Opening weekend at San Diego’s Tuna Harbor outdoor fish market draws larger than expected crowd

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [US San Diego] by Bradley J. Fikes – August 4, 2014

With the help of hundreds of San Diegans who waited patiently Saturday morning, San Diego’s once-dominant seafood industry opened a new chapter.

On a long-unused pier just north of Seaport Village, Tuna Harbor Dockside Market opened at 8 a.m, providing an open-air seafood market that carries overtones of Pike’s Market in Seattle or Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The Port of San Diego and the county worked with local fishers to get the market legally certified and launched in just a couple of weeks.

Working under overcast skies, fishers directly unloaded the catch, including yellowfin, bluefin, black cod, sea urchin, octopus and rock, razor and box crab, from boats to stands. Whole fish as well as fillets were spread out on ice. Live crabs and sea urchins were kept in tanks.

The market is set to operate each Saturday, from 8 a.m. until the seafood sells out.

While the market is a novelty in 21st-century San Diego, buying fresh fish from those who caught it was part of life for the early- to mid-20th century residents. The city’s large fishing fleet would pull up to the Embarcadero, where locals could take their pick of fresh-caught seafood.

At that time, San Diego was known as the “Tuna Capital” of the world. The market moved around during those decades, from Broadway to what is now Seaport Village, and to where Chesapeake Fish Co. is now.

But increasing competition from other countries hollowed out the fishing fleet, causing the loss of many jobs locally.

Saturday’s launch showed today’s San Diegans what they’d been missing out on.

People reportedly began lining up around 6 a.m. By 9 a.m., the line had surpassed 220 people, some carrying or wheeling large coolers to haul away their catch. Around 10:30 the crowd was told the supply was beginning to run out.

Sea urchin was on the mind of one of the cooler-wheeling shoppers, Kristine Ortiguerra of San Diego. The market provides a great addition to the region, Ortiguerra said while waiting toward the back of the line.

“We’d like for this to be routine,” Ortiguerra said. “My parents would drive up to San Pedro for fresh seafood. Hopefully, that is what it’s going to be like.”

Near the front, Michelle Ashbaugh, also of San Diego, said she had been waiting in line for about two hours, starting a little after 7 a.m. Ashbaugh and her friend, Staci Marshall, were looking for crab and yellowtail.

Marshall said the market’s seafood had two advantages.

“It’s fresh, and you don’t have to pay the overhead,” Marshall said.

Bluefin listed for $8 a pound; rock crab for $2.50 a pound; sea urchin at $5 a pound; and sheepshead, famous or infamous for having human-like teeth, for $7 a pound.
The names of the boats each fish came from were displayed with the prices.

Sellers indicated their surprise at the unexpectedly large turnout.

“The crowd’s a lot larger than we had anticipated. This is better than anybody could have asked for on the first day,” said Dwight Colton, vice president of operations for Fish Market Restaurants.

“The goal is to make Saturday mornings at the dockside market the place to go for seafood here in San Diego,” Colton said. “On Saturday mornings, go here, then off to a farmer’s market.”

Availability of whole fish distinguishes the dockside market from other outlets, Colton said.

“Local albacore, rock fish — you can buy them whole,” Colton said. “You can’t get that in any of the markets.”

Live sea urchins, known as uni in sushi-speak, also distinguish the market. The savory echinoderms are available at sushi restaurants in limited quantities at irregular intervals.

The market is intended to operate year-round if there’s sufficient demand, Colton said.

“We’re working with the port, we’re working with the local fishermen to establish what everybody can bring each week,” he said. “A lot depends on what comes out of the ocean. Summertime is a peak season for varieties of seafood. But there’s a steady flow of fresh seafood coming out of our local waters throughout the year.”

The market is meant not only to stimulate the local fishing industry, but to provide fresh and healthy food for the county’s residents. It’s also an example of cooperation between local fishers, said the County of San Diego and the Port District, which owns the pier.

