Micra: A Structure for Cooperative Fishery Resources Management in the Mississippi River Basin

With the exception of Federally Threatened and Endangered Species, fishery resources in the Mississippi River Basin and tributaries are under the management jurisdiction of the individual states. More than 90 rivers in the Mississippi River Basin are interjurisdictional; that is, they flow through or along the borders of more than one state. Neighboring states throughout the basin cooperatively manage interjursicitional fisheries resources in these rivers through both formal and informal partnerships. Most of these interstate partnerships manage interjurisdictional fisheries resources within a specific tributary system or sub-basin. Basinwide fisheries management is accomplished through the Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA), a formal partnership agreement among the 28 state fish and wildlife management agencies with fisheries management jurisdiction in the Mississippi River Basin. Federal agencies and tribal nations with management authorities in these interjurisdictional rivers have also joined and participate in the MICRA partnership. MICRA’s mission is to improve the conservation, development, management and utilization of interjurisdictional fishery resources in the Mississippi River Basin through coordination and communication among the responsible management entities. The individual basin states, sub-basin partnerships, and relevant federal agencies work together through the MICRA partnership for basinwide management of interjurisdictional fishery resources in the Mississippi River Basin.