf and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissions; the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and NOAA Fisheries. These entities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding pledging to work together for the conservation and management of aquatic resources in the Southeast. SARP has many other partners such as non-governmental entities to aide in achieving the mission of the partnership.

SARP focuses on six key issue areas identified by member groups as being areas of greatest concern and interest to the Southeast. The six Key Issue Areas are: Aquatic Habitat Conservation, Public Use, Imperiled Fish and Aquatic Species Recovery, Fishery Mitigation, Interjurisdictional Fisheries, Aquatic Nuisance Species.

The Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership is one of six Fish Habitat Partnerships approved by the National Fish Habitat Board. The National Fish Habitat Action Plan is an attempt to address the loss and degradation of fish and aquatic habitat nationwide. The plan was created when an ad hoc group supported by the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council explored the notion of developing a partnership effort for fish and aquatic species on the scale of what was done for waterfowl in the 1980s. The North American Waterfowl Management Plan has worked wonders during the past two decades to boost waterfowl populations by forming strong local and regional partnerships to protect key habitats.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries are principal federal partners, but the National Plan brings together fisheries professionals and a unique blend of industry, government, tribal, academic, and conservation groups with a shared interest in protecting, restoring and enhancing the nation’s waterways and fisheries. This non-regulatory and voluntary plan is locally and regionally based, and driven by grassroots partners. It is focused on fisheries protection, restoration, and enhancement in key watersheds, and uses the best scientific expertise on habitat management. The plan recognizes the need for long-term investments in protecting and restoring habitat and focusing local support for aquatic habitat conservation.

SARP has provided one regional component of the national plan through development of a Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan that identifies regional priorities for aquatic habitat conservation and restoration, and facilitates action at the local level addressing regional and national priorities.

This science-based, landscape-style system for habitat conservation seeks to effectively apply limited resources to priority areas on a regional basis in order to reverse current trends and protect the Southeast’s aquatic resources well into the future. The purpose of the Plan is to maintain, restore, and conserve the quantity and quality of freshwater, estuarine, and marine habitats to support healthy, sustainable fish and aquatic communities and sustain public use for the benefit of all regionally and nationally. Multiple projects at many different levels will focus on eight objectives:

Objective 1: Establish, improve and maintain riparian zones
Objective 2: Improve or maintain water quality
Objective 3: Improve or maintain watershed connectivity
Objective 4: Improve or maintain appropriate hydrologic conditions for the support of biota in aquatic systems
Objective 5: Establish, improve or maintain appropriate sediment flows
Objective 6: Maintain and restore physical habitat in freshwater systems
Objective 7: Restore or improve the ecological balance in habitats negatively affected by nonindigenous invasive or problem species
Objective 8: Conserve, restore, and create coastal estuarine and marine habitats

Although focused on aquatic species and their habitat, SARP is an excellent example of Strategic Habitat Conservation (SHC) at work. SHC is a science-based framework for making management decisions on where and how to deliver conservation to achieve specific biological outcomes as efficiently as possible. The SHC’s five elements of Biological Planning, Conservation Design, Conservation Delivery, Outcome-based monitoring, and Assumption-Driven Research were at the heart of SARP’s early development. SARP has developed an Aquatic Action Plan which provides the blueprint for defining and prioritizing the challenges of aquatic species and habitat conservation. It also provides targets and goals for reaching each objective.

SARP is actively engaged in spatial models from collecting new data to consolidating existing data into a consistent format for broader use, all of which enables us to characterize the aquatic landscape broadly, but define courses of action both locally and regionally. Projects funded by the Southeast Fisheries Program through SARP have aimed at improving on-the-ground aquatic habitats. These habitat altering projects as well as many others throughout the partnership boundaries incorporate a monitoring component that documents the impact of these projects. At its core, SARP is a unique avenue for the Service’s Southeast Region to implement SHC beyond agency’s resources.

No single agency or organization can accomplish this task alone. Conservation strategies must occur on multiple levels with public-private partnerships. Local citizen support is needed, along with better community planning, to protect and preserve important habitat. SARP will help initiate and coordinate multiple agency partnerships, especially where critical habitat crosses state boundaries. Cooperative agreements will be needed to align state and federal agency restoration efforts. Through working together we can make a difference by ensuring a future that maintains the biodiversity and wealth of natural resources which define our community, provide for quality of life, and attract people to our special region. Yet, these can be done strategically and with habitat at the forefront of our decisions. SARP and SHC are a partnership that needs no MOU, just a conservation effort!

More information on SARP can be obtained by visiting www.sarpaquatic.org or by visiting www.fishhabitat.org to learn more about the National Fish Habitat Action Plan.

Submitted by Walter Boltin, Bears Bluff National Fish Hatchery, Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina