Administration

• The National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), administers the "nation's living marine resources and their habitat," according to the NOAA website. This includes the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), an area that extends outward from American shores 200 miles.
  
  

Legislation

• The EEZs were established by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. This act established the United States' claim to "sovereign rights and exclusive fishery management authority over all fish...within the exclusive economic zone."
  
  

Conservation

• Sustainable practices and conservation are important parts of fishery policy. According to NOAA, the Fisheries Service works to "promote sustainable fisheries and to prevent lost economic potential associated with overfishing, declining species and degraded habitats." NOAA also works to recover protects marine species under the Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection Acts.