7th International Billfish Symposium

Author: Wild Ocean Team Posted Under: Blog

Co-hosted by Wild Oceans and the IGFA in San Diego, California in 2024 The 7th International Billfish Symposium convened in October 2024 at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego, California. Co-organized by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) and Wild Oceans, the symposium brought together over 100 participants from nine ...

2nd International Billfish Symposium

Author: Wild Ocean Team Posted Under: Blog

Hosted by Wild Oceans in Kona, Hawaii in 1987 The need for greater global cooperation to conserve wide-ranging species of marlin and swordfish, in the face of equally widespread uncertainty as to the health of these fisheries, led us to sponsor an International Billfish Symposium in 1988 in Kona, Hawaii. ...

Coalition Achieves Conservation Gains for Atlantic Blue Shark

Author: Wild Ocean Team Posted Under: Blog, RFMO’s, Big Fish

Earlier this month, Wild Oceans joined colleagues including SharkProject to ask the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT or Commission) to reduce the catch of North Atlantic and South Atlantic blue shark and task their scientists with developing long term options for managing blue shark. ICCAT took ...

Policy Underway for Unmanaged Mid-Atlantic Forage Fisheries

Author: Wild Ocean Team Posted Under: Councils, Blog, Sustainable Fishing Practices, Prey Base

Wild Oceans has for the last six years been engaged in ensuring strong implementation of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Unmanaged Forage Omnibus Amendment (UFOA). We did not have to wait long for a challenge to this crucial safeguard for Atlantic coast forage species: in 2021, fisheries managers received ...

Look and See – Charismatic Creatures of the Sea

Author: Theresa Labriola Posted Under: Blog, Ecosystems, Climate Change

A fellow fisherman recently told me a tale about his recent sightings of pods of dolphins or porpoises riding alongside the sportfishing boats of Southern California. However, he wasn’t sure how to identify these ocean companions or what distinguishes a porpoise from a dolphin. We’re all good at fish identification ...

Wild Oceans Builds Striped Marlin Coalition

Author: Theresa Labriola Posted Under: Blog, RFMO’s, Billfish, Striped Marlin

Wild Oceans has been building a collation of local, national, and international recreational fishing, small boat and ocean conservation organizations asking the United States to prioritize development and adoption of a conservation and management measure for Western and Central North Pacific Ocean (WCNPO) striped marlin this year. The Pacific’s largest ...

Take Action: Striped Bass Amendment 7

Author: Wild Ocean Team Posted Under: Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Blog, Striped Bass, Big Fish

Weigh In Now for a Strong Striped Bass Plan 06/05/2022 Update: On May 4th, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board approved Amendment 7. The new plan lays a solid foundation for rebuilding the stock and for ensuring prompt and effective conservation action.  Read the highlights ...

PRESS RELEASE: NEW HOPE FOR BILLFISH IN THE PACIFIC

Author: Wild Ocean Team Posted Under: Blog, Kona Project, Press Releases

A New Effort to Better Understand and Protect Depleted Billfish Stocks Launches in the Pacific With nearly fifty years experience working to conserve large open-ocean predators, Wild Oceans (formerly the National Coalition for Marine Conservation) has just launched an exciting new effort to protect billfish in the Pacific Ocean.  The Wild Oceans Kona Project is ...

A RESPITE FOR MAKO

Author: Theresa Labriola Posted Under: Blog, RFMO’s, Sharks, Victories, Big Fish

In November, after more than a decade of warning about the vulnerability and decline of North Atlantic shortfin mako shark, international managers banned the retention of all shortfin mako sharks for two years. International scientists have advised that a moratorium is the most immediate step we can take to reverse the decline and rebuild the population, but it will still take more than five decades to fully recover this deeply depleted population.

I AM WILD OCEANS

Author: Jody Bright Posted Under: Blog, Wild Oceans

When I told my Dad I was going to take “a year off from college” to go chase marlin, he was not pleased. I shook my head at that. I mean, it was his fault.  It’s not that I was one of those kids who couldn’t wait to get away from their ...