Our Blog: From the Waterfront

Ocean Moment with AFFTA Executive Director Lucas Bissett

Ocean Moment with AFFTA Executive Director Lucas Bissett

Recently, the Marine Fish Conservation Network welcomed two new members to the Network Policy Council, Captain Lucas Bissett and Bill Mott. Tom Sadler, the Network’s deputy director, caught up with them to learn more about their backgrounds, their work and why they joined the Council. This first interview is with Captain Lucas Bissett. Tom Sadler: […]

Genetic Database Offers New Hope for Shad & River Herring

Genetic Database Offers New Hope for Shad & River Herring

ASMFC & USGS Announce Research Partnership This article was originally published in The Wild Oceans Horizon newsletter and was reprinted with permission. View the latest issue and past issues of The Wild Oceans Horizon. Top image: shad, photo via the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The 2020 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) American shad […]

Should the ASMFC Rebuild Striped Bass?

Should the ASMFC Rebuild Striped Bass?

Top photo by John McMurray Over the past few years, it was pretty clear to anyone who regularly fishes for Atlantic striped bass that the stock was declining badly, even before the latest benchmark stock assessment, released in 2019, confirmed what most serious fishermen already suspected—that the stock was overfished and suffering from overfishing. What’s […]

Navigating Toward Healthier Oceans and More Productive Fisheries Requires a Climate Change Response in Management

Navigating Toward Healthier Oceans and More Productive Fisheries Requires a Climate Change Response in Management

By Linda Behnken and Kevin Scribner, MFCN Policy Council co-chairs For the two of us, climate change is top of mind. It impacts the way we do business, the way we think about the ocean resources we depend on, the way we see our communities surviving into the future. We’re going to have to adapt; […]

Bluefish: “Either We Have a Risk Policy Or We Don’t”

Bluefish: “Either We Have a Risk Policy Or We Don’t”

Bluefish photo by John McMurray On Tuesday, June 8, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Bluefish Management Board (Management Board) finalized their joint Atlantic Bluefish Allocation and Rebuilding Amendment (amendment). When the amendment process began in 2017, it only addressed allocation, but after a 2019 operational stock assessment […]

It’s National Ocean Month: Celebrate Our Opportunity for Catch and Conservation

It’s National Ocean Month: Celebrate Our Opportunity for Catch and Conservation

Photo: Bob Rees with a June 4th Newport, Oregon halibut, weighing in at nearly 53 pounds. My wife is an accomplished writer, and certainly wiser than I, so I take her words seriously when she says, “If you write it down, it can no longer own you.” I’m not so sure that’s true, when talking […]

Supporting Fisheries and Working Waterfronts with Infrastructure Improvements

Supporting Fisheries and Working Waterfronts with Infrastructure Improvements

As our country slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent economic shutdown, the Biden administration has chosen to focus its attention on our nation’s infrastructure, with good reason. Historically, large-scale infrastructure projects with their influx of manufacturing and construction jobs have successfully helped the U.S. rebound after economic recessions. Although the word “infrastructure” […]