Appendix 2. Summary of the NMFS Science Quality Assurance Program NMFS is charged with the stewardship of living marine resources for the benefit of the nation through science-based conservation and management. High quality science provides the foundation upon which NMFS operates to fulfill its stewardship mission. Fisheries management has become increasingly more complex through time, creating ever-growing, and increasingly sophisticated demands on the agency's science programs. Meanwhile, management decisions and the science upon which they are based have also come under increasing scrutiny from the fishing industry and environmental groups and, in extreme cases, have become the subject of law suits.
NMFS, throughout its history, has made consistent investments in conducting high-quality science. The Office of Science and Technology and each of the Fisheries Science Centers implement measures to ensure the quality of their science. The Science Quality Assurance Program (SQAP) was established to document, formalize and, where appropriate, standardize these collective efforts. The primary objective of this process is to ensure that NMFS' fisheries science is relevant, timely, objective and accurate. By combining several existing and some new programs into a coherent plan, the SQAP will provide a comprehensive examination of science quality issues within NMFS diverse scientific enterprise. Plan components include:
Strategic Plan for Fisheries Research (see the Introduction to this document for a summary of the goals and objectives)
This five-year plan outlines measures for meeting the requirements of the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996. Priorities and recent accomplishments on research areas stipulated by the Act are identified for each of the Fisheries Science Centers. A new edition of the plan will be released in early 2002.
Stock Assessment Improvement Plan (this document)
The SAIP is the report of the NMFS National Task Force for Improving Fish Stock Assessments. The Task Force consists of Headquarters and Science Center scientists. The plan also addresses recommendations made in the National Research Council study on Improving Fish Stock Assessments (NRC 1998).
NOAA Fisheries Data Acquisition Plan (Appendix 3)
This plan outlines a strategy for acquiring the at-sea data needed to manage the nation's living marine resources. Recommendations for the appropriate blend of research platforms to ensure a consistent supply of high quality data into the stock assessment process are made.