Caribbean Fishery Management: Voices from the Islands

One of the most innovative aspects of the Magnuson-Stevens Act was the establishment of eight regional councils to manage fisheries. Across the country, regional councils are tackling their own unique challenges, each shaped by their local coastal communities and united under a shared framework. In celebration of 50 years of the Act, we're presenting this eight-part series to highlight the landmark work of each region.

The federal waters surrounding Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are known for their vibrant fishing heritage, stunning scenery, and biodiverse coral reef ecosystems. Each island community's unique connection to the sea is shaped by distinct cultural traditions.

Sustainable fisheries management requires carefully balancing conservation goals and local needs. In recent years, the U.S. Caribbean region has made significant strides in advancing fishery sustainability by prioritizing vital local collaborations.

A Distinctive Fishery Management Region

The 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Act established the Caribbean Fishery Management Council as one of eight regional fishery management councils . It manages the federal waters that surround the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which abut multiple international boundaries. The Caribbean Council has the distinction of managing more species than any other council in the nation .

At first, the Caribbean Council followed the strategy of other regions by developing management measures that applied uniformly throughout the region. In 1985, that process culminated in the region's first two fishery management plans: One for Caribbean spiny lobster , and another for the 64 most commonly landed shallow-water reef fish species. In the 1990s, the Council added plans for queen conch and aquarium species, and amended the reef fish plan to include deep-water reef fish.

Both single-species stock assessments and region-wide management plans were hampered by data limitations. Fishery-dependent data-which is based on fishermen reporting landings or port agents conducting surveys-was spotty. Most of the fish and shellfish harvest in the region came from small-scale commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishermen, making detailed data difficult to obtain. Fishery-independent data-based on scientific surveys-was also sparse due to limited resources to study a daunting number of species. In addition, the data that were available were more likely to be from Puerto Rico than the U.S. Virgin Islands, obscuring key differences across communities.

These data limitations resulted in uncertainty about how fish populations were faring and created a challenging position for managers tasked with understanding and classifying the status of stocks.

Taking Matters Into Local Hands

In the early 2000s, the Council considered several new regulatory strategies to comply with 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act mandates to end overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks, minimize bycatch, and protect habitats.

Concerned about impacts to their livelihoods, a group of locals formed the St. Thomas Fishermen's Association to advocate for alternative solutions better tailored to each region. They met with the Council to advocate for measures to reduce fishing pressure while ensuring they could continue fishing sustainably into the future.

Julian Magras, former head of the St. Thomas Fisherman's Association, advocated to reduce bycatch by increasing the mesh size used in fish traps. He also advocated for implementing seasonal and area closures-some in critical spawning aggregation sites. Ultimately, these changes were adopted into formal regulations to reduce fishing pressure while protecting their livelihoods.

"The fishermen themselves have put lots of regulations in place to help protect the fishery. At first, it used to be a battle fighting with the federal government and the local government, and over approximately 10 years-we have built a working relationship instead of a fighting relationship."
- Julian Magras, fourth-generation commercial fisherman from St. Thomas, NOAA oral history interview

Over time, these local voices have become a driving force for developing island-specific conservation measures and collecting better data. Today, Magras is chairman of the St. Thomas/St. John District Advisory Panel to the Caribbean Fishery Management Council.

Local involvement in the fishery management process has been a challenge, but has grown over the years. NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler is intimately familiar with the evolution of the relationships in the region. He spent decades as a successful commercial fisherman and captain in his home island of Puerto Rico. He served as chair of the Caribbean Fishery Management Council from 2001 to 2010.

"When I got involved in the council many years ago, it was a challenge to get new people involved because they feared the unknown. Getting acquainted with the process wasn't just like a foreign language-it was like going to a different planet. It has been amazing to see the involvement of people from different villages increase over the years."
- Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, Assistant Administrator, NOAA Fisheries

Local Partnerships Drive Data Progress

Across the board, fishermen, managers, and scientists agreed that the U.S. Caribbean had a dire need for better data . In 2009, NOAA partnered with the Council and local stakeholders to conduct the first comprehensive evaluation of available data for the region. This groundbreaking effort laid the foundation for future stock assessments, identifying what data were most reliable and where improvements were needed.

Because data collection is resource-intensive, innovation and cooperation are essential in this remote region. NOAA's Cooperative Research Program provides investments for working with the people who know these local ecosystems best: the fishermen themselves.

Partnerships with local territorial governments, non-governmental organizations, and fishing communities have improved fishery-dependent data through updated and modernized commercial logbooks and biological sample collection. Logbooks provide critical fishery-dependent data on catch rates and landings, while scientists gather essential life history data from harvested fish. These efforts are filling data gaps to help move toward more reliable stock assessments for data-poor species in the U.S. Caribbean.

In addition, cooperative hook-and-line surveys and technological advancements have enabled deeper exploration into reef habitats to provide more precise indices of reef fish abundance. The Puerto Rico Deepwater Reef Fish Survey , designed with local anglers, helps fill data gaps for data-poor species. Similarly, collaborative lobster trap research is addressing gaps for Caribbean spiny lobster . These partnerships with local fishermen are essential for building a more accurate, comprehensive understanding of the region's fisheries.

