Understanding both the economic performance and the social fabric of fisheries communities is crucial for effective management. This includes analyzing everything from market dynamics and fishery costs to community well-being and cultural significance, providing a comprehensive view that supports balanced management decisions.

Collecting and analyzing socioeconomic data presents challenges, particularly due to the limited scope of available coastwide data. The Commission is actively working to enhance the reliability and applicability of existing data, focusing on overcoming spatial and temporal limitations to better support coastwide management needs.

The CESS, comprising experts from state, federal, and academic backgrounds, steers the integration of socioeconomic data into fisheries management. They guide the ISFMP and the ACCSP in developing methodologies and sections within fishery management plans that reflect economic and social dimensions.

The CESS has been instrumental in providing socioeconomic support to ASMFC’s technical committees and developing policies that reflect the socioeconomic realities of fisheries management. Their efforts include conducting seminars to enhance the application of economic data, recommending studies to address complex socioeconomic issues, and crafting policy issue papers that influence management decisions like quota allocations and season closures.

Accomplishments of the CESS include:

• Contributing social and economic information to Commission fishery management plans and amendments
• Conducting educational seminars for fisheries managers to improve the usefulness of social and economic information
• Evaluation of methods to directly link economic data into biological stock assessments (bioeconomic modeling)
• Development of policy issue papers to assist fisheries managers in making decisions on issues such as individual transferable quotas and cumulative effects of season closures, and
• Development of the ACCSP social and economic data standards, including priority socioeconomic data elements for coastwide collection.

Through initiatives led by the CESS, significant strides have been made in embedding socioeconomic considerations into the fabric of fisheries management. Looking ahead, the CESS aims to further refine data standards and expand the collection of critical socioeconomic data, ensuring that future management strategies are well-informed and responsive to the economic and social realities of Atlantic coastal fisheries.

Documents

Meeting Summaries