ICAST Summit Focuses on Shark Depredation, Offshore Wind

July 22, 2024

During the annual sportfishing trade show, TRCP moderated two panels to inform attendees about high-profile saltwater fisheries conservation issues

TRCP hosts a conservation summit every year at ICAST, the world’s largest sportfishing trade show, which is offered by the American Sportfishing Association. At last week’s 2024 summit in Orlando, Fla., we were once again fortunate to offer panels of industry experts and benefit from high attendance. This year, the two panels covered issues of top concern to saltwater anglers: an increase in shark depredation and the expansion of offshore wind farms. Below are highlights of each panel.

The Effects of Shark Depredation on Recreational Fisheries

Over the last several years, saltwater anglers have observed an increase in shark numbers and are reporting losing more sportfish to these predators than they had in the past. This shark depredation, which may occur prior to landing or just after release, causes damage to or total loss of targeted fish, bait, and tackle. The problem is prevalent throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Coast, with shark species like bull and sandbar sharks, the two leading species involved in depredation, taking sportfish like snapper, grouper, tuna, and mackerel and even gamefish like tarpon and billfish.

A concern of panelists was that anglers could learn to resent sharks if depredation is not addressed.

“We went from several years of not having any issues with sharks, to increases where we have an encounter here or there, to encounters every day, to aggressive encounters,” said panelist Jeffrey Liederman, an offshore fisherman and tackle specialist in southeast Florida.

Hooked snapper are often targeted by sharks. (Photo Credit: David Hay Jones, courtesy of the MSU Marine Fisheries Ecology Program)

A major theme that arose with the panel was the irony that decades of highly successful shark conservation efforts have resulted in more sharks in our oceans – which is one reason for more conflict with anglers today. Other reasons may include more anglers on the water, the commercial fishing industry not meeting its harvest quotas, and learned behavior of sharks that takes advantage of various angling methods. The panel recognized the growing popularity of sharks in our society as well as fishery managers’ concerns that anglers could learn to resent them if depredation is not addressed.

“The more depredation occurs, the more anglers develop a negative attitude toward sharks,” said Vice President of Government Affairs Mike Leonard, American Sportfishing Association. “I worry that we’re creating this large block of people who should be supporting marine conservation being against sharks.”

Panelists, from left to right: **Jeffrey Liederman** (tackle specialist), Mike Leonard (ASA), Jessica McCawley (FWC), Randy Blankinship (NOAA), and Chris Macaluso (TRCP, moderator).

Other panelists offering key insights into this issue were Randy Blankinship, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Jessica McCawley, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Because shark depredation has become one of the top concerns of both recreational and commercial fishers, earlier this year bipartisan legislation to help mitigate this potential threat to fisheries, related economies, and human safety passed in the House of Representatives by unanimous vote. The SHARKED Act (short for Supporting the Health of Aquatic systems through Research, Knowledge and Enhanced Dialogue Act), establishes requirements to address shark depredation with a focus on creating a task force made up of fisheries managers and shark experts.

Offshore Energy Development

Offshore wind farms are already becoming a part of the future of energy production in the United States, with more on the way. The federal government is ambitiously aiming to have enough offshore wind facilities in place to power 10 million homes by 2030, a target that may be unlikely but gives a clear indication that more structures are coming to America’s offshore waters.

Anglers fishing near the offshore wind farm in Block Island Sound, R.I. (Photo Credit: NOAA)

Currently, nearly 200 offshore wind farms are planned, though only three – in Block Island Sound off Rhode Island – are currently operating. Additional farms have been approved or are expected in the Atlantic in the next decade or more. Wind lease sales also have commenced in the Gulf of Mexico and California is preparing for development as well. Besides the benefit of providing sustainable energy, the resulting wind farms could have both positive and negative impacts for anglers and coastal communities.

“I love to look at the Atlantic Ocean because there aren’t offshore structures there, but I love to fish in the Gulf because there are structures there,” said TRCP Director of Marine Fisheries Chris Macaluso.

