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NOAA Fisheries Regional
Fisheries Science Centers
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The
Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) supports
fisheries and marine mammal research in the coastal
and offshore waters of Alaska. The Center
focuses on fishery resources off Alaska that support
some
of the most important commercial fisheries in the
world, in addition to research on climate change
and habitat.
Center staff produce scientific data and technical
advice for the NOAA
Fisheries Alaska Regional Office, the North
Pacific Fishery Management Council, U.S.
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representatives participating
in international fishing negotiations, and the fishing
industry and its constituents. The
AFSC has research facilities in Alaska (Auke Bay
and Kodiak Island), Washington (Seattle), and Oregon
(Newport).
The major shipboard platforms supporting the AFSC
include the NOAA Ships Miller Freeman, John
N. Cobb, and the new NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson (beginning
Fall 2004), as well as chartered vessels from the
fishing industry. The Center has numerous ongoing
relationships with external cooperators, including
state and other Federal agencies, academic institutions,
the fishing industry, and resource conservation organizations.
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The Northwest
Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) conducts
research to support the management, conservation,
and sustainable
use of the Pacific Northwest region’s anadromous
and marine fishery resources and their habitats. Research
is conducted across five primary areas:
- status of stocks,
- human caused stress/risks,
- ecosystem and climate characteristics,
- recover and rebuild species, and
- innovation and technology.
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Information from the NWFSC supports the NOAA
Fisheries Northwest Regional Office, the Pacific
Fishery Management Council, and other
constituents along the U.S. west coast. The
NWFSC carries out research from its Montlake
Laboratory headquarters in Seattle, WA, and from
five research stations in Manchester, Mukilteo,
and Pasco, WA, and in Newport and Pt. Adams, OR.
The Center has several small vessels for conducting
studies and relies on the NOAA Ships Miller
Freeman and McArthur II, as well as privately
chartered vessels and academic research ships to
supplement the Center’s research capability
and to conduct critical surveys. The NWFSC develops
and maintains strong collaborative partnerships with
state and Federal agencies, industry, environmental
groups, Native American tribes, individual fishers,
universities, and other research and academic institutions.
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The Southwest Fisheries
Science Center (SWFSC) is a world-class research
organization that conducts integrated,
multidisciplinary research programs in biology,
mathematics, oceanography,
and economics for the purpose of developing scientific
technology and information to support the management
and allocation of Pacific coastal and high-seas
fishery resources.
Center programs support
efforts directed toward
- the reduction of protected species interactions,
- fishery-related porpoise mortality, and
- a better understanding of the biological and
environmental factors affecting the marine resources
exploited by U.S. commercial and recreational fisheries.
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The Center also supports the scientific, statistical,
and economic needs of the NOAA
Fisheries Southwest Regional Office, the
Pacific Fishery Management Council, and international
commissions for large pelagic fishes and Antarctic
resources. The SWFSC headquarters are located in
La Jolla, CA, and research is conducted at laboratories
in La Jolla, Santa Cruz, and Pacific Grove, CA. Research
from the SWFSC is conducted aboard the NOAA Ships
David Starr Jordan and McArthur II, in addition
to chartered fishing and research vessels. The SWFSC
maintains an active communications network with commercial
and recreational fishers, leaders of environmental
groups, participants of fishery management councils,
state and Federal research agency staff, and outside
scientists in the U.S. and foreign countries.
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The Northeast
Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) engages
in research
activities including stock assessments
and fishery surveys, aquaculture research, and
field stock enhancement investigations.
The Center also conducts monitoring of the Northeast
Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem for long-term changes,
social and economic research in support of the fishery
management process, and process-oriented research
projects such as studying the impacts of global climate
change on the coupling of zooplankton/cod and haddock
larvae distribution and predation on Georges Bank.
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The Center supports the NOAA
Fisheries Northeast Regional Office, and
produces reliable information critical to the
development
of regional fishery management plans for the New
England Fisheries Management Council, the
Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council,
and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission. The NEFSC has facilities in Woods
Hole, MA, Narragansett, RI, Milford, CT, and
Sandy Hook, NJ, as well as support staff at the
National
Systematics Laboratory in Washington, DC. The
Center utilizes the NOAA Ships Albatross IV and
Delaware II for a majority of its fisheries
survey and research cruises, employs several
inshore research vessels, and periodically charters
private
fishing vessels and academic research ships to
support ecosystem surveys on the northeast continental
shelf. The NEFSC engages in cooperative research
with states, universities, and the fishing industry.
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The Southeast
Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) implements
and manages a multi-disciplinary science and research
program that provides technical information for
conserving and maintaining the sustainability and
health of living marine resources and their environments. The
SEFSC develops the scientific information required
for
- fishery resource conservation,
- fishery development and utilization,
- habitat conservation, and
- the protection of marine mammals and endangered
species.
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Center staff provides information
to meet the needs of the NOAA
Fisheries Southeast Regional Office, the
South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, the Gulf
of Mexico Fisheries Management Council, and the Caribbean
Fisheries Management Council. The SEFSC headquarters
are located in Miami, FL, with research laboratories
in Miami and Panama City, FL, Beaufort, NC, Galveston,
TX, Lafayette, LA, and Pascagoula, MS. SEFSC
research is supported aboard the NOAA Ships Oregon
II and Gordon Gunter, as well as numerous
smaller research craft. |
The Pacific
Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) conducts
multidisciplinary basic and applied research on insular
and oceanic pelagic living resources and fisheries
of the Pacific Islands and central Pacific.
Biological, ecological, and economic research is
conducted on
a range of fishery resources that fall under active
fishery management plans, in addition to research
focused on protected resources not related to fisheries.
Fisheries research activities at the PIFSC support
the scientific, statistical, and economic needs
of the Western Pacific
Region Fisheries Management Council, the Western
and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, and scientific
bodies including the Standing Committee on Tuna
and
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Billfish of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community
and the Interim Scientific Committee for Tuna and
Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean. The
Center is located in Honolulu, HI. The primary platforms
supporting PIFSC field activities include the NOAA
Ship Oscar Elton Sette and chartered vessels
from the commercial industry. Collaborative
and cooperative research partners include the
SWFSC, other Federal and State of Hawaii agencies,
academic institutions, foreign research institutions,
government agencies of American Samoa, Guam, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and
the public sector including the commercial fishing
industry, seafood markets, and recreational and environmental
interests, including NGOs.
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