Buffeting Winds in Bristol Bay: 2023

Buffeting Winds in Bristol Bay: 2023

This article was originally published on August 10, 2023 on One Fish Foundation’s blog and is reprinted here with permission. Imagine being a commercial fish harvester in Bristol Bay in 2023. I have spoken with several over the past few years, and just recently spoke with them again to get a sense of how they […]

Senator Murkowski’s ‘Improving ARCTIC’ Act

Senator Murkowski’s ‘Improving ARCTIC’ Act

Senator Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) legislation, the Improving Agriculture, Research, Cultivation, Timber, and Indigenous Commodities (ARCTIC) Act, is a comprehensive piece of legislation containing provisions that are important to small commercial fishermen, working waterfronts, and indigenous fishing communities. The legislation seeks to improve federal agricultural programs so more groups can benefit from them. “We applaud Senator […]

Don Young Veterans Advancing Conservation Act

Don Young Veterans Advancing Conservation Act

New legislation taps a uniquely trained and highly motivated workforce eager to contribute to conservation. The Don Young Veterans Advancing Conservation Act, S. 1918, introduced by U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), co-chairs of the Senate Oceans caucus, creates a grant program to hire, retrain, and redeploy veterans to work on coastal, […]

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 […]

Land-Based Farm Credit System Could Expand to Fishing Businesses under New Bill

Land-Based Farm Credit System Could Expand to Fishing Businesses under New Bill

Recently introduced legislation could be a big help to fishing-related businesses and fishing communities. The Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement Act, introduced by U.S. Senators Angus King and Lisa Murkowski, would provide access to loans from the Farm Credit System for businesses that supply goods and services to the fishing fleet. “The Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement […]

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 […]

Diving into the Ocean Climate Action Plan

Diving into the Ocean Climate Action Plan

This article first appeared on the NRDC website and is reprinted with permission The Biden administration’s new plan includes a series of agency actions aimed at ocean-related climate solutions. The Biden administration’s new Ocean Climate Action Plan (OCAP) looks to the ocean for climate solutions. Last Tuesday, the White House put out the first-ever Ocean […]

Recreational Fishing Economics is All About the Data

Recreational Fishing Economics is All About the Data

Spud Woodward, member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, said managing maximum sustainable yield does not work for catch & release fisheries. NMFS Holds First Recreational Fishing Economic Workshop in Nine Years Why is fishing catch and effort data so important to recreational fishing economics? First the obvious, […]