NFCC Consensus Statement on Integrating Marine Reserve Science and Fisheries Management

The National Fisheries Conservation Center convened the meeting (chaired by Dr. Don Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science) to bring together modelers, ecologists, fishermen, stock assessment scientists and other analysts to try to produce a more integrated theoretical basis for designing, managing and monitoring marine reserves as part of the fishery management system. The statement provides an objective examination and assessment of the information regarding potential biological, social, and economic consequences of marine reserves, their potential effectiveness as a fishery management tool in the U.S., the methods for integrating their application with existing U.S. fisheries management and how marine reserves might be designed, monitored and evaluated.

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