Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has released the 2025 issue of Habitat Hotline Atlantic - now available in a new digitally interactive flipbook format.

View the flipbook: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/99ee5642fb.html

Prefer PDF? Access it here: https://asmfc.org/news/newsletters/habitat-hotline-atlantic/2025-annual-issue/

This year’s issue focuses on habitat restoration updates from East Coast states. From Maine to Florida, agencies and partners share restoration successes and ongoing conservation efforts. The issue also includes updates from us (ACFHP), highlighting restoration projects, science tools, and collaborations advancing fish habitat conservation across the region, along with leadership updates from the steering committee.

📢 New ACFHP StoryMap is Live! 📢

We are excited to announce the release of a new interactive ArcGIS StoryMap: “Making the Connection: From Headwaters to Coral Reefs.”

Explore how rivers, estuaries, wetlands, and coastal habitats across the Atlantic coast, from Maine to the Florida Keys, are deeply connected, and how partnerships, science, and on-the-ground restoration are helping protect fish, communities, and coastal economies.

Dive into maps, photos, project highlights, and conservation tools spanning ACFHP’s four subregions: North Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and South Florida.

🎉 This launch also kicks off momentum toward celebrating 20 years of the National Fish Habitat Partnership in 2026.

👉 Check out the StoryMap and see how we’re making the connection coastwide.

Making the Connection: From Headwaters to Coral Reefs The Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership (ACFHP) works coastwide to conserve the fish habitats that connect ecosystems and communities.

The ACFHP Steering Committee had a wonderful meeting in Dewey Beach, Delaware last week!

Our partners at the Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) provided a tour of their new Seagrass (SAV) Restoration Shed Facility located in the nearby town of Lewes, DE - where seeds are collected from local waterways, processed in a "turbulator" (pictured here) and used in experiments to understand more about how the plants grow and the best approaches to tackling seagrass restoration.

Learn more here: https://dnrec.delaware.gov/watershed-stewardship/assessment/sav/

🦪🐟 Exciting News! 🐟🦪

In collaboration with ACFHP, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has received funding through the NOAA Fisheries Service "Increasing Recreational Fisheries Engagement through the Fish Habitat Partnerships" program!

Partnering with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), this project builds on previous ACFHP-supported oyster restoration work in the South River to study how restored oyster reefs enhance fish and forage habitat compared to non-restored sites.

Through scientific monitoring, angler-led citizen science, workshops, and community events, the team is helping showcase the powerful link between oyster reef restoration, healthy fisheries, and thriving coastal communities.

We are so excited to see one of our supported projects, in collaboration with the National Fish Habitat Partnership and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, yield such promising results!

The USS North Carolina Battleship, a National Historic Landmark on the Cape Fear River, has completed a major restoration project to combat tidal flooding and erosion.

The project restored hundreds of feet of intertidal shoreline and established multiple acres of tidal wetland, improving water quality, increasing vital nursery and juvenile fish habitat, and supporting migratory species like Atlantic & shortnose sturgeon.

Read more about how this living shoreline is protecting history while enhancing coastal ecosystems in the recently published article from our partner's at North Carolina Coastal Federation: https://coastalreview.org/2025/08/efforts-to-curb-flooding-at-battleship-memorial-yield-results/

Efforts to curb flooding at battleship memorial yield results | Coastal Review Land around the Battleship North Carolina and its parking area is recreating itself, luring birds, diminishing flood frequency, and providing what the museum's leaders hope to become a living lab.

Great opportunity for some family friendly fun in the sun this weekend! 🌞🌞🌞

Do you ever wonder what lurks beneath the surface of the Hudson River? Join naturalists on Saturday, August 2, for the 14th Annual Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count to find out! The count takes place at 8 sites along the banks and piers of the Hudson from New York City to the Capital Region.

During this family-friendly, free event, participants are invited to explore the amazing variety of slippery, wriggly, and fascinating creatures usually hidden below the river’s surface. You can watch from shore or jump into available waterproof waders and help pull in the net. The fish are released after everyone has a chance to see them up close.

The Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count is sponsored by DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program and the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve. For more information, visit https://hrnerr.org/great-fish-count-2025/.

