The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) will hold its annual meeting in Dewey Beach, Delaware. Aside from history buffs who know the town was named after George Dewey, the only person in U.S. history to hold the title Admiral of the Navy, why should any of us care? And what exactly is the ASMFC?

Fisheries management along the coast is complicated. Many marine and estuarine fish travel through multiple jurisdictions—up rivers, through sounds, and along the coastline from Maine to Florida.

In North Carolina, fisheries decisions involve two state agencies, a federal commission, two federal councils, and several advisory committees. To help make sense of who manages which species and where, our foundation has created an interactive map that clearly illustrates the management structure.

If you’re not familiar with the ASMFC, explore the map to learn how this federal entity manages more than 20 fish species found in our state’s coastal waters, from the shoreline out to three miles offshore. At next week’s meeting, representatives from every state on the Atlantic coast will discuss management plans that matter to us here at home, including those for red drum, striped bass, black drum, croaker, and speckled trout.