08/19/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/19/2024 09:13
Click here to read in Spanish
Key Message:
Background:
NOAA Fisheries Southeast strives to equitably serve all people through the work we do to manage, conserve, and protect living marine resources and their habitats in the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and U.S. Caribbean. While our public input processes are intended to provide full access to our decision-making structure, unintentional barriers prevent some voices from being heard. This limits our understanding of the impacts of management and policy decisions. Our new Southeast Equity and Environmental Justice Implementation Plan is intended to address these barriers.
We used several different strategies to engage and include the public in developing the plan, including:
Through this work, we connected with hundreds of underserved community members from diverse ethnicities, cultures, genders and sexual orientations, ages, and manners of participation in regional marine fisheries and aquaculture.
The resulting Southeast Equity and Environmental Justice Implementation Plan incorporates immediate or near-term actions that we expect to accomplish with existing funding; and important longer-term actions that will require additional resources. Together these actions are expected to generate a wide range of societal benefits to those who participate or seek to participate in federal fisheries, aquaculture, and the conservation, management, and recovery of our nation's other living marine resources and habitats. In summary, this would be accomplished by:
The Southeast Equity and Environmental Justice Implementation Plan is a living document, to be reviewed and updated every 5 years, or sooner as needed. These planned, periodic reviews will enable us to adapt the plan in response to new information and shifting environmental conditions over time so that we can effectively meet the needs of human communities across the region.
How You Can Help:
Please partner with us to advance equity and environmental justice in the Southeast by emailing us at [email protected].
For More Information:
NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office
NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center
NOAA Fisheries Equity and Environmental Justice Strategy
Sign Up For Text Message Alerts - Find Out About Immediate Openings and Closures
NOAA's Text Message Alert Program allows you to receive important fishery related alerts via text message (SMS). Standard message & data rates may apply. You may opt-out at any time. Text alerts you may receive include:
Sign up for one or more of the following groups:
Quick Glance Contact Listfor the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office
Permits Mailbox: The Permits Office in St. Petersburg, Florida, now has a Permits mailbox in the front lobby (263 13th Ave. South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701). You can now drop off original permits for permit transfers. Envelopes with information labels will be provided so that your documents can be attached to the correct application. The mailbox will be checked daily. For more information contact the Permits Office at 877-376-4877.
Other contacts:
Media: Allison Garrett, 727-551-5750
Recreational Fishing Coordinator: Sean Meehan, 727-385-5202