Panelists discussed how fisheries managers need to ensure that the recreational fishing community is better engaged as wind farms are planned and built.

A theme that emerged during the panel discussion, as well as from audience comments, was that fisheries managers need to make sure that the recreational fishing community is better engaged as wind farms continue to be planned and built. Another was that we must find a balance between the need for sustainable energy and the desires of different stakeholders, including anglers, and that while offshore energy platforms often enhance fishing opportunities, much is unknown about how installing thousands of turbines could negatively affect marine habitat and fish behavior. All of these concerns were voiced by ASA Atlantic Fisheries Policy Director Mike Waine.

Panelists, from left to right: John Walter (NOAA), Mike Waine (ASA), and Anderson Tran (Office of U.S. Rep. Garret Graves).

“The key is finding a coexistence to offshore energy and fishing,” agreed John Walter, NOAA deputy director for science and council services.

Anglers and recreational fishing, conservation, and advocacy organizations are trying to ensure that wind development does not have adverse impacts on fisheries populations, migration patterns, sensitive water-bottom habitats, and access to fishing opportunities. TRCP, ASA, and other conservation groups have been working to advance legislation called the RISEE Act (Reinvesting in America’s Shoreline Economies and Ecosystems), which would share a portion of all offshore wind royalties with hosting states.

“We’re trying to sort this out and make sure we’re doing it the right way,” said Anderson Tran, legislative counsel for Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA).

Thanks to Our Sponsors and Presenters

We want to extend our appreciation to the panelists and attendees of the 2023 summit. We also want to thank this year’s sponsors, without whom the summit wouldn’t have been possible:

NOAA Fisheries
Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
American Sportfishing Association

Banner photo credit: Trey Spearman, courtesy of the MSU Marine Fisheries Ecology Program

Learn more about nature-based solutions to climate change through habitat conservation.

The TRCP is your resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land and waters access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.

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by: Dan Morgan

posted in: Recreational Fisheries

July 18, 2024

In The Arena: Wade Fellin

TRCP’s “In The Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.

Wade Fellin

Hometown: Wise River, Montana
Occupation: Big Hole Lodge Co-Owner/Guide/Outfitter, Photographer
Conservation credentials: Wade Fellin is an established guide, outfitter, and cold-water fisheries advocate. As a founding member of Save Wild Trout, Fellin works with a coalition of anglers, river advocates, citizens, and businesses to protect wild trout for the benefit of all by developing science-based solutions aimed at protecting cold-water fisheries for future generations.

A native Montanan, Wade Fellin has spent his life exploring, guiding, and stewarding the wild, trout-rich rivers of Montana’s Big Hole Valley. Concerned about the declining health of Montana’s wild trout fisheries due to climate change and other factors, Fellin has worked with Save Wild Trout to address the urgent need for conservation actions to preserve these vital natural resources and to coalesce a community around the shared values of clean water and vibrant, healthy rivers.

Here is his story.

My father joined the Marine Corps and went to Vietnam, and when he got back, he moved to Missoula, Montana in 1974. He worked as a security guard at the airport and on his lunch breaks, he hung out at the Streamside Angler, then owned by Frank Johnson and Rich Anderson. They gave him all the advice he needed to hone his skills as a fly fisher and he fished between shifts in a white shirt, tie, and black slacks on these rivers.

He headed to Aspen, Colorado in 1978 and guided for Chuck Fothergill. While in Aspen, Dad met my mom, a Bozeman native whose family helped found Wisdom, Montana on the upper Big Hole, and they decided to start a fly-fishing lodge. In 1983, with Fothergil’s blessing, they headed north through Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana searching for their perfect spot and founded their business on the banks of the Wise River, just up from the Big Hole River. Back then the caddis hatches looked like snowstorms. The salmon fly hatches were so thick cars would slide driving through the canyon. At that time, there were very few people on the water.

