For Immediate Release: California Modernizes Swordfish Fishery California to move U.S. swordfish fishery towards more sustainable gear, aided by public-private partnerships Waterford, VA – September 27, 2018 – Today, Governor Brown signed a Bill (SB1017) to end commercial drift gillnet fishing and encourage a transition to innovative, more sustainable fishing gear. His action aligns the California…
August 2, 2018. President Donald Trump today signed into law HR 4528, bipartisan legislation to amend the Billfish Conservation Act to clarify that Pacific billfish exempted from the 2012 law’s federal no-sale provision must be sold locally in Hawaii and Pacific island territories (Guam, Samoa, etc.). In effect, it achieves the original BCA’s intent to outlaw…
Feds Finalize Ban on New West Coast Forage Fisheries By Theresa Labriola – For more than a decade Wild Oceans has been a champion for a broader ecosystem approach to managing marine fisheries beginning with protections of predator-prey relationships. On April 4, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued the Final Rule protecting dozens of prey, or…
On December 14th, conservation of Atlantic menhaden finally entered the 21st century. A fishery that eluded catch limits for decades, even as menhaden numbers declined, now has a new abundance target that’s four (4) times the current population and a coastwide catch limit, reduced by 20% from recent levels, to get menhaden started on the…
When the Billfish Conservation Act (BCA) was signed into US law nearly a year ago, conservationists worldwide cheered that the globe’s largest market for imported marlin, sailfish, and spearfish would soon be closed. Although the challenge of getting a bill passed through the legislative process was won, there is still work to be done to make sure the BCA will be properly enacted. Last Thursday, on September 26, 2013,Wild Oceansand the International Game Fish Association