Northeast Fishery Center staff represent the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) interests on management boards, and species stock assessment and technical committees, that support the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission management of alewife and blueback herring, American eel, horseshoe crab, striped bass, and American and hickory shad. The commission is a cooperative management body comprised of members from each of the Atlantic coastal states, as well as the Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The commission coordinates the sustainable management of our Atlantic coastal fisheries. Northeast Fishery Center provides expertise on life history, genetics, ecology, population dynamics, monitoring, and data requirements for assessments.
For example, the Northeast Fishery Center is a major partner in studying the importance of horseshoe crab populations to the recovery of migratory shorebirds, and to the Delaware River ecosystem. Staff play key roles on the management board that oversees the sustainable harvest of horseshoe crab.
