Everglades photo via Wikipedia For many years, it was my job to figure out what anglers cared about and represent their concerns to various decision makers. We used internet polls, face to face meetings, and questionnaires to see what really mattered to recreational anglers in Maryland. In 2012, the main areas of concern for Chesapeake […]
Author Charles Witke will testify at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Magnuson-Stevens Act on July 19th. In this post, he explains why the recent Commerce Department decision undermines ASFMC and the future of cooperative interstate fisheries management. Late in the afternoon of July 11, 2017, the United States Department of Commerce (Commerce) […]
Photo by John McMurray. Members of the Network are speaking out against the recent decision by the Commerce Department to allow New Jersey’s noncompliance with the 2017 regulations for summer flounder set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). This marks the first time that the Commerce Department has overruled the decision of the […]
Keeping Progress in Fisheries Management Top photo: Bob Rees with a May, 2017 Willamette River spring Chinook Yet another lawsuit to shut down hatchery production in the Willamette Basin has been slapped down on the state of Oregon and the US Army Corps of Engineers by Willamette Riverkeeper and the Conservation Angler. The reason? Stray […]
We should all care about the red snapper decision in the Gulf of Mexico, as it eliminates public input and circumvents regional council authority granted by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Photo courtesy of NOAA. Who cares about red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico? If you come from a coastal state like me (Rhode Island) you […]
Black sea bass photo courtesy of Charles Witek Over the past couple of seasons, no fish has frustrated Mid-Atlantic fishery managers—and Mid-Atlantic recreational fishermen—as much as the black sea bass. There are a lot of them out there. A benchmark stock assessment completed late in 2016 estimated that the spawning stock biomass (SSB) at the […]
Photo: Bing, Maddox & Jetty Perrine with a sturgeon, by Bob Rees It’s been three years since sport anglers had a consumptive opportunity for keeper-sized sturgeon. Not so coincidentally, it’s been three years since I was a full-time fishing guide. When the catch-and-keep season for sturgeon went away, so did my clientele. My charming personality […]
Atlantic Menhaden Management Board meets November 14th – Mark Your Calendars – Your Voice Needed For decades, numerous coastal communities in the Chesapeake Bay were alive and vibrant. Charter captains and recreational anglers would leave from ports like Solomon’s Island, Point Lookout, Breezy Point, and Tilghman Island in Maryland every day in search of a […]
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