I came along in the summer of ’88, the year of the Yellowstone fire. Mom and Dad strapped my bassinet to their 14’ Avon raft and fishing was just part of life. I spent my childhood exploring the Wise River with a fly rod and my teens rowing the Big Hole and surrounding rivers. Now, with 18 years of guiding under my belt, I’m partnered with my father in a business he has spent 40 years nurturing. But now, the future of Montana’s wild trout fisheries is uncertain, and the rivers need all the help they can get.

My most memorable outdoor adventure served to fuel my drive to help ensure that Montana’s natural resources are here for future generations to enjoy. About six years ago, I met a friend at Bridger Bowl after a big snowstorm. We hiked to the ridge from the top of the chairlift and traversed out to a run we’d skied since we were kids. He dropped in first, into the couloir, under the cliffs, and out of sight. I dropped in and turned hard at the end of the chute to slide out over a fresh run. Unseasonably warm weather the week before opened the snowpack to a ground spring, or a melt-out, below the cliff invisible under two feet of new snow. I hit the outer wall of the crevasse hard and fell backward, upside-down and snow collapsed in with me. Everything was dark and I couldn’t breathe. For the first time in my life, I considered that I had lived my entire life. Then adrenaline and sheer will took over and I inched my way to a clear airway. To that point I’d taken my life in the outdoors for granted, as if it’d always be there. And naively, that I’d be here for a long time. So as long as I am here, I’m going to do what I can to make sure the rich outdoors heritage of Montana is here too.

The Big Hole Valley and the Big Hole River holds an important place in my heart having spent most of my life fishing and hunting this valley. As Edward Abbey said, “it’s not enough to protect the land, you must also enjoy it.”

Without conservation, none of us will have the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors the way we do now. You don’t have to look far to find an organization working toward a healthy outdoors future and it really doesn’t matter which one you join – they all need your help, and we all need their work.

Climate change exacerbates everything affecting our fisheries. It was encouraging to hear Gov. Gianforte and Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks identify warmer water temperatures combined with low flows as the primary drivers behind the southwest Montana trout declines. Adding elevated levels of nutrient pollution to those conditions becomes a deadly mix of aquatic life and wild trout. We must come together to address this shared challenge. The decline of wild trout in southwest Montana’s cold-water fisheries isn’t something new. We’ve been tracking the downward trend with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and our partners at the Big Hole River Foundation, and we have been raising concerns for over half a decade. It’s just that now we’ve hit a make-or-break point with population numbers at, or near, historic lows with the prospect of the fishery making a recovery now in our hands. I still have hope that after this winter’s already record-breaking warmth and low snowpack, we can put down our differences to coalesce around our shared values of clean water and vibrant, healthy rivers. There is more that unites us than divides us, so let’s acknowledge our shared challenge and get to work protecting the resources that provide for our way of life and livelihoods.

This isn’t about me, the lodge, or fly fishing, for that matter. This is about us, our communities, and what they will look like next year, the year after that, and for future generations. We like to say Montana is “Next-Year-Country,” and I’d argue, particularly in southwest Montana, we are snowpack country. Snowpack sustains our limited clean water resources, and it is the foundation that drives nearly every aspect of our economy and well-being. When we set out to launch Save Wild Trout it was abundantly clear that our mission was simple: To protect wild trout now and for future generations. The values and connection to our waters and lands provided to me through fly fishing, hunting, and the outdoors is an opportunity I want my kids to have and enjoy.

Conservation, hunters, and anglers go together like a hand in a glove. Much of the work to protect and conserve our lands, waters, and wildlife was and continues to be borne out of the hunting and angling communities. The next generation must carry the conservation mantle forward, and there are few better ways than getting them out hunting on public lands or in a boat fishing public water. It’s the values that were passed down to me from my father and something I’ll pass on to my son. How we respond to this crisis and address the new reality of climate change in our fisheries management paradigms can be and should be a success story for future conservationists.

