Why Removing Roadless Protections for the Tongass National Forest is a Mistake In late October, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) issued a final rule and record of decision exempting Alaska’s Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001 Roadless Rule). The 2001 Roadless Rule prohibited timber harvest and road construction in designated […]
Communities and fishermen in and around Bristol Bay, Alaska have depended for generations on abundant salmon runs for food, income, and a way of life. Fishermen and salmon have maintained this sustainable relationship through science-based fisheries management and a respect for the salmon’s natural habitat. That relationship is facing an uncertain future right now. First, […]
Of all the fisheries issues that have arisen over the past decade, the fight over recreational red snapper management in the Gulf of Mexico is among the most acrimonious, and one of the most difficult to resolve. It started out simply. As fisheries managers began to successfully rebuild the red snapper stock, red snapper anglers […]
Communities and fishermen in and around Bristol Bay, Alaska have depended for generations on abundant salmon runs for food, income, and a way of life. Fishermen and salmon have maintained this sustainable relationship through science-based fisheries management and a respect for the salmon’s natural habitat. That relationship is facing an uncertain future right now. First, […]
It has been quite some time since our last View from the Hill edition, and there is plenty to report from 2020, but we’ll keep focused on activity that has taken place since the summer in order to keep this edition as succinct as possible. Not long after returning from their August break, Senate Majority […]
Much of the crucial aid distributed to fishing families in response to the COVID-19 emergency this year has been provided using the regulatory machinery from the NOAA fishery disaster program . Forty years ago, Congress included the fishery disaster program in the Magnuson-Stevens Act in order to protect fishing communities from rare and unpredictable environmental […]
“Them that’s got shall get Them that’s not shall lose…” Billie Holiday, from “God Bless the Child“ When jazz singer Billie Holiday belted out the words to “God Bless the Child” back in 1941, she certainly wasn’t thinking about fisheries. But some of the words of that song still apply, as fisheries managers, reflecting fishermen’s […]
Top photo: Linda Behnken Straight from the waters off Sitka, Alaska, Linda Behnken describes the hardships that the coronavirus pandemic has brought to America’s fishermen. 2020 has been a hard year for her and her fishermen peers, just as it has for all fishermen, coastal communities and many others across country. Fishermen provide our country […]
