The Marine Fish Conservation Network is a nonpartisan organization. The thoughts and opinions of this author are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Network. This election year is one of the big ones, when races for the President, the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate happen at the same […]
Did NOAA take us a few steps back with recent National Standard guidance? How we manage fisheries in federal waters is of course dictated by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). The Act (or law) contains 10 National Standards, which are intended to guide the eight regional management councils when they create fishery […]
Photo: Teresa Gibson and Justin Rieger holding a spotted seatrout Prioritize the Food Web and Menhaden Will Recover Coast-Wide While we drift-fished for spotted seatrout, the sound came from astern, not unlike the tearing of newsprint. I cocked my head in time to watch hundreds of beefy bunker (Atlantic menhaden) arch from the glassy surface […]
This Wednesday, during its annual meeting being held in the remote location of Bar Harbor, Maine, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Menhaden Management Board will once again face a controversial decision regarding the management of one of the most important fish under its jurisdiction. The meeting is scheduled from 3:00 – 5:00 pm, and […]
Commercial, recreational and for hire fishermen say a bill in Congress that would allow Gulf states to regulate fishing in federal waters is not good for the fish. Louisiana Congressman Garret Graves is the primary sponsor of H.R. 3094, which is a bill that would strip the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of its authority […]
Photo: Lingcod from a deep-reef bottomfishing trip out of Garibaldi, Oregon 10-12-16 (photo courtesy Garibaldi Charters) I’m the new kid on the block. Not necessarily on fish policy, but more on water management and what it means for developing fish policy that is, in fact, fish-friendly. I’m a Governor’s appointee on the legislatively driven task […]
Photo: Summer Flounder Summer flounder, more commonly known as “fluke” at the northern end of their range, were at the center of fisheries debates throughout the first eight or ten years of this century. It was the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s (MAFMC) failure to take the conservation and rebuilding provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation […]
Photo: Canary Rockfish, courtesy of NOAA. My August blog post focused on the great progress the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) has made in rebuilding important species in the Gulf of Mexico. A similar story can be told of the Pacific Northwest. In fact, the productivity of fish and shellfish in this region, thanks to the MSA, […]
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