This section will cover all federal offices, agencies & actions related to fisheries including US Congress, NOAA Fisheries, NOAA Highly Migratory Species (HMS), National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS), and the Greater Atlantic Regional Fishery Office (GARFO).
Here is our final update for 2019.We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season. Action on Menhaden We have been waiting for the next shoe to drop in the ongoing menhaden saga and it did late last week. In a letter dated Dec. 17, Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for Fisheries at
We recently sent out an update to our email subscribers. Here is what we shared with them. It has been a busy quarter for fisheries management with Atlantic striped bass headlining the action. We can expect a lively joint ASMFC/MAFMC meeting in December and an active new year. ATLANTIC STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSIONThe Atlantic States
Offshore wind farms are coming, how they work out for us largely depends on us… By Capt. John McMurray Indeed, we’ve written here and elsewhere on offshore wind-power development. Specifically, on the potential for wind-turbines – dozens, maybe well over one-hundred – placed in designated areas off our coast. Generally, we have been in support
What various news outlets are reporting isn’t entirely accurate By Capt. John McMurray Frankly, we’ve been ignoring all of this up to now, because, the version of the Modern Fish Act that passed, and the way it was passed, is well, kinda inconsequential – to us anyway. But the reporting on the subject? It’s been,
NOAA recently released three reports that might interest our readers. The first was Fisheries of the United States, 2017 of both recreational and commercial fisheries. The data shows how important both sectors are to the national economy. After reviewing the data, it is also apparent that we must manage our resources well because a lot
The 2018 meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) was held in November. Major issues on the agenda included a new stock assessment for Atlantic bigeye tuna, conservation measures for overfished white and blue marlin stocks, and a proposed restriction on shark finning. In each of those cases, ICCAT took
On March 1, the National Marine Fisheries Service adopted emergency regulations to protect shortfin mako sharks, after a new stock assessment conducted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) indicated that the species was severely overfished, and undergoing very severe overfishing. Such emergency regulations increased the minimum size limit for shortfin
Black sea bass, summer flounder and red snapper will likely be impacted first by new MRIP data “I can’t understand… we’ve got 350,000 anglers in New York not 900,000.” said the caller from New York when questions opened up during the July 13, 2018 webinar about the revised Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) estimates. New
By a narrower margin, HR 200 makes it through the House. Now what? By Capt. John McMurray Well, we all expected it. HR 200, “Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act” (A.K.A the “Empy Oceans Act”), with a few amendments, including one really bad one, sailed through the House of Representatives
On July 11, H.R. 200,the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act passed the House of Representatives. The vote on the House floor was disappointing but close – as this partisan bill passed by a vote of 222-193. To see a breakdown of how Members voted, go here. As we have told
