U.S. exempted fishing permits: Role, value, and lessons learned for adaptive fisheries management

Experimental fishing is a powerful tool to support adaptive management by exploring. innovative fisheries practices, scientific approaches, and management actions. In the. United States, capacity and interest exist to use on-the-water experimentation to test. alternative ideas to meet the national standards of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and. promote sustainable fisheries. One program, the U.S. exempted fishing permit (EFP). program, administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (NOAA) within federal waters (3–200 nautical miles offshore), promotes. experimentation as a collaborative process between scientists, managers, and industry. to develop creative solutions to evolving fisheries challenges. Over a period of 11. years, 953 EFPs were issued in federal fisheries in the United States. Yet, to date no. comprehensive analysis of the impacts, challenges, and lessons learned have been. documented across the EFP program. Here, we developed the first standardized. nationwide database of EFPs in the U.S. and generated an overview of the program. aimed at providing key lessons for managers, fishers, scientists, and industry. The. study evaluated the program at both the national and regional levels defined by NOAA. We found that EFP projects that are industry-led, inclusive of more study participants,. and with strong scientific and programmatic support by partners were more informative to management outcomes. While programmatic differences between NOAA regions. contributed to project outcomes and their connection to management, all regional. programs would benefit from stronger documentation and a standardized database to facilitate program review and learning across regions to strengthen the utility of the. EFP program more broadly.