Last year was busy and productive on the policy front. With a keen need for increased capacity, we began the year by hiring our first AFS Policy Fellow (Patrick Shirey) to work with the Resource Policy Committee, hosted two AFS Policy Interns for the summer, and finished the year by hiring Taylor Pool as a full-time staff member in Bethesda. With our policy reinforcements we assisted Past-President Bob Hughes and RPC Chair Leanne Roulson in revising the AFS policy on surface mining, focused next on updating and combining three policy statements related to protected species, organized three congressional briefings on marine fisheries for NOAA Fisheries, signed a new cooperative agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to support their programs, continued to work with select partners with like-minded intentions, and joined those friends to send letters to Congress on a range of fisheries issues. We also continued discussions with several agencies and private groups with hopes to expand our partnerships in 2016. Our productive year shifted smoothly into 2016, promising continued progress as we strengthen our Society’s role in fisheries policy. Learn more about AFS policy initiatives as http://fisheries.org/policy-media/.