Do you know someone “In the Arena” who should be featured here? Email us at info@trcp.org

The TRCP is your resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.

by: Ryan Lockwood

posted in: Recreational Fisheries

July 11, 2024

Fishing’s Most Wanted: Catch & Eat These Tasty Invasives

Support sustainable native fisheries by targeting, removing, and cooking up these four delicious, invasive fish species

Many aquatic invasive species (AIS) are causing harm to American fisheries and affecting recreational fishing, from flora like hydrilla and hyacinth to fauna like zebra mussels and Asian carp. For this reason, TRCP and its partners convened an AIS commission in 2022. But not all AIS issues can be targeted by anglers, and fewer still are good to eat. We narrowed the list to TRCP’s top four AIS species for anglers because they are fun to catch and good to eat, and our fisheries benefit when we remove them.

If you decide to pursue any of these fish, search for the competitions set up to incentivize their removals. And even if you elect not to eat them, if you ever catch them in locations where they are considered problematic and are not protected, remember that it’s best to not return them to the water.

Northern Snakehead

Snakeheads can reach over 3 feet in length. Photo credit: Noah Bressman

Take some regular old freshwater fish and Frankenstein it – giving it the head and elongated body of a serpent, the teeth of a wolf, and the abilities to wriggle over land and survive out of water for more than a day – and you have yourself a northern snakehead. Native to China, Russia, and the Korean Peninsula, these bizarre, air-breathing fish probably became established in the U.S. after aquarium owners and others intentionally released unwanted specimens into local waterways. These aggressive top predators can outcompete native fish for food, with adults consuming smaller fish, crustaceans, reptiles, amphibians, and even some birds. Anglers prize them for their explosive strikes and delicious filets. While now established in the Mid-Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay regions, as well as in Arkansas (and recently spreading from there to the Mississippi River), they’ve also been detected in other states like California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, but have no established populations there.

Size: Typically, mature specimens are in the 18- to 30-inch range, but can reach over 3 ft. in length and more than 20 lbs.
Where to Target: The Potomac River drainage and other portions of Virginia and Washington, D.C., as well as in Maryland; Arkansas, New York, and Pennsylvania also offer limited opportunities
How to Catch: Focus on slow-moving or stagnant freshwater streams, rivers, or ponds with aquatic vegetation present, and fish for them as you would for largemouth and smallmouth bass, using spinners, frogs, buzzbaits, bladed jigs, and topwater lures; bowfishing can also be used to harvest these fish
Best Times: Early April through early October; live bait can also be used for fishing during cooler fall and winter periods
How to Prepare: The snakehead’s mild, flaky-but-firm, low-fat flesh is versatile and ideal for pan-searing, grilling, frying, smoking, or stews, with little seasoning required; just be sure to remove the skin before cooking

Blue Catfish

While a native species in the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Rio Grande river basins, blue catfish were introduced in the Chesapeake Bay area in the 1970s. As an apex predator that can thrive even in brackish waters and grow to more than 100 pounds, their population eventually exploded and they are now wreaking havoc on local ecosystems by eating a wide range of important native species in the Bay region, including menhaden, herring, striped bass, and blue crabs. Blue catfish can be found even far up Nanticoke River tributaries in Delaware, and are present in many Southeastern states, where they are considered more naturalized and populations have not exploded like they have in the Mid-Atlantic. Even if blue cats are native where you live, they’re still worth targeting for their sheer potential size and deliciously mild, firm flesh. There’s so good to eat, in fact, that a commercial industry now targets them in the Chesapeake Bay region to supply local restaurants and markets.

