Policy: Roles for Everyone

I dedicated one of my columns to how we and our Society can wield greater influence through partnerships. Fish-centric opportunities abound, but bonus points await those who reach beyond fish and toward aquatic systems on larger geographic scales, toward other natural resources such as wildlife, toward cross-cutting efforts based on topical themes such as resource economics, and toward select social interchanges like listservs and Twitter. A groundswell of recent opportunities has prompted me to revisit the topic with increasing interest. The members of AFS have much to offer as individuals and through their institutions. We also have much to gain from experts in other arenas. Some of these occasions are rare or monumental, while others are simply timely. Each occasion offers the chance to sharpen scientific needs, share new insights, inform resource managers, compare results, distill trends, identify best practices, improve training and education, support decisions, impress siblings, and much more. To make this even more enticing, opportunities are unfolding on geographic scales ranging from small regions to national and on temporal scales that can yield immediate benefits. There truly are openings for each specialty across our membership. Let’s take advantage of the opportunities! Perhaps the most interesting effort is the new Blue Ribbon Panel on Sustaining America’s Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources. Led by Bass Pro Shops founder John L. Morris and former Wyoming governor Dave Freudenthal, the panel of 22 experts seeks to create a new conservation funding model that better addresses needs for all fish and wildlife, nationwide and across political aisles. This timely effort was announced at the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) meeting in September 2014 and organized this past autumn, with the intention to meet in early 2015. The Panel’s singular goal is to create a 21st century model to provide sufficient funds to meet societal needs related to fish and wildlife diversity. The members of AFS can track progress at the AFWA (2014) website and provide input via that site, public scoping meetings such as the one at the AFWA annual meeting last fall, and through Panel members. Our creative input could contribute to a more secure future for all fish programs. This has to be a top priority for 2015. Another national opportunity is provided by landscape approaches to conservation. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS; 2014a) has led the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCC) program since its creation in 2010 and now has 22 units in the FWS Strategic Habitat Conservation Vision. The LCC concept was the focus of a special National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation convened by AFS and the Chesapeake Conservancy last October. That event sought to showcase conservation innovation at the landscape scale. The Society was prominent as an organizer; now we can lead as lessons are exported, policy is written, and conservation proceeds. And simultaneous with the national workshop, DOI released a five year strategic plan that reflects the LCC’s vision and mission to conserve and maintain landscapes and seascapes capable of sustaining natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. The coming months will be prime time for AFS members to contribute to an LCC near them on regional conservation strategies, collaborative conservation, science, communications, and more. A slightly more established effort is the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP), around since 2006 and now represented by 19 regional fish habitat partnerships that bring habitat protection and restoration to priority fish habitats near every AFS member in the United States and parts of Ontario. One great opportunity now is the second national assessment of fish habitat, due in late 2015. The NFHP Science and Data Committee has been assembling information to support the second assessment, offering great opportunities for AFS members to share knowledge and insights. We also could be ideal partners to translate the national assessment into priorities for habitat protection and restoration. That was the NFHP design for the initial report, but those extrapolations didn’t materialize. The 2010 report evaluated the status of fish habitat health, established a national basis for regional fish habitat partnerships to set priorities, and provided a nice tool for partners as they render regulatory, research, and management decisions. Let’s make certain we collectively don’t drop the proverbial ball as the second assessment is released in very late 2015. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Marine Fisheries Service’s Habitat Blueprint offers a different showcase for AFS talents. Like the LCCs, the Blueprint is driven mostly by internal agency priorities, with the many NOAA bureaus providing their expertise. Once each “habitat focus area” is selected, NOAA works with partners to protect and restore habitats. The AFS can help by providing data that can help shape priorities or assist decisions. Focus areas in the Great Lakes and along our ocean coasts offer opportunities to export tools and concepts to fish habitat anywhere. Check out the U.S. Department of Commerce/NOAA (2014) for a glimpse of the small-scale regional efforts awaiting our contribution. The last regional effort I’ll mention is the coastal and marine spatial planning along all U.S. coasts. The Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) effort was launched by President Obama’s “National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes” in 2010, with nine regional efforts now well underway (National Ocean Council 2014). Each regional partnership is now deciding how best to proceed, from well-organized efforts in some regions to cautious discussions elsewhere. Where the states, federal government, and tribes choose to proceed, regional partnerships are developing a strategic approach to solving their special suite of problems, often including fishing, access, data holdings, and other issues that intersect nicely with AFS interests. The special advisory committees established by state and federal resource agencies offer opportunities to engage in a more general forum. Most states have an advisory board to support their fisheries agency and other natural resource programs. The four regional interstate fisheries commissions and their fish and habitat committees cover the Atlantic, Gulf, Great Lakes, and Pacific states. The DOI has its Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council, which was the impetus behind what is now the National Fish Habitat Partnership (discussed above). The NOAA’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Council (MAFAC) addresses several priority topics annually. The NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service works closely with each of its seven regional fishery management councils, each of which has a Science and Statistical Committee composed of regional fish experts. The Environmental Protection Agency and most other agencies have their own Science Advisory Board. Those are a mere sampling of the groups awaiting fisheries expertise. The AFS works on select issues with some of these groups each year, such as the AFS members who have volunteered to serve on NOAA’s MAFAC special task forces on climate and marine resources in 2015. You have the opportunity to contribute as an AFS member or in your work affiliation. These are exciting times, with ample opportunities to share your knowledge. Go forth and make a difference. The fish will appreciate it, and so will AFS.