Unlike some fish stocks making headlines these days, the Atlantic swordfish is a great success story in rebuilding. Yet the U.S. fleet that fishes for swordfish faces the unique problem of not being able, due to a variety of reasons, to catch its U.S. quota. It is catching only half the base quota.

We're looking for a way to help the swordfishing fleet while continuing to sustain a healthy fish stock and marine ecosystem. The best solutions come from lots of different sources — fishermen, managers, scientists and the general public — who want healthy marine ecosystems, fresh locally caught seafood and prosperous fishing communities.

Back in the 1970s and into the 1980s, a growing fleet of U.S. longline fishermen were catching increasing numbers of Atlantic swordfish. As the fleet grew, so too did foreign swordfishing around the Atlantic. Recreational anglers also fish for swordfish, a favorite of both white tablecloth restaurants and family barbecues.

Unsustainable fishing took a toll and the stock plummeted in size in the late 1980s and 1990s. This led the U.S. to work with other fishing nations to bring back the mighty swordfish with a number of measures, including closing areas where young swordfish are abundant and lowering quotas. U.S. fishermen, many who worked out of New England ports, teamed up with NOAA to develop and test new gear and methods that would dramatically lower the deadly catch of sea turtles in swordfish longlines and help better protect the marine ecosystem.

These efforts continue today. They include training programs for U.S fishermen on how to use circle hooks, which do not damage turtles like J-shaped hooks, and how to release turtles that are accidentally caught on the line. Swordfishermen also use different types of bait to help prevent catching turtles.

By 2002, our scientists began to see swordfish stocks were rebounding. Today, while we wait for the next scientific stock assessment, we believe it will show a rebuilt stock and a great success story.

But there are still some significant challenges. As U.S. fishermen have become leaders in sustainably fishing for swordfish, many foreign fishermen have not adopted the same fishing gear and techniques and do not work to reduce the amount of turtles or other species accidentally killed in their fishing operations. Some foreign fleets also receive subsidies from their government and have lower labor costs than U.S. fleets. They spend less catching more swordfish without protecting the marine ecosystem and then are able to undersell the swordfish caught by our fishermen in the marketplace.

Our conservation standards and the economics of swordfishing for the U.S. fleet have contributed to a reduction in the size of the U.S. fleet from 400 vessels in the 1980s to roughly 100 today.

Those in the swordfishing fleet, including Gail Johnson of Harpswell, Maine and Jim Budi who co-owns a swordfish vessel that lands fish in Fairhaven, Mass., have told NOAA that we need to get those who export to the U.S. to follow the same conservation rules that our fishermen have pioneered.

We know there's a market for swordfish in the U.S. because we import about 20 million pounds a year, valued at close to $77 million last year. U.S. fishermen landed 3.5 million pounds of our 6.5 million pound quota last year. We should be supplying a greater share of the market. Consumers can help by looking for, asking for and buying U.S. caught swordfish at their local store or fish counter.

NOAA wants to find more ways to help our fleet catch more of the U.S. quota. This summer, we are holding a series of public meetings to listen to suggestions from fishermen and the general public about how to better manage swordfish as well as bluefin tuna, another valuable species managed internationally. I plan to write about bluefin tuna in an upcoming column.

To learn more about the public meetings which will be held from June 23 to July 28, from Massachusetts to Louisiana, go to our Web site at www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms.

The public meeting in Massachusetts is June 29 at the Radisson Hotel in Plymouth from 5 to 9 p.m. I welcome your comments on swordfish or other issues. Please send them to me at public.concerns.groundfish@noaa.gov.

Jim Balsiger is acting assistant administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service, based in Silver Spring, Md.