Dr. Nicole Angeli, director of the Division of Fish & Wildlife, gave senators a territorywide status report on fisheries and wildlife conservation. She said commercial landings for 2024 totaled roughly 562,000 pounds across the territory, with spiny lobster the top landed species. Angeli said island‑specific differences in species composition reflect bathymetry and gear types: Saint Croix landings depend more on dive methods while Saint Thomas and Saint John have higher trap and commercial trap landings.

Angeli outlined steps to strengthen data collection for both commercial and recreational sectors. A new recreational license platform, GoOutdoorsUSVI, launched in August 2025 to register anglers and improve effort tracking; enhanced port sampling and NOAA cooperative data entry support regional stock assessments. She said the Division uses size limits, season closures and gear restrictions to manage lobster and other stocks and that accountability measures would be triggered only if ACLs were exceeded.

Invasive species and habitat deterioration are high priorities. Angeli said the territory collected about 558 snakes under an earlier bounty program but the bounty is suspended pending sustainable funding. Red‑tailed boas are established on St. Croix and are believed to number in the tens of thousands; lionfish remain a deep‑water, long‑term management challenge requiring recurring derbies and nonprofit partnerships. Angeli and council representatives urged funding for early detection/rapid‑response and sustained eradication capacity rather than one‑off payouts.

Senators raised concerns about lobster declines and foreign fleet pressures on regional stocks; council delegates said island‑based management plans are being coordinated through the Caribbean Fisheries Management Council and that implementation depends on federal concurrence and funding. Angeli and CFMC representatives emphasized collaborative, science‑plus‑fishers approaches and noted planned workshops on mariculture and enforcement at upcoming council meetings.

What happens next: DPNR will continue port sampling and integration with NOAA databases, pursue grant funding for labs, early‑detection programs and community outreach, and work with the CFMC on island‑based fishery management plans that balance conservation objectives and socioeconomic realities.