Fishing Communities
The Economic and Social Sciences Research Program conducts research on Alaska communities in order to examine the social and economic impacts of federal fishery policies and regulations.
The Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) defines a fishing community as a community which is substantially dependent on or substantially engaged in the harvest or processing of fishery resources to meet social and economic needs, and includes fishing vessel owners, operators, and crew and United States fish processors that are based in such community. As mandated under MSA National Standard 8, these policies and regulations shall take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities in order to (1): Provide for the sustained participation of such communities; and (2) To the extent practicable, minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities.
Executive Order 12898 additionally mandates that each federal agency, to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, shall make achieving environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and addressing the disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of their actions on minority and low-income populations.