It’s National Ocean Month: Celebrate Our Opportunity for Catch and Conservation

It’s National Ocean Month: Celebrate Our Opportunity for Catch and Conservation

Photo: Bob Rees with a June 4th Newport, Oregon halibut, weighing in at nearly 53 pounds. My wife is an accomplished writer, and certainly wiser than I, so I take her words seriously when she says, “If you write it down, it can no longer own you.” I’m not so sure that’s true, when talking […]

Solid Win for Striped Bass at the ASMFC

Solid Win for Striped Bass at the ASMFC

Top photo via Dave Monti On Wednesday, May 5, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board (Management Board) met to discuss the comments that it received on the issues presented in the Public Information Document For Amendment 7 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass (PID). The Management […]

Magnuson-Stevens Act Reauthorization: Where We Stand in the 117th Congress

Magnuson-Stevens Act Reauthorization: Where We Stand in the 117th Congress

Every ten years, as the story goes, Congress has worked together in a bipartisan fashion to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). And each time Congress has risen to the occasion to address the new challenges our oceans and fisheries face by amending and strengthening the MSA to conserve and sustain U.S. […]

Stakeholders Tell the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to Rebuild Striped Bass

Stakeholders Tell the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to Rebuild Striped Bass

Note: Public comments on the PID will be taken through 5:00 p.m. on April 9. See below for details. Throughout the month of March, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) held webinar/hearings, seeking stakeholder comments on future striped bass management measures. The comments were focused on issues raised in the Public Information Document For […]

Developing Enhanced Ways To Count Recreational Catch

Developing Enhanced Ways To Count Recreational Catch

Top photo: Francine Karp, CEO of Harbor Light Software, has been a pioneer in the development of electronic recording software for fisheries. One of the biggest challenges we face as a fishing community is how to accurately estimate recreational catch and effort. It drives everything… allowable catch limits, harvest limits, allocations between sectors and today, […]

Optimum Yield Analysis Missing from Most Regional Fishery Management Council Debates

Optimum Yield Analysis Missing from Most Regional Fishery Management Council Debates

Top photo by John McMurray The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) requires that “Conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while producing, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery for the United States fishing industry.” MSA also states, in part, that “The term ‘optimum,’ with respect to the yield from […]

Striped Bass Management Demonstrates Why Stakeholders Are “Losing Faith” in the ASMFC

Striped Bass Management Demonstrates Why Stakeholders Are “Losing Faith” in the ASMFC

Top photo by John McMurray Striped bass are one of the United States’ most important recreational fish. Between 2010 and 2019, anglers landed more striped bass (measured in pounds) than any other saltwater fish. The bass has paid for its popularity. A benchmark stock assessment released in April 2019 found that female spawning stock biomass […]