Resilience Through Representation

Resilience Through Representation

Commercial fishing and charter/for-hire fishing communities exist throughout our nation’s coastlines from the Aleutian Islands (AK) to San Diego (CA) and from Brownsville (TX) to Key West (FL) to Eastport (ME). Commercial and charter/for-hire fishermen like us live in and sail from these ports as we spend our lives on the water delivering sustainable, wild, […]

Rep. Peltola Steps Up for Bristol Bay

Rep. Peltola Steps Up for Bristol Bay

On May 1, 2024 Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) introduced a bill, titled the “Bristol Bay Protection Act,” in the House of Representatives. Such legislation, if passed and signed into law, would finally end the long-running conflict that has pitted proponents of the so-called “Pebble Mine” against Alaska Native peoples and others who have long harvested, […]

What Does Recreational Fishing Really Mean?

What Does Recreational Fishing Really Mean?

Is “Limiting Out” Becoming Passé? Top photo: Releasing a bluefin tuna I’m not gonna lie, man. I kinda dislike the term “limiting out”… Actually, I hate it. Mostly because it implies a certain, perhaps outdated, way of thinking – that your fishing trip wasn’t really successful unless you killed the maximum allowed under the current […]

Safeguarding Forage: New Action Underway in New England to Protect Critical Forage Fish Species

Safeguarding Forage: New Action Underway in New England to Protect Critical Forage Fish Species

This article is reprinted with permission from the latest edition of the Wild Oceans Horizon newsletter. For the past year, Wild Oceans and a core group of partners built a coalition of more than thirty recreational fishing, watershed, and environmental organizations to bring about a new action to develop near-shore protections for Atlantic herring, river […]

ASMFC Management Authority Challenged by Maryland Lawsuit

ASMFC Management Authority Challenged by Maryland Lawsuit

After the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC’s) Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board adopted Addendum II to Amendment 7 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass (Addendum II) in January 2024, it was generally assumed that striped bass management issues would be put on a back burner until a new stock assessment […]

Striped Bass: Lessons from the Last Stock Collapse Could Help Prevent the Next One

Striped Bass: Lessons from the Last Stock Collapse Could Help Prevent the Next One

When the Chesapeake Bay striped bass stock collapsed in the late 1970s, people tried to figure out why. Recreational fishermen were quick to point fingers at the commercial sector, which was not yet burdened by significant regulation. There were no gear restrictions and no annual quotas, and the fishery accounted for a larger share of […]