Size: Up to more than 6 feet and 100+ lbs.; avoid eating fish over 30″ long
Where to Target: Freshwater and brackish Chesapeake Bay river systems and tributaries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Delaware; click the state links to see fish consumption advisories to avoid eating these and other fish from areas with high contaminant levels in the water
How to Catch: Blue cats will eat anything, are fairly easy to catch, and a good choice for targeting with kids or inexperienced anglers, fishing near the bottom using fresh cut baits like shrimp, chicken liver, or fish, or live bait for larger catfish; trot lines can also be used if the goal is simply to catch as many fish as possible
Best Times: Can be fished year-round, with the spring months being particularly good; in the winter they are biting when not much else is, mainly in the warmer daytime periods; nighttime and low-light conditions are best in warmer summer months, and give anglers quarry to pursue to give striped bass a breather
How to Prepare: Blackened, pan-seared, deep fried, broiled or grilled (catfish filets hold up remarkably well on a grill); be sure to remove the skin before cooking

Lionfish

An attractive, audacious, and venomous marine species native to Indo-Pacific coral reefs, lionfish were first detected in U.S. waters off Florida roughly 40 years ago. It’s thought that people also inexplicably have released them from home aquariums into the Atlantic Ocean multiple times since. (A good reminder that people should never release any pets into the wild!) They have now unfortunately spread throughout the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean from New England to Texas and the Bahamas to the Greater Antilles. Their heaviest concentrations are in Florida, the Keys, and most Caribbean islands, with detections even having occurred in the saltwater portions of the Everglades – as if South Florida and the Everglades didn’t have enough invasive species problems to deal with already. Lionfish have become a serious problem because they gorge on dozens of species of juvenile reef fish that would ultimately grow to be bigger fish we like to catch. They can eat prey more than half their own length; have no real predators in the Western Hemisphere; and compete for food with important sportfish like snapper and grouper. Despite having venomous spines (which are painful, but not deadly), the flesh is perfectly safe to eat.

Size: Up to 15 inches or more and about 2.5 lbs.
Where to Target: Artificial or natural reefs and structure (the deeper, the better) off Florida and Alabama; internationally, in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas
How to Catch: Spearfishing (pole spears or Hawaiian slings) using scuba or snorkeling gear; they are surprisingly easy to harvest, due to a lack of predators that makes them unlikely to evade pursuit
Best Times: Any time of year, ideally near dawn and dusk
How to Prepare: They are in the same family as Pacific Coast rockfish, which are prized for their meat; their mild, buttery filets have been compared to grouper or mahi-mahi

Yellowstone Lake Trout

Angler with a Wyoming lake trout. Photo credit: Noah Bressman

Though most coveted trout species are actually considered invasive in at least parts of the U.S., they have long been established and often support economically important fisheries. However, some trout species in some areas are considered more destructive than valuable, so fisheries managers are working to eradicate them. The Yellowstone National Park region is home to non-native rainbows, browns, and brookies, but it’s the lake trout that are a problem. Both lake trout and native cutthroat trout are found in Yellowstone Lake, the largest high-elevation lake in North America, with lake trout both preying on and competing with cutthroats. A single lake trout can eat dozens of cutthroat trout every year, and this loss of the native fish is contributing to declines in many other wildlife species. In Yellowstone Lake, park regulations actually require anglers to keep or at least dispatch all lake trout they land. Added good news is that you’ll probably also be able to catch (and release) some big cutthroats when you’re out there.

Size: Around 20 inches typically, but up to 36 inches and nearly 40 pounds in this region
Where to Target: Yellowstone Lake, WY; noted spots include Carrington Island by boat or shore fishing in the Bridge Bay and West Thumb areas
How to Catch: Fly fishing by stripping a streamer with a baitfish pattern, or gear angling using deep-diving lures or vertical jigging in deeper water; guided fishing tours and boat rentals are available
Best Times: Legal in the park from Memorial Day weekend until early November, but fall is the best time, when lake trout move into the shallows to spawn
How to Prepare: High in healthy omega-3 fatty acids, they can be pan-fried or baked; they also cook nicely over an open fire in a grill basket (bring some butter and lemons)

What We’re Doing About AIS

TRCP recently worked with Yamaha Rightwaters, YETI, the American Sportfishing Association, Bass Pro Shops, and other partners on an AIS commission to address the need for better prevention and mitigation of aquatic invasive species. The commission’s final recommendations, finalized in 2023, included the need to modernize federal law and policy, increase targeted funding, maintain fishing access, and increase public education. See the full Aquatic Invasive Species Commission report here.

