Tag Archives: Ecosystem-based management

Atlantic herring quotas may be cut again

Later this month, fisheries regulators will decide whether to adopt a new set of regulations, known as Amendment 8, that could include restricting fishing areas for the herring and could, for the first time, account for the fish’s place in the larger ecosystem. The New England Fishery Management Council’s Atlantic herring committee will meet next week to vote on a recommendation to the full council, which meets the following week. Consideration of the new management system, and the restrictions it would bring, follows the announcement in August that next year’s quota for Atlantic herring had been cut by 55 percent from its original level. >click to read<16:06

R.I. quota for menhaden the focus of debate

About 30 recreational and commercial fishermen, fish processors, environmental groups (like Save the Bay) and fish managers attended Monday’s public hearing on Atlantic menhaden at the URI Bay Campus held by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The two main issues at the hearing were the use of ecosystem-based management strategies to determine stock status and allowable catch limits, and landing time frames, which would be used to determine allocation of quota. The Atlantic menhaden plan will be the first ASMFC plan that utilizes ecosystem-based management in this fashion. Meghan Lapp of Seafreeze, Ltd., North Kingstown (the largest producer and trader of sea-frozen fish on the East Coast) and a member of the ASMFC Atlantic menhaden Advisory Panel, said “Historically, Rhode Island has landed a lot more fish than the allocation reflects.” Read the column here 16:30

Forage fish management key to protecting Pacific Ocean ecosystem health

Pacific sardine populations have shown an alarming decline in recent years, and some evidence suggests anchovy and herring populations may be dropping as well. The declines could push fishermen toward other currently unmanaged “forage fish,”  Read more here 10:35 The Forage Fish Farce

 

Opinion: What “Green Governor” Jay Inslee could do on World Oceans Day

This Sunday, people around the world will mark World Oceans Day by celebrating the water that unites us. Here in Seattle, we have the opportunity to preserve a critical part of the ocean that supports one of our greatest industries: the North Pacific commercial fishing industry. Read more here 11:22

Dogfish Don’t Eat As Much As You Think They Do

First off, why do we care how much a spiny dogfish, or any fish for that matter, is eating?  Aside from the fact that predator-prey interactions are interesting, the populations of the fish that we eat don’t exist in a vacuum with us as the only predators.  Read more here  19:32

Ecosystem Based Management Proposed for the Magnuson Stevens Act

The latest draft version of the Magnuson Stevens Act reauthorization includes some substantial changes including a potential switch to “Ecosystem Based Management”. KDLG’s Mike Mason has the story.  16:05

Ecosystem-based management is focus of May 22 fisheries forum in Groton

The future of sustainable fisheries in New England and U.S. waters will be the topic from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. May 22 at a public forum at the Branford House on the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus. theday  Read more here 20:30