Some days it seems like everything is bad. We are inundated with negative information that serves more to polarize positions than anything else. Fisheries management is no different, and there is no shortage of bad news. It’s the good news that doesn’t get told. Groups are working together every single day to make things better […]
Top photo: Menhaden off Montauk. Credit Captain John McMurray Editor’s note: Captain John McMurray’s piece first appeared on FISSUES.org. We are sharing it today because we believe it reflects what many of us are also thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving. 2017 was a good year, but in the end, it can all go away pretty easily […]
Photo: Amy Baird with a 21-pound lower Columbia River Chinook caught in warmer times with pro guide Bob Rees The rain has set in. Maybe it’s not officially winter just yet, but cold, damp and darkness is in the air. We’re all supposed to have our freezers full of fish and now turn our attention […]
Photo by John McMurray. On September 12, lifelong saltwater angler Tony Friedrich testified before the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard – a hearing titled “Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act: Oversight of Fisheries Management Successes and Challenges.” Friedrich’s testimony, about management successes under Magnuson-Stevens, was clear […]
Linda Behnken’s post appeared in The Hill as a Letter to the Editor on November 9, 2017. Photo: working waterfront in Alaska. Picture this: a fish struggles on a hook, fights un-successfully to get free, and is gradually pulled to the surface. A fisherman scoops the fish out of the water and lands it with […]
In 1996, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) determined that tautog (also known as “blackfish”) were being badly overfished, and that the fishing mortality rate had to be reduced to no more than 0.15. Such a fishing mortality rate would result in about 14% of the tautog being removed from the population each year. […]
Next week, will ASMFC heed common sense and on-the-water experience? Top photo: A striper eating bunker Last week, I received a brief release from the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition, titled National Wildlife Federation Revives Menhaden Myths with Latest Petition. The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition describes itself as “a coalition of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries,” […]
Photo: Eric Brazer Current fisheries management is influenced by both science and politics, and yet one approach is clearly more beneficial to the success of our fisheries than the other. Science identifies facts that lead to conclusions being drawn. Politics, on the other hand, identifies a conclusion that encourages the finding of facts to support […]
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