Summary of conformance of U.S. federal marine fisheries management to the FAO Fisheries Guidelines [16] based on NOAA Fisheries self-assessment [20].

“Topics of Pertinence” are extracted from the FAO Fisheries Guidelines and benchmark indicators of FAO’s Evaluation Framework [19]. Conformance of each “Topic of Pertinence” is described with ● indicating conformance verified by internal evidence, ●● by outcome evidence, and ●●● by independent evidence. Solid symbols (●) indicate strong evidence in all regions and for all fisheries under the management system’s jurisdiction, and semi-solid symbols (◒) indicate conformance with variable evidence among regions or fisheries (i.e., strong evidence in some but not in others). INT = internal evidence; OUT = outcome evidence; IND = independent evidence.