An Island-centric Approach to Fishery Management

Each island region is home to distinctive fishing communities and fish populations with unique needs. In the 1990s, Mr. Thomas Daily, a fisherman from St. Croix, proposed the original idea of having separate fishery management plans for each island area. He pointed out that the fisheries and cultural aspects of the fishing communities differed from island to island and merited plans tailored to each island. It took some time, but the managers eventually agreed. In 2022, the Council replaced the four region-wide fishery management plans with three island-based plans : one for Puerto Rico, one for St. Croix, and one for St. Thomas and St. John ).

"It is important that many of the best ideas for managing fisheries in the United States have come from fishers who face the realities of marine fisheries every day. The councils have provided a table where they can sit, and their opinions are taken seriously for the benefit of our national fisheries."
- Miguel Rolón, Executive Director of the Caribbean Fishery Management Council.

These island-based fishery management plans now account for the unique ecological and social characteristics of each island, and align actions with the principles of ecosystem-based fisheries management .

"One size does not fit all," affirmed Piñeiro Soler. "Island-based management means a lot for each community as it allows them to protect and make sure the species that they harvest thrive."

To account for the unique needs across the region, NOAA Fisheries assimilates local voices into the development of fishery management plans. Our social scientists document local ecological knowledge to understand both the history of island-based fisheries and their vision for the future. Managers then use this knowledge to consider potential sociocultural impacts from new or amended fishery regulations. Listening to these stories is critical to ensuring that decisions are based on the best available information, and that our management vision is deeply rooted in the communities we serve.

Case Study: Early Signs of Success for Nassau Grouper

Investing in stronger partnerships with anglers has been a success in itself for better working relationships. NOAA, the Council, and island residents are optimistic this will translate into successes for fisheries and their ecosystems as well. One species that is showing promising trends is Nassau grouper .

Nassau groupers, like several other Caribbean reef fish species, reproduce exclusively within spawning aggregations . These large assemblies of hundreds to thousands of fish are very predictable, gathering together at the same times and locations each year to spawn. This behavior makes them very easy to find-and easy to fish. By the late 1980s, Nassau grouper in particular were in steep decline.

At the Council's recommendation, federal regulations have prohibited the harvest of Nassau grouper under the Magnuson-Stevens Act since 1990. NOAA Fisheries listed Nassau grouper as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2016, which prompted federal science funding and led to the designation of critical habitat. But the fish often cross international borders to breed, so actions in U.S. waters would not be enough for the population to rebuild across their range. Local fishermen from Puerto Rico, St. Thomas/St. John, and St. Croix took the initiative to educate their communities on the importance of protecting spawning aggregations both for Nassau and other reef fish species. Building on these successes, the Council coordinated with NOAA Fisheries and international partners to encourage this practice across Caribbean countries, supporting population recovery.

NOAA Fisheries and partners are collecting data that will help determine whether these protections are working. The National Coral Reef Monitoring Program conducts diver-based visual surveys of reef fish in the U.S. Caribbean. In recent years, divers spotted increased numbers and frequencies of subadult Nassau grouper recruiting to (or moving into) coral reef habitats where adult Nassau spend most of their lives.

The scientists' surveys are consistent with what fishermen and divers are seeing, too: increasing numbers of young Nassau grouper on the reefs. If these subadults survive to maturity and successfully reproduce, the population will begin to rebuild. That progress will be due to the collective efforts to:

• Prohibit U.S. harvest
• Protect areas with known spawning aggregations
• Foster collaboration
• Build a groundswell of community support

"I was home fishing with my son a few years ago and we began to see juvenile Nassaus. I said, 'Wait a minute. What are you doing here?' I never thought in my lifetime that I would see them rebound that way. Protecting the spawning aggregations for species like Nassau grouper is the biggest success story for the U.S. Caribbean."
- Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, Assistant Administrator, NOAA Fisheries

Looking Ahead: A Paradigm Shift in Fisheries Science and Management

For many years, the scarcity of data on the many managed species in the U.S. Caribbean made it difficult for scientists to conduct the rigorous population assessments required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. But decades of collaboration and improving data streams are starting to turn the tide. Recent modernization efforts-including the use of the 2019 spiny lobster population assessment to inform management decisions and the Council's adoption of formal catch limit policy-have led to better protection against overfishing. These milestones mark the start of a groundswell of improvements in science-based fisheries management in the U.S. Caribbean, and that momentum continues to be encouraged and supported by NOAA Fisheries.

Building upon recent initiatives that advance the course for the Caribbean's data-poor species and ecosystems, the Council, local agencies and NOAA-Fisheries are working to develop assessment methods tailored to the unique nature of the region.

"The Council is shifting toward more inclusive, flexible, and science-based fisheries management to improve the sustainability and resilience of U.S. Caribbean fisheries in the face of environmental and economic change."
- Miguel Rolón, Executive Director, Caribbean Council

Through this ongoing collaborative effort, we are not just refining the process-we are pioneering a paradigm shift in fisheries science and management, ensuring a sustainable and resilient future for the region.