Summer Flounder photo courtesy of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation When there are lots of fish, they’re easy to manage. The best example might be scup in the northeast. Abundance is twice the biomass target; in recent years, neither the recreational nor the commercial landings have approached the annual catch limit. Badly depleted stocks can also […]
Photo: Red Snapper I recently attended a media summit in Galveston, Texas, which was hosted by Trout Unlimited, the American Fly Fishing Trade Association and The Ocean Conservancy. Titled “The State of Our Fishing Waters: The Connection Between our Headwaters and the Ocean,” it had an ambitious agenda; presentations began promptly at 7:00 a.m. But […]
I spent a fair part of my Wednesday driving down to Oregon’s capital, Salem, to testify in front of the House Special Committee on Small Business Growth. Yeah, I know, first time I’ve heard of it too. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to address this special committee, especially since we were the only game […]
Photo: Pacific Sand Lance The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) this month finalized a new rule put together by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) that protects forage fish between California and Washington. On the West Coast, we’re celebrating. Forage fish are the little marine critters that transfer energy up the food chain – from […]
Photo: From left to right, Bob Rees, Paul Englemeyer & Lyf Gildersleeve It’s different here, in Washington DC. I don’t often find myself traveling 3,000 miles for a birthday party, but here I am, walking the halls of Congress, telling the Oregon delegation of the importance of preserving the most important components of the Magnuson-Stevens […]
Last week, as we celebrated 40 candles on the cake for the Magnuson Stevens Act, Oregonians got some pretty significant wins for fish just prior. It’s been a long time coming, and even for common-sense measures such as dam breaching and protecting our forage base, it takes a long time and an incredible amount of […]
Photo: Keven Scribner on the Antigone in the 1970s I began commercially fishing in 1976, the year when the original Magnuson Act was signed into law. Chasing salmon, I fished in both Washington state and federal waters, and quickly became acquainted with circumscribed fishing seasons, specific opening times, gear-type restrictions and allowable catch limits. Regulation […]
This post continues Charles Witek’s two-part personal journey in U.S. fisheries management and conservation. Read Part One here. I had gotten more and more involved with fisheries conservation over the years. By 1996, I sat on the executive board of the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), an organization that had worked hard to get SFA signed […]
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