Stakeholder Perspectives and Social Factors: The Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Council Transition to Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management

In the New England and Mid-Atlantic regional fishery management councils, the practice of Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM) is an evolving component of fisheries management, resulting in discussion about how EBFM influences and is perceived by stakeholders.  The research objective for this study was: To explore the factors, including social factors, which impact regional fishery management council adoption of EBFM in the Mid-Atlantic (MA) and New England (NE) regions.  We distributed a mail survey to 5,600 council members and fisheries stakeholders in the NE and MA regions.  The survey included questions about EBFM practices, barriers to EBFM, and social science needs.  We used the Coorientation Model to compare Council member and stakeholder views, measuring Agreement (if two parties share the same ideas) and Accuracy (how well one group can predict views of the other group).  The survey findings suggest high Agreement and Accuracy regarding EBFM practices.  Agreement and Accuracy regarding barriers to EBFM and social science needs were moderate.  These survey results may be useful for identifying opportunities to improve mutual understanding and communication between MA and NE Council members and stakeholders about EBFM.