Funding Alert: Multistate Conservation Grants (MSCG) Now Open!

This opportunity will support fish & wildlife restoration, sportfish conservation, and R3 (Recruitment, Retention & Reactivation) efforts at a regional or national scale.

🐟T-MSCG: Up to $625K per award | Total available: $6M
🐟R3-MSCG: Up to $1M per award | Total available: $5M
🐟Open to state agencies, universities, nonprofits, and more

Projects must benefit a majority of the States in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service region or a majority of states belonging to a regional Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (i.e., WAFWA,
MAFWA, NEAFWA, SEAFWA)

Eligible projects include research, habitat improvement, education, and community engagement focused on wild birds, mammals, or sportfish.

📍 A great fit for initiatives along the Atlantic coast and beyond!
📑 Learn more and apply: https://afwamscgp.smapply.io/

MultiState Conservation Grant Program The Multistate Conservation Grant Program (MSCGP) funds projects that address regional or national level priorities of state fish and wildlife agencies. It was established in 2000 by the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Programs Improvement Act, which amended the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restor...

ACFHP is seeking nominations for the 2025 Melissa Laser Fish Habitat Conservation Award, recognizing individuals who have furthered the conservation, protection, restoration, and enhancement of habitat for native Atlantic coastal, estuarine-dependent, and diadromous fishes in a unique or extraordinary manner!

The award was established in memory of Dr. Melissa Laser who passed away unexpectedly on April 27, 2010. Melissa was a biologist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources where she worked tirelessly to protect, improve, and restore aquatic ecosystems in Maine and along the entire Atlantic coast.

Nominations should be submitted by August 1, 2025.

Find out more in the press release below:

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Nominations-for-the-2025-Melissa-Laser-Fish-Habitat-Conservation-Award-Now-Open-.html?soid=1102200709156&aid=f3aLReHCgSY

ACFHP is excited to announce the release of its 2025–2026 Conservation Action Plan, a focused roadmap outlining our fish habitat conservation priorities for the next two years.

This plan builds on the foundation of ACFHP’s 2022–2026 Strategic Plan and highlights specific actions we’ll take to support habitat conservation and restoration from Maine to Florida. Key focus areas include:

🐟 Funding impactful on-the-ground restoration projects

🐟 Advancing submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) science and policy

🐟 Improving access to conservation funding for under-resourced communities

🐟 Strengthening partner engagement and outreach

🐟 Elevating the use of data tools to inform project selection

The plan outlines strategies that will guide our science, communication, and partnership efforts to support healthy fish habitats along the Atlantic coast.

Read the full Action Plan here:https://www.atlanticfishhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ACFHP_Action_Plan_2025-2026-1.pdf

What a cool opportunity to learn about Atlantic sturgeon! This is one of the largest and longest-lived anadromous fish in North America. This ancient species is born in freshwater but spends most of its life at sea. Sadly, overfishing and bycatch have caused populations to crash, and they’re now listed as endangered. 🐟 Learn more and get involved through NYS Department of Environmental Conservation upcoming event!

Join NYSDEC estuary educator Chris Bowser for a Live sturgeon adventure this Friday (June 6) around noon. Bowser is joining the Hudson River Fisheries Unit in their annual sturgeon tagging research. With luck, we will be able to look at one of the Hudson's largest and oldest fish species. Exact times will depend on tides and weather.

🐟EXCITING NEWS!! MORE THAN $23.4 MILLION ANNOUNCED FOR FISH HABITAT CONSERVATION IN 2025🐟

Through the National Fish Habitat Partnership, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Partners are providing more than $23.4 million to support 53 on-the-ground fish habitat conservation projects in 29 states.

In 2025, project types include removing barriers to fish passage, reducing erosion from farm and ranchlands, restoring stream banks, combating the impacts of drought, and conducting monitoring and assessment work to identify conservation needs for fish and their habitats.

Check out the full list of funded projects in the press release here: https://fishhabitat.org/news/u.s-fish-and-wildlife-service-and-partners-announce-more-than-23.4-million-for-fish-habitat-conservation-in-2025