Category: Councils
Mid-Atlantic Council Strengthens River Herring & Shad Protections for 2015
By Pam Lyons Gromen – I have good news from Freehold, New Jersey where the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council met last week from June 10-12. The Council’s newly-formed River Herring & Shad Committee significantly reduced the allowable bycatch of imperiled blueback herring, alewives and shad for the 2015 Atlantic mackerel ...
Pacific Council Makes Plans to Phase-Out Drift Nets
Pacific Council Makes Plans to Phase-Out Drift Nets The Pacific Fishery Management Council, at its March meeting in Sacramento, Calif., took several steps toward developing a “comprehensive plan” for moving away from the use of drift gill nets to catch swordfish in favor of more “environmentally and economically sustainable” types ...
Get Rid of Drift Nets, Bring in Safer, “Greener” Gears
It’s Time to Remove Mile-Long Entanglement Nets from the California Coast Wild Oceans is urging the Pacific Fishery Management Council to phase-out the use of drift gill nets in the west coast swordfish fisheries and begin phasing-in more sustainable alternative gears demonstrated to have minimal bycatch of non-target billfish, sharks, sea ...
Mid-Atlantic Council to Make Critical Decision for Future of River Herrings
By Pam Lyons Gromen – In 2009, Wild Oceans brought attention to the plight of the Atlantic’s river-spawning herrings in an article entitled Out of Bounds. Coastwide, populations of alewives, blueback herring and American shad had plummeted to record lows. We argued that saving these critical forage fish required conservation ...
Pacific Council on the Right Path to Safeguard Forage
By Theresa Labriola – Thanks to everyone who signed our petition asking the Pacific Fishery Management Council to initiate a process for developing a forage status indicator. In June, I traveled to the Council meeting in Garden Grove, California to hand deliver your petition to the Council. While there, I ...
5-Year Plan Offers Promising Future for Mid-Atlantic Fisheries
Tell the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council that You Support Their Commitment to Ocean Stewardship! The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is seeking public comment on a draft strategic plan that outlines the Council’s vision, mission and strategic goals for 5 years spanning 2014 through 2018. Developed from extensive stakeholder outreach and ...
Federal Councils Act to Protect River Herring and Shad at Sea
Bycatch of river herring and shad in federal fisheries will finally be regulated, affording these imperiled forage fish protection at sea where they spend most of their lives. Measures adopted by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council two weeks ago in New York City and last week by the New England ...
Federal Council Approves Measure to Conserve River Herring and Shad
On June 12th the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council placed the first-ever limits on the catch of river herring and shad in offshore waters, capping the amount that can be taken in a year by trawl netters fishing for mackerel. Individual states along the eastern seaboard have tightly restricted and in a ...
Fishery Council Undertakes New Plan for a Fish-Eat-Fish World
Little fish will take center stage at the Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Portland, Oregon next week. On April 9th, the Council will vote whether to take fisheries management in a new direction – one that takes into account the overall health of the California Current ecosystem, starting with ...
Entangled: Swordfish, Turtles & More
by Ken Hinman The Pacific Fishery Management Council recently took a pass on proposals to expand the use of drift entanglement nets off the west coast, opting instead for another year of study. I went to meetings of the federal council in Tacoma, Washington last weekend to testify in favor ...
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