What’s Really Going On With Striped Bass?

What’s Really Going On With Striped Bass?

Let’s Get a Few Things Straight Full disclosure before I write one word… While there’s been a LOT going on with striped bass the last couple of years, I haven’t really been involved. I no longer have a seat at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission table, and I’m no longer associated with any particular […]

FISH Act Helps Ready the U.S. Seafood Industry for the Future

FISH Act Helps Ready the U.S. Seafood Industry for the Future

Rep. Mary Peltola’s reputation as an advocate for fishing and Native Alaskan fishing communities was never more evident than with the introduction of her Fisheries Improvement and Seafood Health (FISH) Act in June 2024. At a time when more and more legislation is introduced to do nothing more than “send a message” about the sponsor’s […]

Marine Sanctuary Proposed for Hawai’i’s Globally Significant Marine Monument

Marine Sanctuary Proposed for Hawai’i’s Globally Significant Marine Monument

One of the things I talked with Joel R. Johnson, president and CEO of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, during our recent Waterside Chat was the potential for a national marine sanctuary in the marine portions of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. On February 29, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released for public comment draft […]

From High Seas to Hill Pleas

From High Seas to Hill Pleas

I recently got back from Washington, DC. I’ve gone there on many occasions, lobbying for change such as the Salmon Solutions Planning Act, addressing the depletion of Snake River salmon and how to remedy it, shoring up the Endangered Species Act so we have a critical regulatory backstop to prevent the extinction of species such […]

Pacific Council Decisions to Include Climate Science

Pacific Council Decisions to Include Climate Science

This piece is reprinted with permission from the latest edition of the Wild Oceans Horizon newsletter. Last year, the Pacific Fishery Management Council recognized that increasing climate variability and changing ocean conditions could adversely affect West Coast fisheries and communities and began Fishery Ecosystem Plan Initiative 4 to incorporate ecosystem information into council decision-making. A […]

Watch: Jean Flemma Talks about Climate Change and Our Oceans

Watch: Jean Flemma Talks about Climate Change and Our Oceans

Jean Flemma, co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab and director of the Ocean Defense Initiative, joined the Network for an online Waterside Chat on July 19, 2023. Jean is a long-time policy hand and, as host Tom Sadler described her, “important and very wise counsel on ocean policy”. Their conversation covered a range of issues […]

Whistling Past the Graveyard

Whistling Past the Graveyard

Fisheries don’t collapse all at once. Instead, they telegraph their distress with signals that may be subtle at the start, but grow more insistent as stocks decline. Often, at least in the case of migratory stocks, the first sign of trouble might be a contraction of the fish’s range. On the East Coast of the […]

Watch: Waterside Chat with Brad Warren of Global Ocean Health

Watch: Waterside Chat with Brad Warren of Global Ocean Health

Brad Warren, president of Global Ocean Health, joined host Tom Sadler of the Marine Fish Conservation Network on May 31, 2023 for an online Waterside Chat. Global Ocean Health is based around the idea that when the “health of the ocean itself is threatened, the strongest champions are people who depend on it for a […]