The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is a United States federal agency. A division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Commerce, NMFS is responsible for the stewardship and management of the nation's living marine resources and their habitat within the United States' Exclusive Economic Zone i.e. waters from 3 nautical miles (6 km) to 200 nautical miles (370 km) offshore.
With the help of the six regional science centers, eight regional fisheries management councils,[1] and three interstate fisheries management commissions[2], the NMFS works with communities on fishery management issues to promote sustainability and to prevent lost economic potential associated with overfishing, declining species, and degraded habitats. The agency also attempts to balance competing public needs for the natural resources under its management.
In 2007, the NMFS agreed to issue regulations to protect endangered whales from fatal fishing-gear entanglements after environmental groups sued to force action on the rules, which were proposed in early 2005. The rules were enacted to specifically protect the North Atlantic right whale, of which about only 350 remain.
Marine gear entanglements and ship strikes are the top human causes of right whale deaths. On July 1, the shipping lanes in and out of Boston Harbor were rotated to avoid an area with a high concentration of the right whales.[3]