A special thanks to Noah Bressman, an assistant professor and AIS expert at Salisbury University, for helping confirm information for this blog, and for providing the snakehead photo in the banner image.

by: Jaclyn Higgins

posted in: Recreational Fisheries

July 9, 2024

2024 Herring Stock Assessment Shows Continued Decline

The Atlantic herring stock is still overfished, and recent public scoping shows that a vast majority of stakeholders favor stricter management measures to support rebuilding

New England anglers out on the water this summer wondering when they’ll find that next big school of herring to use as bait to score a trophy bluefin or striper might want to stick with using menhaden instead. At the end of June, NOAA Fisheries published the 2024 stock assessment update for Atlantic herring, and unfortunately the results show that little progress has been made toward rebuilding a herring stock that has been in decline for many years. A good visual depiction of how the Atlantic herring population has been in decline for decades is the NOAA graph below, which charts how commercial landings have plummeted over the last six decades.

Image Credit: New England Fishery Management Council

This new stock assessment further validates the work the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and its partners have been doing to support a new amendment to the Atlantic Herring Management Plan – Amendment 10 – to address user conflicts with anglers, attain optimum yield in the fishery, improve herring’s conservation status, and ensure that access to a healthy herring population is available to all stakeholders.

Herring Population Well Below Target

The 2024 assessment, which incorporated updated catch data, survey information, and life history parameters through 2023, indicates that the Atlantic herring stock is still overfished, but overfishing is not occurring. This essentially means that the overall size of the herring population is still far below its target level, despite fishing pressure being low enough that the stock should be able to replenish itself naturally. The data showed that the adjusted spawning stock biomass (SSB) was approximately 48,000 metric tons, or just 26 percent of the biomass target. For reference, the previous stock assessment estimated the 2021 herring SSB at 39,000 metric tons, or 21 percent of the biomass target, compared to the early 2000s when the SSB was over 200,000 metric tons, or over 1 million metric tons in the late 1960s. That’s more than 20 times what we are seeing today.

The likelihood of Atlantic herring meeting the 2025 rebuilding target is less than 1 percent.

Thus, herring are experiencing chronic circumstances that prevent them from recruiting enough younger fish to rebuild their population to a sustainable level for a thriving Northern Atlantic ecosystem, much less a thriving directed fishery. The stock’s rebuilding projections remain uncertain according to the latest data, and the likelihood of meeting the 2025 rebuilding target is less than 1 percent.

Bluefin tuna, a popular offshore sportfish, chase herring both in the wild and as bait. (Photo credit: Time Flies Charters)

Advocacy Offers Hope

The recent assessment may sound bleak, but not all hope is lost. Since 2023, the TRCP and partners have been involved in moving Amendment 10 to the Atlantic Herring Management Plan forward with the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC). The amendment is intended to address potential management changes, such as spatial and temporal restrictions for the Atlantic herring trawl fleet, to minimize conflicts with recreational anglers, charters, and other stakeholders; contribute to optimum yield; and support rebuilding of the herring resource. The NEFMC will also take action through Amendment 10 to address incidental catch of river herring and shad by the herring trawl fleet to better support ongoing coastwide restoration efforts for these species.

