The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, headquartered in Charleston, S.C., is responsible for the conservation and management of fish stocks within the federal 200-mile limit of the Atlantic off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and east Florida to Key West.
The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) is the South Atlantic Council’s primary technical advisory body. SSC’s are charged in the reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) with developing, evaluating, and peer reviewing all technical aspects of council documents. SSC are expected to provide a broad suite of technical recommendations related to all aspects of the Council’s management program, including addressing biological, social, economic, and environmental aspects. SSC’s also play a role in stock assessment development and review; in the Southeast region this responsibility is handled through the SEDAR process.