LAW · MARINE POLICY · SCIENCE · MANAGEMENT
Better decisions
Sustainable fisheries
Healthier oceans
Fathom helps agencies, foundations, NGOs and fishing communities turn complex marine challenges into practical action.
Explore our work
SELECTED CLIENTS, FUNDERS & PARTNERS
OUR EXPERTISE
Science and policy,
put to work.
Sound fisheries management takes more than good science. It takes an understanding of the law, meaningful engagement and the capacity to see complex projects through.
Policy & legal analysis
Clarifying legal considerations and developing practical pathways for marine policy and management reform.
Project management
Managing complex initiatives, coordinating technical teams and keeping partners focused on shared objectives.
Fisheries data & technology
Supporting electronic monitoring, reporting and the modernization of fisheries information systems.
Engagement & funding
Connecting agencies, fishing communities, NGOs and funders to advance well-informed, achievable solutions.
SELECTED WORK
Moving fisheries
management forward.
Select projects connecting marine science, policy and practical implementation.
Modernizing fisheries
data collection
Management and oversight of electronic monitoring and reporting pilots in California’s Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel, market squid, Dungeness crab and set gillnet fleets. The initiative also supports modernization of the California Recreational Fisheries Survey, replacing paper forms with electronic data entry.
Climate-ready
fisheries management
Management and oversight of initiatives strengthening stock assessments, management strategy evaluation and stakeholder engagement for barred sand bass, white seabass and California halibut. Work includes quantitative decision support, peer review and fisheries management planning.
California fisheries portfolio
Helping manage and guide Resources Legacy Fund’s California fisheries portfolio, identifying and overseeing projects that advance the sustainability goals of the Marine Life Management Act. Support includes grant and renewal development, budgeting, reporting and building partnerships across California and beyond.
Supporting fishing communities
Fathom oversaw comprehensive profiles of California’s fishing ports and development of an interactive website exploring their histories, fisheries and challenges. The site makes fisheries information accessible, tells the stories behind the data and highlights current issues facing each community.
Visit Fishing CommunitiesConnecting the
EM4.fish community
Management of EM4.fish, a platform connecting practitioners and stakeholders in fisheries electronic monitoring and reporting. The site shares lessons, innovations and perspectives, while highlighting the potential for electronic monitoring to protect human rights at sea.
Visit EM4.fishData Modernization Working Group
Analysis and outreach supporting a group of NGOs advancing federal fisheries data modernization. Working with industry partners, the Data Modernization Working Group advocates for more effective and efficient data collection through technology, enabling policies and regulations, and better funding.
Vessel tracking in California
For The Nature Conservancy, Fathom analyzed legal, practical and technical considerations for vessel tracking in California fisheries, including Dungeness crab. The report brings together case studies, available technologies and fishery-specific needs, applying lessons from elsewhere to California’s regulatory context to inform effective, legally defensible programs.
Read the reportA guide to the MLMA
Co-authoring the second edition of the guide to California’s Marine Life Management Act. The guide makes the law more accessible by explaining the framework that shapes the state’s fisheries management.
Read the guideCalifornia's Master Plan For Fisheries
Drafting California’s Master Plan for Fisheries to support implementation of the Marine Life Management Act and strengthen the state’s fisheries management framework.
Visit the Master Plan websiteCrab and lobster trap limits
Fathom worked with crab and lobster fishermen to advance trap limits, supporting SB 369 (Evans) through the legislature for crab and securing $1 million from the Ocean Protection Council for a spiny lobster fishery management plan. Both fisheries now have trap limits supporting sustainability and profitability.
West Coast groundfish closed areas
Supporting changes to West Coast groundfish closed areas after the transition to catch shares. Observer coverage and strict limits on overfished species created more targeted ways to reduce fishing mortality. Fathom assisted analysis, dialogue and the management process to reopen historical fishing grounds while maintaining protections for sensitive habitats.
Low-impact trawl gear
Bringing together NGOs, trawlers and scientists to design and test gear that reduces seafloor impacts, bycatch and fuel consumption. The project produced peer-reviewed science and a NOAA Saltonstall-Kennedy-funded workshop connecting fishermen, gear manufacturers, NGOs and managers to share lessons on trawl gear modification.
See project video
ABOUT FATHOM · HUFF MCGONIGAL
Experience across
science, law and policy.
Huff McGonigal founded Fathom Consulting in 2006 to help advance practical solutions for marine and fisheries management.
Previously, as a Senior Project Manager at Environmental Defense Fund, he worked on fisheries policy change and improvement projects that aligned fishing and conservation interests. As Marine Policy Coordinator for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, he addressed fisheries, water quality, desalination and coastal development.
His earlier work includes evaluating marine reserve effectiveness with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and working as a commercial diver. That experience informs an approach grounded in science, an understanding of the law and the realities of working on the water.
Huff is a member of the California State Bar Association and holds a law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School, with undergraduate studies at UC Santa Barbara and the University of Otago in New Zealand.
Connect with HuffLET’S TALK