The National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Law Enforcement has partnered with numerous state, territorial, and commonwealth marine conservation law enforcement agencies to meet its mission of protecting and conserving the nation’s living marine resources. Through these partnerships, enabled by the Cooperative Enforcement Program (CEP), the OLE is able to supplement its enforcement effort with the addition of thousands of specially trained and authorized state, territorial, and commonwealth marine conservation law enforcement officers. Since the inception of the CEP, these officers have provided approximately 1,000,000 hours of law enforcement activity on behalf of the OLE. In return, the OLE has funded nearly $30,000,000 in equipment purchases for its partners, including nearly 100 patrol vessels.

With the passage of the Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act in 2007, 45 states, territories, commonwealths, and U.S. possessions became eligible to participate in the CEP. The OLE currently has Joint Enforcement Agreements (JEA’s) with 27 states, territories, and commonwealths. The primary goal of these agreements is to enhance enforcement of Federal laws and regulations. A secondary goal is to enhance the ability of the partners to perform their routine marine conservation obligations.

The CEP has been a huge success due to the commitment of the state, territorial, and commonwealth partners.