News DMF and MEP Meet with International Delegation to Discuss Fisheries Management and Enforcement

The US Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is an exchange program that brings professionals from abroad to the US for short-term visits to gain first-hand experience in regarding their areas of expertise in the American system and cultivate long term relationships with their American counterparts. Recently, the IVLP hosted a delegation from the Philippines as part of a project titled “Improving Monitoring and Management of Marine Ecosystems. The delegation spent four days in eastern Massachusetts and on Monday, December 5, 2022 met with DMF’s Assistant Director Story Reed and Senior Policy Analyst Jared Silva, as well as leadership from the Massachusetts Environmental Police (MEP). MEP is a long-time participant in the IVLP, having hosted delegations from multiple countries for similar events over the past several years. 

The group took a boat ride onboard the MEP Patrol Vessel Thomas Paine from Sandwich Marina to New Bedford Harbor. This provided an opportunity for discussions regarding fisheries science, management, and enforcement. Additionally, we took a boat tour of New Bedford to see the harbor’s diverse fishing fleet and were able to watch an offshore lobster and Jonah crab boat offload their catch at a New Bedford dealer. 

The delegation was eager to learn about the structure of our fisheries management system in the United States and in Massachusetts and how fishing regulations are developed and enforced. There was a lot of interesting discussion regarding jurisdictional boundaries between fishery management agencies, the real-time enforcement of discrete time area closures, and the demand for high resolution data to enhance management and compliance. It appears some fisheries challenges may be universal!

DMF expects IVLP will host another delegation of international fisheries professionals this spring in Massachusetts and looks forward to the opportunity to meet with them. 

By Jared Silva, Senior Policy Analyst