Thank you to those of you who contributed during the public comment period for Amendment 10 scoping in March and April, via spoken comments at scoping hearings or written comments submitted online. A full summary of scoping comments can be found here, but highlights include:

More than 99 percent of respondents were in support of further management actions to defend herring and supported economies. Of 891 people who commented, 795 did so on behalf of themselves and/or businesses, and only 6 comments did not support Amendment 10 action.
The public’s preference for potential new management measures via Amendment 10 include spatial/temporal measures (such as buffer zone variations, time/area closures to reduce river herring and shad incidental catch, and herring spawning area protections), gear restrictions in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and increased observer coverage on commercial herring vessels.
Ideas for data sources that the NEFMC could use to develop alternative measures were provided by the public, which included data collected by local Tribes, mapping overlap analyses, public survey data, and Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data.

Countless blueback herring (seen here) and shad are inadvertently killed by Atlantic herring trawlers. (Photo credit: Connecticut DEEP Fisheries)

What’s Next?

Rest assured, the TRCP and partners will continue to advocate for Amendment 10 moving forward to develop management alternatives for the Atlantic herring fishery that adequately address ongoing user conflicts, decrease incidental catch of river herring and shad, and contribute to optimum yield of herring for all who want to access this vital public resource. Next steps for Atlantic herring management at the NEFMC include:

The NEFMC Atlantic Herring Plan Development Team (PDT) and Technical Committee will meet July 9 to discuss the stock assessment update.
The Scientific and Statistical Committee will meet July 30-31 to recommend overfishing limits and acceptable biological catch for the 2025-2027 fishing seasons, based on the stock assessment results.

Amendment 10 will be on hold while the NEFMC focuses on the above fishing season specification-setting process over the summer. In the fall and winter months, the PDT will begin to analyze available data and develop potential management alternatives for Amendment 10, which will be reviewed by the Council.

If you’d like to stay involved in the Amendment 10 process, please fill out this user conflict survey (and share with all your friends!) that will be submitted to the NEFMC to help identify areas of high conflict between the directed fishery and other users of the herring resource: https://tinyurl.com/atlantic-herring-survey

Banner image credit 16:9Clue

by: Dan Morgan

posted in: Recreational Fisheries

June 26, 2024

Hunters and Anglers Cheer House Introduction of the Bipartisan ACE Reauthorization Act

Lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill to boost funding and provide crucial enhancements to conservation programs benefiting fish and wildlife.

The America’s Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Reauthorization Act of 2024 was introduced in the House on Friday June 21, 2024. The ACE Reauthorization Act is sponsored by Representatives Wittman (R-Va.), Kiggans (R- Va.), Dingell (D-Mich.), and Thompson (D-Calif.), and would reauthorize multiple programs that benefit hunting and angling including, the National Fish Habitat Partnership, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, the Chesapeake Bay Program, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. This reauthorization provides technical improvements and administrative streamlining to improve these programs. It also helps address threats like chronic wasting disease.

Earlier this year in a bipartisan vote, the U.S. Senate passed companion legislation, that paved the way for legislation to be introduced in the House.

“The America’s Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act will benefit fish and wildlife while enhancing outdoor recreation opportunities for millions of hunters and anglers,” said Becky Humphries, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, “TRCP applauds Representatives Wittman, Kiggans, Dingell, and Thompson for their leadership on this important bipartisan legislation and we look forward to building on the success of these crucial conservation programs through increased funding levels that will benefit our sporting traditions for years to come.”

The original ACE Act was passed in 2020 and sponsored by Representatives Wittman and Thompson. Many of its authorizations will expire in 2025, necessitating the passage of the ACE Reauthorization Act to ensure these vital conservation programs can continue to operate in good legal standing.

The legislation is endorsed by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Ducks Unlimited, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the National Wildlife Federation, American Sportfishing Association, the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and the National Audubon Society.

The TRCP looks forward to working with the House of Representatives to ensure that this essential legislation for hunters and anglers reflects the authorization increases in the Senate version and becomes law.

TRCP works to maintain and strengthen the future of hunting and fishing by uniting and amplifying our partners’ voices in conserving and restoring wildlife populations and their habitat as challenges continue to evolve.

Learn more about TRCP’s commitment to healthy habitat and clean water here.

Photo: James Wicks