This article was first published on August 10, 2026 on Conservation Law Foundation’s blog. It is reprinted with permission. Top photo: The fishing industry is key to New England’s culture and history, via EcoPhotography. Five Ways CLF Has Fought to Protect Fish and Fisheries Decades of advocacy have made a difference in New England Fish […]
On July 24, 2026, the recreational fishing tackle industry’s largest trade organization, the American Sportfishing Association (ASA), issued a press release which declared that “Sportfishing Groups Support Rep. Austin Scott’s South Atlantic Red Snapper Fair Access Act.” The press release went on to note, In recent years, recreational anglers in the South Atlantic have been […]
Top photo via Wikipedia I was 13 years old and excited, because I was finally allowed to join my father and two of his friends on a party boat trip, targeting cod on Rhode Island’s Cox’s Ledge. I had fished for cod before, from other party boats, but they were either half-day trips or trips […]
When the Magnuson Act and I first met, it was 1978, and we were both young and inexperienced. I was lucky enough to get a job with the National Coalition for Marine Conservation (NCMC, now Wild Oceans), an organization that was there at the birth of ocean fish conservation and helped mid-wife it. Two years […]
This year’s World Ocean Day hits a little differently. It falls in the 50th anniversary year of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the law that transformed how this country manages its fisheries and set us on a path toward healthier oceans. The ocean provides food, livelihoods, and a natural infrastructure that supports life […]
April 1976 found me at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, finishing up my senior year. I was wandering around campus, drinking too much beer, sleeping too late and, when time allowed, prepping for final exams. It was warm, at least for spring in central New England, so I often wore my […]
This article was originally published on March 27, 2026 on the Conservation Law Foundation’s (CLF) blog and is reprinted with permission. Top photo: Historic fishing communities are part of the lifeblood of New England. Credit: EcoPhotography. Fifty Years Later, We Look at the Complicated Legacy of this Groundbreaking Fishing Law By the 1970s, the U.S. […]
This article was first published on April 24, 2026 on the Alaska Marine Community Coalition’s Changing Tides Blog and is reprinted with permission. Top photo: Kodiak Harbor Waterfront, Alaska. This month, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) marks its 50th anniversary. In Alaska, it is more than a policy framework. It is the […]
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