Our Blog: From the Waterfront

Innovation & Technology Just Might Help In Managing Red Snapper For All…If Cooler Heads Prevail

Innovation & Technology Just Might Help In Managing Red Snapper For All…If Cooler Heads Prevail

Red snapper photo courtesy of Charles Witek The state of Louisiana is embracing innovation and technology as a way to improve red snapper management. On Thursday May 25, Louisiana Department of Fish and Wildlife (LDFW) released a press statement detailing a pilot program for red snapper management in the recreational sector. This test program, in […]

A Snapper in Salmon’s Clothing: Why H.R. 2023 is Bad for West Coast Fisheries

A Snapper in Salmon’s Clothing: Why H.R. 2023 is Bad for West Coast Fisheries

By Noah Oppenheim, Bob Rees & Kevin Scribner On April 6th Congressman Garret Graves of Louisiana and three of his Congressional colleagues introduced H.R. 2023, the “Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2017.” To many of us on the West Coast, this bill clearly represents an end run around the federal fishery management processes. The […]

Working Waterfronts ‘Spring’ to Life

Working Waterfronts ‘Spring’ to Life

Photo: Harbor in Newport, Oregon. Photo via Wikipedia. After a long and harsh winter, coastal businesses and ports are finally getting their well-welcomed rush of visitors. I was one of those visitors this week, as I went down to talk to my colleagues about the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Despite being a weekday, much to my surprise, […]

On Being A Council Member

On Being A Council Member

Tough decisions that benefit the “public trust” come with the territory For the last 9 years I’ve served on the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council – one of eight regional federal fishery management councils – holding New York’s “Obligatory” seat. It is no easy gig. There is nothing more I’d rather NOT be doing than […]

‘Alternative Management’ of Fisheries: Can It Work?

‘Alternative Management’ of Fisheries: Can It Work?

On May 1, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) released a request for proposals “to evaluate the feasibility of developing a fishing mortality (F) based management approach to the recreational summer flounder fishery.” Currently, summer flounder are managed with a combination of bag limits, size limits and seasons intended to constrain recreational harvest to, or […]

Time For Some Positive Fishing News

Time For Some Positive Fishing News

How about some positive fishing news? Every day there’s a lot of discouraging fishing news with all of the regulations (necessary but often painful), state and federal fishing laws, fishing bills in Congress, climate change news and more. So here it is, the positive, good fishing news from Rhode Island. Most of this positive news […]

Strong Laws for a Sustainable Fishing Future

Strong Laws for a Sustainable Fishing Future

I remain a bit perplexed as to why our Pacific Coast groundfish remain so less controversial than those on the east coast. Having just come from another trip to Washington, DC, where both sport and commercial fishers were “working the hill” on Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization, it was good to see the common goal of preserving such […]