By Linda Behnken & Andy Mezirow This post appeared in Pacific Fishing in December, 2017 and is reprinted with permission We met more than 20 years ago, each of us fighting like hell for our sector of Alaska’s halibut fishery: Andy, a fierce advocate for the guided sport sector, and Linda, a relentless voice for […]
Our Blog: From the Waterfront
‘Modern Fish Act’… Not Okay
Top photo: Bluefish are managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Supporters of the Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act try and unify anglers around the bill… But it sure as hell ain’t good for most of “us” Let me start this off by saying things seem pretty dark lately. They always do for me during this time […]
What Saltwater Anglers Have To Lose
About twenty minutes from my house, there’s a spring creek that’s very popular with the flyfishing crowd. It flows through a state park, and is loaded with trout. In the river’s heyday, the park’s phone lines were flooded by calls from anglers trying to reserve fishing time. February and March were catch-and-release months. I remember […]
What to Expect with Striped Bass
Photo: a striped bass caught Block Island by Steve Brustein of Maine on No Fluke Charters. Photo via Dave Monti Striped bass are the most iconic fish on the East Coast. Countless books have been written about them. Small coastal communities from Maine to North Carolina have depended on striped bass for centuries. We’ve loved […]
Federal Fisheries Laws Suffering Death of One Thousand Cuts
Over the past two decades, federal fisheries managers have met with real success. Since 2000, the number of fish stocks subject to overfishing has fallen from 72 to 30. During the same period, the number of overfished stocks has declined from 92 to 38, with 41 of them now fully rebuilt. The key to that […]
The General Public’s View of Fisheries
After guiding for about 60 days straight, I decided it was time for a vacation. After all, I hardly had any time with my daughter all summer, and my wife was headed to Chicago for her I-won’t-say-how-many-year class reunion. I can entertain my 8-year old on the water, but one-on-one stuck in Oregon City, I […]
Leaders Come in all Shapes & Sizes
Some days it seems like everything is bad. We are inundated with negative information that serves more to polarize positions than anything else. Fisheries management is no different, and there is no shortage of bad news. It’s the good news that doesn’t get told. Groups are working together every single day to make things better […]
This is What I’m Thankful For
Top photo: Menhaden off Montauk. Credit Captain John McMurray Editor’s note: Captain John McMurray’s piece first appeared on FISSUES.org. We are sharing it today because we believe it reflects what many of us are also thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving. 2017 was a good year, but in the end, it can all go away pretty easily […]