Top Photo: Atlantic Menhaden Localized depletion has, over the past few years, become a hot topic in forage fish management. It’s based on the notion that, even though the overall stock of fish is healthy, intense fishing pressure in a particular region could significantly reduce abundance in that location, and have adverse impacts on the […]
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens) has governed federal fishery management since 1976, but for its first 20 years, it was largely ineffective, encouraging the growth of a large, overcapitalized domestic fishing fleet while doing little or nothing to prevent the decline of once-abundant fish stocks. Recognizing Magnuson-Stevens’ shortcomings, Congress eventually passed the […]
Photo by Kyle Schaefer On the afternoon of Wednesday, January 26, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board (Management Board) reviewed and amended its Draft Amendment 7 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass (Draft Amendment), and approved such Draft Amendment for public comment. In 2003, when Amendment […]
Of all the fisheries on the East Coast, the mid-Atlantic black sea bass stock may present the most challenging management issues. The fish aren’t in immediate peril; the most recent stock assessment update indicated that spawning stock biomass was more than twice the target level. Overfishing is not taking place, and young fish continue to […]
Photo by John McMurray Fishermen concerned about the future of Atlantic striped bass now have more reason to worry: On October 15, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources released the results of its 2021 juvenile abundance survey, which reported a poor striped bass spawn for the third year in a row. The juvenile abundance index […]
Since March 2019, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council), in conjunction with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), has been working on what they call the “Recreational Reform Initiative,” (Initiative) a project that could completely change the way recreational fisheries are managed in the mid-Atlantic region. The Council describes the Initiative this way: The […]
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 […]
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 […]
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