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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Photo: Gulf of Maine cod The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens) is probably the most comprehensive, and most successful, marine fishery conservation law in the world. Since the year 2000, it has been responsible for rebuilding 47 once-overfished stocks; other overfished stocks are well on their way to recovery. Much of that success […]
Recently, the Marine Fish Conservation Network joined Bristol Bay tribes, local residents, businesses and conservation organizations in supporting the Call to Protect Bristol Bay. We believe it is past the time to permanently protect this national treasure. The Network has consistently supported protections for the Bristol Bay watershed, and the Call to Protect Bristol Bay […]
Bluefish photo by John McMurray The relationship between the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and overfishing goes back a long way. In 1999, the Council adopted a summer flounder quota that had just an 18 percent probability of preventing overfishing, an action that led to the landmark court decision in Natural Resources Defense Council v. […]
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