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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
Program Assessment

Program

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Contributions to International Fisheries Commissions

The State Department makes contributions and coordinates US input to several international fisheries commissions and related organizations. These commissions protect and allocate fishing rights, advance marine science, maintain and improve the well-being of coastal communities, and protect natural habitats.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Adequate

This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability or strengthen its management practices.
  • While each individual commission monitors its success through established goals, and each commission has met or exceeded its individual goals, the United States cannot easily monitor the overall effectiveness and efficiency of its total contribution to all International Fisheries Commissions.
  • Evaluations of the fisheries commissions have provided limited information on the effectivess of this program. Evaluations have been conducted by several organizations--constituent advisory committees, the State Department Inspector General, and independent panels--but it is unclear whether these evaluations are truly independent and systematic.
  • Several commissions have well-developed constituent advisory committees that provide stakeholders the opportunity to provide input into the fisheries' policies and actions. It is unclear, however, that all advisory committees--comprised of members of the fishing industries, academics, and others--are independent and transparant enough to fulfill their role as comprehensive and balanced advisors.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Developing and improving the program-wide measures that apply to all commissions, in order to evaluate the effectivess of the total US contribution to international fisheries commissions.
  • Working to increase the independence and increase the transparency of the constituent advisory committees, such as by changing the implementing legislation for the commissions.
  • Soliciting independent evaluations of sufficient scope, quality, and regularity to analyze the impact of the fisheries program and inform program improvement.

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