The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is starting a Citizen Science program focused on supporting federal marine fisheries data collection to complement existing data collection programs to better manage fisheries in the South Atlantic U.S. The program aims to engage diverse fishery stakeholders (fishermen, scientists, and managers) in all aspects of project design, development, and implementation and to build trust and partnerships within the marine fisheries community. The program hopes to learn from the many other disciplines of citizen science how to build an effective program that can support meaningful projects and collaboration that will positively impact federal fisheries management and policy.