Fishing for shad on the Potomac River at Fletcher's Boathouse is a spring tradition for many Washington-area anglers, including me. As a food source for larger fish, birds of prey, and other animals, shad provide a great example of the interconnectedness of nature -- which for decades hasn't received enough...

It's not every day that fishermen and environmentalists agree. But in a significant move, the American Bluefin Tuna Association and the International Game Fish Association are partnering with The Pew Charitable Trusts to protect bluefin tuna, one of the most amazing fish in the sea. By working...

The annual arrival of spring chinook salmon to inland rivers makes March an eagerly anticipated time of year for fishermen and seafood lovers on the Pacific Coast. Anglers wait all year for the chance to land a hulking silvery chinook, commonly known as a king salmon, and consumers enjoy eating...

"The fish just aren't there." This simple observation from Cape Cod fisheries manager Tom Dempsey to the Associated Press sums up the challenge of decreasing cod populations.

Recent scientific studies estimate that cod populations are at or near record lows. But this serious problem has not stopped the...

In 1996, I worked in the fisheries service at NOAA. That year, Congress passed legislation to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law that governs our nation's ocean fish. The updated law established an important mandate for the agency: conserve fish. Our previous goal, decades long, was simply to...

New England is famous for cod fishing. But the industry is ailing -- and the cure being proposed might be worse than the disease. Three months ago, the U.S. Commerce Department declared a "commercial fisheries disaster" off the coast of New England because populations of groundfish -- cod, haddock...

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has seen a lot in its 70-year history but nothing quite like this. More than 128,000 people flooded the commission's inboxes with postcards and emails last month, a new record for public comment. Scientists, small business owners, nature lovers, and anglers sent...

Our nation's West Coast is known worldwide for the rich and iconic marine life that can be found off its shores. In fact, countless tourists travel there every year just for a glimpse of a pod of migrating gray whales or the chance to catch a coho or king salmon...

One of our democracy's core beliefs is that nations make better decisions when citizens are informed and engaged. In this spirit, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), like many other landmark laws that govern our natural resources, places particular importance on public involvement in the management of...

Like many fishermen, I've used menhaden, or "bunker," as bait. It's hard to believe, but when you're holding one of these small, oily fish, you're holding a big piece of history. Menhaden have had a major impact on the economy and ecology of our Atlantic coast for centuries, supporting a...

An innovative project in the Gulf of Mexico may finally offer a real solution to a decades-old problem.

For 30 years, fisheries experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have tried to protect western Atlantic bluefin tuna from surface longlines in the Gulf of Mexico,...

There's an old saying that a penny saved is a penny earned. This sound financial advice is equally true for management of U.S. ocean fish resources. As I've said before, conserving our ocean fish populations is a prudent economic investment. The converse is also true: Overfishing is bad economic policy....

I recently wrote about some good news from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Fisheries Service regarding improvements in the health of U.S. ocean fish populations. In a little publicized but very important milestone, NOAA fisheries and the regional fishery management councils have completed a...

In the Gulf of Mexico, surface longlines intended to catch yellowfin tuna and swordfish indiscriminately catch and kill more than 80 other species of ocean wildlife, including severely depleted western Atlantic bluefin tuna. This species is particularly at risk: Scientific studies have identified it as a distinct population...

In case you blinked, here's a quick update: On May 30, the European Union announced that France and Spain reached their purse seine quota for bluefin for the year in just two weeks. Purse seine vessels from the two countries have been called back to their...

Last week, the New York Times published a blog and an editorial recognizing the progress made in the management of U.S. ocean fisheries. Overall, more than 100 newspapers across the country have covered a promising new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

This year's purse-seine fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea kicked off this week, but don't blink or you might miss it.

On Tuesday, May 15, large commercial purse-seine vessels with massive nets set out to catch literally tons of tuna by encircling entire schools of breeding bluefin. The...

Health care is a controversial topic these days, but one thing we can all agree on is the importance of annual checkups. Every year, millions of Americans visit their doctors as a proactive measure to stay healthy, identify any underlying conditions, and check for common problems -- all in an...

Small fish such as sardines and anchovies don't get much love. But these little fish provide essential food for all the marine life that we like to catch, eat or watch. Unfortunately, most fisheries managers haven't thought too much about these prey fish, either--until now, that is.

The newest reality TV stars aren't college kids thrown together in a group house, or a couple who race around the world to win a million dollars. They are the men, and occasionally the women, who do the jobs that many of us didn't even know existed: the axmen from...