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NOAA Fisheries Strategic Plan
Protected Resources - Objective 5
OBJECTIVE 5: Recover and maintain protected species populations
Many marine species populations are depleted or declining due to human activity in marine and other ecosystems, environmental variability, and other causes. NOAA Fisheries has a mandate to protect resources for their intrinsic or biological value, regardless of whether that value can be measured in the marketplace. The Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other legislation, as well as international conventions, provide a clear indication of public support for strong efforts to protect and conserve these species.
NOAA Fisheries is responsible for protecting all cetaceans and pinnipeds (excluding walruses), regardless of population status, as well as those marine species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Recovering depleted, threatened, and endangered species and preventing the decline of others will contribute to the overall health and well-being of marine ecosystems.
Performance Measures:
In the next 5 years, NOAA Fisheries will:
- Maintain the health of all currently healthy marine mammal populations under our jurisdiction.
- Slow or reverse the decline of all declining protected species under our jurisdiction.
- Reduce human-caused threats to the recovery of depleted, candidate, threatened, or endangered species under our jurisdiction below 1996 levels.
Strategies
- We will take proactive steps to prevent species from becoming threatened or endangered.
- We will assess candidate species and strategic marine mammal stocks of uncertain status to determine whether human activities are posing a risk. These assessments require adequate monitoring of populations and ecosystem investigations, which take into account multi-species and habitat concerns.
- We will place our greatest emphasis on species most in need of recovery efforts.
- We will monitor the health and status of protected species and their habitats to identify areas where conservation measures must be focused for the greatest benefit to these resources.
- We will review the progress of species recovery to ensure that expected results are being achieved.
- We will implement management strategies and conservation measures as early as possible to minimize threats to the species and impacts on human activities.
- We will develop and implement comprehensive conservation and recovery plans which are effective and responsive to species needs. With these plans, we will identify and minimize human actions that are detrimental to the protected species; characterize and assess habitat needs, including critical habitat; and assess the cumulative effects of environmental variability and human-related activities.
- We will conduct Endangered Species Act consultations regarding federal actions that may affect listed species to ensure that impacts are minimized and that these actions do not jeopardize these species.
- We will establish cooperative working relationships with government and non-government entities, both foreign and domestic, to promote conservation of protected resources.
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