A Message from Sam Rauch, Head of NOAA Fisheries
Spotlight on International Cooperation Toward
Global Stewardship
June 2012
As we all know, fish and living marine resources do not recognize the management boundaries of states, nations, or even oceans. They are shared resources whose long-term sustainability depends on international cooperation and stewardship.
Our collaborative activities include cooperative science and management initiatives at the bilateral, regional, and global levels. These include:
- Advancing the adoption of ecosystem approaches to management (considering habitat and other environmental influences on fish populations.)
- Promoting scientific collaboration to assess migratory marine species.
- Enhanced efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) or pirate fishing activities.
- Monitoring against trade in endangered species.
- Helping developing countries to improve stewardship and build data collection capacities to monitor their marine resources.
Since last September when the United States and the European Union signed a Joint Statement to Combat IUU Fishing, significant progress has been made to enhance awareness of global fisheries and the need for international cooperation. The United States and European Union have worked together to outline a vision for fisheries reform in the global arena. In early June, Dr. Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, addressed a joint session of the European Union Parliament and met with Regional Fisheries Management Organization leaders to advance the United States' vision for sustainable, science-based, fisheries management.
I invite you to view Dr. Lubchenco's remarks and learn more about the broad spectrum of initiatives dedicated to addressing global stewardship.
Samuel D. Rauch III
Acting Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries
