May 22, 2023 — As NOAA celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, created to conserve endangered species and their habitats, the organization releases its 2023 edition of the State of the Ecosystem.
Developed annually for the New England and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, the State of the Ecosystem reports provide the current status of the Northeast Shelf marine ecosystems. These annual, collaboratively produced reports inform the councils about ecological, oceanographic, and socioeconomic aspects of the ecosystem—from fishing engagement to climate conditions.
You may think that these reports do not have much to do with the fishing industry, but in fact they do, and large sections of each document – the 52-page 2023 Mid-Atlantic report and 55-page 2023 New England report – are dedicated to fishing management and how changes in the ecosystem reflect in the industry. In fact, the reports are organized into two sections:
- Performance measured against ecosystem-level management objectives
- Potential risks to meeting fishery management objectives such as climate change and other ocean uses, such as offshore wind development