Capabilities

MRAG Americas, Inc. is an independent consulting business dedicated to promoting responsible, rational and sustainable utilization of aquatic resources, with offices in Florida, Massachusetts, Alaska, and California. Our staff consists of a unique and highly motivated group of scientists and specialists with expertise in fisheries and aquatic resource science, management, and monitoring; fisheries observer programs; ecosystem and protected area management; government liaison and relations; and international conservation and management agreements.

MRAG Americas is a sister company to the Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG Ltd), a leading international company with a long and highly productive track record of designing and implementing integrated resource management systems in marine, estuarine, riverine, and floodplain environments. Founded in 1986, MRAG has a core staff of more than 40 full time specialists located in offices in the US, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. Our overall capability to service an extensive array of resource management needs is further extended through our network of associations and collaborations with internationally acclaimed experts from academic institutions and other private organizations worldwide. These skills have been utilized in more than 60 countries worldwide. MRAG Americas and MRAG welcomed MRAG Asia Pacific, established in 2008, to the Global MRAG group.

As a company with a core and multidiscipline staff we are capable of undertaking diverse studies and projects to support the development of aquatic resource management. Examples of this work include:

  • Policy and Strategic Planning
  • Development of Resource Management Programs
  • Development of Educational Materials
  • Economic, Social and Biological Analyses
  • Environmental Assessment
  • Data and Information Management
  • Institutional Development
  • Technical Training

The large variety of work undertaken by MRAG Americas’ staff and colleagues has ultimately focused on improving our ability to manage resources and fisheries consistent with the productivity of the aquatic ecosystems that support them. Much of this work has a strong analytical basis and MRAG often uses novel approaches to tackle issues that our clients are trying to resolve in order to underpin the recommendations that are developed.

This analytical work has supported stock assessment reviews for the Northeast groundfish fisheries, management reviews for the red snapper fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and for the assessment of fisheries impacts on Steller sea lion populations. These analyses have also considered the impacts that fisheries management will have on the social and economic characteristics of fisheries (as demonstrated for a suite of projects focusing on the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fisheries) and developed management tools and approaches such as the assessment of spawning potential ratios as management reference points, management options for target sedentary species in the Southwest Pacific and programs to reduce discard mortality (Alaska), fishing effort (US Caribbean) and fishing capacity (Monterey Bay).

MRAG’s current and previous project experience includes the design and management of several international observer programs, the completion of more than fifteen major international scientific surveys of fish and squid stocks through complex data analysis and modeling and resource management policy advice at the highest level of government. MRAG’s capability to service an extensive array of resource science and management needs is further extended through our network of associations and collaborations with internationally acclaimed experts, academic institutions, and other private organizations worldwide.