Cownose Rays, photo courtesy of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation For too many years, biologists tried to manage fish in a vacuum. They focused on the impacts that harvest had on each species; they paid little heed to how the same harvest affected the greater marine ecosystem. That is slowly beginning to change. The Pacific Fishery […]
Actually, I think the Oregon State Legislature knows exactly what it is doing, but yes, fish are literally out of water. Senate Bill 1584 just passed out of committee on Thursday, giving certain Oregon cities the right to draw water from rivers, such as the Kilchis, for municipal needs. Sure, people need water, and relatively […]
Undercover Sting Shows Us Why We Need Better Monitoring of the Fleet Generally, I try my best to avoid writing about New England. Mostly because it’s a train wreck. It’s really the perfect example of what happens when for decades you avoid imposing hard quotas on managed fisheries. Gulf of Maine Cod, the iconic New […]
In the Gulf of Mexico, a small cadre of recreational fishing interests spearheaded by the American Sportfishing Association, the Coastal Conservation Association and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation are continuing their misguided assault against our nation’s public waters and marine fish resources. Suffer no illusions, the ASA, the CCA, and the CSF want to shift federal […]
Let it be known that February 18th, 2016 marked the first day in history that a broad-based group of stakeholders from around the Columbia Basin came together to start a conversation on how to recover the 13 listed species of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River and its tributaries. A landmark day indeed. I […]
People don’t like to be told what to do. Fishermen are no exception. Ask any fisheries managers who ever imposed an annual catch limit to regulate landings. Fishermen’s aversion to annual catch limits has always been particularly acute in the northeastern United States. The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) refused to impose hard poundage […]
The reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation & Management Act that will dictate management of our nation’s fisheries for years to come is currently working its way through Congress. Much of the debate has focused on the effort to add more “flexibility” to rebuilding timelines (although some flexibility already exists in the act). Unfortunately, a […]
Federal Fisheries Policy Needs Face-to-Face Discussion I recently had the pleasure of presenting to our Eugene Chapter of The Association of Northwest Steelheaders, highlighting the different campaigns we’re engaged in at headquarters. It’s always great getting out to these chapter meetings to hear what our members have to say about the work we’re doing on […]
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