This handbook is a guide to the federal Endangered Species Act, the primary U.S. law aimed at protecting species of animals and plants from human threats to their survival. It is intended for lawyers, government agency employees, students, community activists, businesspeople, and any citizen who wants to understand the Act--its history, provisions, accomplishments, and failures.

This book reviews the performance and effectiveness of the Community Development Quotas (CDQ) programs that were formed as a result of the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996. The CDQ program is a method of allocating access to fisheries to eligible communities with the intent of promoting local social and economic conditions through participation in fishing-related activities. The book looks at those Alaskan fisheries that have experience with CDQs, such as halibut, pollock, sablefish, and crab, and comments on the extent to which the programs have met their objectives--helping communities develop ongoing commercial fishing and processing activities, creating employment opportunities, and providing capital for investment in fishing, processing, and support projects such as infrastructure. It also considers how CDQ-type programs might apply in the Western Pacific.

America's commercial fisheries are in jeopardy. With a significant percentage of the nation's fisheries depleted and fish populations declining in many regions, the health of the broader marine environment is also threatened. What should be done to reverse the decline and restore fish populations is a matter of much debate. However, most experts agree that our fisheries are not being managed in ways that will ensure the steady employment of fishermen and that will provide a dependable future supply of seafood to consumers.There are those who believe that privatizing our fisheries is the best means to address the present crisis. The potential that privatization has to resolve a number of the problems currently plaguing our fisheries is undeniably attractive. However, as pointed out by prominent economists Seth Macinko and Daniel W. Bromley in Who Owns America's Fisheries?, unless certain key provisions are incorporated into IFQ programs, the health and stability of our fisheries are not only unlikely to improve, the deterioration of them may actually be accelerated.