Solid Win for Striped Bass at the ASMFC

Solid Win for Striped Bass at the ASMFC

Top photo via Dave Monti On Wednesday, May 5, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board (Management Board) met to discuss the comments that it received on the issues presented in the Public Information Document For Amendment 7 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass (PID). The Management […]

Stakeholders Tell the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to Rebuild Striped Bass

Stakeholders Tell the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to Rebuild Striped Bass

Note: Public comments on the PID will be taken through 5:00 p.m. on April 9. See below for details. Throughout the month of March, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) held webinar/hearings, seeking stakeholder comments on future striped bass management measures. The comments were focused on issues raised in the Public Information Document For […]

Optimum Yield Analysis Missing from Most Regional Fishery Management Council Debates

Optimum Yield Analysis Missing from Most Regional Fishery Management Council Debates

Top photo by John McMurray The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) requires that “Conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while producing, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery for the United States fishing industry.” MSA also states, in part, that “The term ‘optimum,’ with respect to the yield from […]

Striped Bass Management Demonstrates Why Stakeholders Are “Losing Faith” in the ASMFC

Striped Bass Management Demonstrates Why Stakeholders Are “Losing Faith” in the ASMFC

Top photo by John McMurray Striped bass are one of the United States’ most important recreational fish. Between 2010 and 2019, anglers landed more striped bass (measured in pounds) than any other saltwater fish. The bass has paid for its popularity. A benchmark stock assessment released in April 2019 found that female spawning stock biomass […]

Can Magnuson-Stevens’ Stock Rebuilding Provisions Be Improved?

Can Magnuson-Stevens’ Stock Rebuilding Provisions Be Improved?

Photo: Gulf of Maine cod The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens) is probably the most comprehensive, and most successful, marine fishery conservation law in the world. Since the year 2000, it has been responsible for rebuilding 47 once-overfished stocks; other overfished stocks are well on their way to recovery. Much of that success […]

Mid-Atlantic Council Flirts With Overfishing

Mid-Atlantic Council Flirts With Overfishing

Bluefish photo by John McMurray The relationship between the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and overfishing goes back a long way. In 1999, the Council adopted a summer flounder quota that had just an 18 percent probability of preventing overfishing, an action that led to the landmark court decision in Natural Resources Defense Council v. […]

The 2020 Election: How Might Fisheries Be Affected?

The 2020 Election: How Might Fisheries Be Affected?

As this is being written, nearly a month after the 2020 election, the outcome of the election is not yet fully clear. The Democrats have retained the House of Representatives. Although a few races remain in doubt, it’s clear that their majority in the 117th Congress will be significantly smaller than it was in the […]

Gulf Red Snapper Management In The Spotlight Again

Gulf Red Snapper Management In The Spotlight Again

Of all the fisheries issues that have arisen over the past decade, the fight over recreational red snapper management in the Gulf of Mexico is among the most acrimonious, and one of the most difficult to resolve. It started out simply. As fisheries managers began to successfully rebuild the red snapper stock, red snapper anglers […]