Our Blog: From the Waterfront

Celebrating Women in Fishing: Leigh Thomet

Celebrating Women in Fishing: Leigh Thomet

Winter crab fishing, Kodiak Continuing our celebration of National Women’s History Month, the Marine Fish Conservation Network has been highlighting the contributions of women to America’s fishing tradition. Several women are sharing their experiences in the commercial fishing industry with us. In this blog post, we hear from Leigh Thomet from Kodiak, Alaska. She fishes […]

Developing Enhanced Ways To Count Recreational Catch

Developing Enhanced Ways To Count Recreational Catch

Top photo: Francine Karp, CEO of Harbor Light Software, has been a pioneer in the development of electronic recording software for fisheries. One of the biggest challenges we face as a fishing community is how to accurately estimate recreational catch and effort. It drives everything… allowable catch limits, harvest limits, allocations between sectors and today, […]

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 […]

The Wave Foundation Logs Impressive Results in 2020

The Wave Foundation Logs Impressive Results in 2020

Like many organizations that focus on public policy, the COVID pandemic upended the Network’s best intentions for 2020. At the start of the year, we planned to continue working on upholding and strengthening the science and conservation-based mandates in federal fisheries policy. As the pandemic’s economic fallout became apparent, we shifted our attention to supporting […]

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 […]

AFFTA Report Offers Recommendations for the Health and Sustainability of America’s Marine Fisheries

AFFTA Report Offers Recommendations for the Health and Sustainability of America’s Marine Fisheries

Top photo by John McMurray As the Biden administration and Congress begin to tackle the challenges of fisheries management, especially the impacts of climate change, they will find recommendations and actions for federal fisheries management and marine conservation efforts in a new report released by the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA). The Network’s National […]

Executive Order on Climate Change Takes Inclusive Approach to 30×30 Initiative

Executive Order on Climate Change Takes Inclusive Approach to 30×30 Initiative

President Biden’s recent Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad is a welcome sea change when it comes to addressing this increasingly urgent global challenge. As President Biden’s fact sheet notes, his administration’s actions will address climate change while, “creating good-paying union jobs and equitable clean energy future, building modern and […]