“Low Rates” Aren’t Enough: How We Are Misrepresenting Bycatch Numbers

“Low Rates” Aren’t Enough: How We Are Misrepresenting Bycatch Numbers

This article was originally posted on September 18, 2025 on the Alaska Marine Conservation Council’s blog and is reprinted with permission. Top photo via the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.</p> Each year, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC) sets the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for groundfish and other fisheries in the Bering Sea […]

Looking Back to Look Forward on Fishing Executive Actions

Looking Back to Look Forward on Fishing Executive Actions

This article was originally published in the Wild Oceans Horizon Summer 2025 newsletter and is reprinted with permission. In 1973, Congress passed the Magnuson Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act (MSA), and Wild Oceans met the moment with a voice for conserving and protecting marine fish, fishing and our oceans for future generations. Fifty years […]

USDA Should Invest in Seafood

USDA Should Invest in Seafood

New report shows the USDA’s grant offerings don’t sufficiently cover marine and aquatic food initiatives A recent report by the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) provides an assessment of ways to make U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant funding more accessible to the seafood sector. “Alaska’s fishermen harvest some of the healthiest and highest quality […]

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna: Too Much Of A Good Thing?

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna: Too Much Of A Good Thing?

Atlantic bluefin tuna, photo courtesy of Wikipedia In recent years, fishermen have seen a resurgence of Atlantic bluefin tuna off the United States coast, with 2024 commercial and recreational landings some of the highest in many years. In fact, as things stand now, 2024 bluefin landings, when combined with dead discards, were a little too […]

MFCN Sends Policy Priorities to the Trump Administration

MFCN Sends Policy Priorities to the Trump Administration

Top photo via Linda Behnken In a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) leadership, the Marine Fish Conservation Network outlined recommendations for promoting economic and food security through policies, endorsed by the Network’s members, supporting science-based fisheries management and thriving working waterfronts. The Network has sent similar […]

South Fork Wind is Creating a ‘Reef Effect’

South Fork Wind is Creating a ‘Reef Effect’

Top photo: Fishing Machine Charters, Pt. Judith, RI hooked up with cod, pollock and cunner in the Cox Ledge area wind farm this winter. A visual survey conducted at South Fork Wind (SFW), an offshore wind farm located 16.5 nautical miles southeast of Block Island, Rhode Island in the Cox Ledge area, shows that the […]

Administration’s Proposed Budget Slashes Funding Needed for Successful Coastal Economies

Administration’s Proposed Budget Slashes Funding Needed for Successful Coastal Economies

President Trump’s recommendations on discretionary funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2026, also known as the “skinny budget,” reduced NOAA’s total budget by at least $1.52 billion, with $1.31 billion of that reduction coming from “climate-dominated research, data, and grant programs.” The budget also called for moving parts of the National Marine Fisheries Service into […]

Personnel Cuts Threaten Science-Based Fisheries Management

Personnel Cuts Threaten Science-Based Fisheries Management

Top photo: NOAA monkfish assessment The message from Jon Hare, the director of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) was as distressing as it was clear: I have raised at both [the New England Fishery Management and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management] Council meetings the issue that the NEFSC is not going […]