County Supervisor Greg Cox credited the county’s Department of Environment Health for cutting red tape to get the market certified and opened in less than two weeks, along with the Port of San Diego, and the fishers for making the market possible. Local fishermen Zack Roach Jr. and Luke Halmay were leaders in organizing the market.

Cox, whose district includes the pier, said at a brief ceremony that the new market marks a revival of fortunes for the local fishing fleet.

“This market is definitely going to help our local fishing industry and our ‘blue economy’ by allowing fisherman to sell the catch to you, the public, without any middlemen,” Cox said. “The market will also turn a quiet, unused pier, into a vibrant attraction for local residents and for tourists.”

The market also provides more healthy eating options, Cox said, consistent with the county’s “Live Well San Diego,” aimed at getting people to eat a more healthy diet, exercise more and not use tobacco products.

Port Chairman Bob Nelson told shoppers that the agency was “overwhelmed” at the response to the new market. He credited the San Diego Maritime Alliance and the California Coastal Conservancy with helping get the market off the ground.

Photo Credit: UT San Diego

Republished with permission from Seafoodnews.com. Read the original post here.

Regional Fishery Management Councils call on Oceana to retract bycatch report; Cite “substantial errors, omissions”

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — June 18, 2014  — The Regional Fishery Management Council Coordination Committee, representing all eight U.S. regional Fishery Management Councils, has recommended that environmental group Oceana retract its March 2014 report on fisheries bycatch, “Wasted Catch,” that was widely reported in the press without independent verification of its allegations.

The Councils contend that “misinformation in reports like Wasted Catch undermines those productive relationships between industry, management, and NGOs that have been effective in reducing bycatch.” They are especially critical of the fact that Oceana relied heavily on only one document, the National Marine Fishery Service’s “National Bycatch Report,” and in doing so has left the report “unlikely to result in a full representation of the best available science.”

The Councils recommended that for future reports, Oceana should adopt “a standardized peer review process to ensure that reports like this accurately and objectively represent the best available science.”

The analysis by the Councils lists general issues with and critiques of the report, followed by a region-by-region analysis of errors and omissions identified by Council staffs.

The Councils conclude by acknowledging, “there are no laws requiring Oceana reports to accurately represent the best available scientific information or to undergo peer review.” But they urge that “to do so would be in the best interest of all involved parties.”

Read the full letter from the Regional Fishery Management Council Coordination Committee here

Seafood industry under threat from climate change

By April Forristall, SeafoodSource.com assistant editor
Published on 28 May, 2014

A report released on Wednesday reveals the growing threat of climate change and acidification to marine resources.

The report contains findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report and was published jointly by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) and the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Judge Business School and supported by the European Climate Foundation.

Findings include:

• The total loss of landings to global fisheries by 2050 due to climate change range from USD 17 billion (EUR 12.5 billion) to USD 41 billion (EUR 30.1 billion) based on a global warming scenario of 2 degrees.
• Fishery yields will increase 30 – 70 percent in high latitudes but fall by 40 – 60 percent in the Tropics and Antarctica based on 2 degrees of warming. Large species like tuna in the Pacific and Indian oceans are likely to move eastwards.
• 400 hundred million people depend critically on fish for their food and face reduced access to marine protein because of climate change and acidification. Artisanal fishermen in the Tropics are most at risk.
• Changes in the distribution of particular marine species may lead to conflict between fishing nations and significant increases in illegal fishing.
• The impacts of climate change and ocean acidification are generally exacerbated by other factors like pollution, habitat loss and over-fishing

“This report is a wake up call for the seafood industry to recognize the scale of the threat to ocean resources from climate change and acidification,” said Blake Lee-Harwood of SFP. “We need to see urgent action in trying to mitigate the likely impacts while adapting wherever that’s practically possible.”

“This briefing highlights the business-critical implications of climate change for the fisheries sector, representing tens of billions of dollars in future costs and damages for the industry. Companies in this sector will have to take the implications of climate science into account as they plan for the future. We hope that this briefing, developed with experts from both business and science, will help them do so,” said Eliot Whittington of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
 
The report cites areas where action can be taken to lessen the impact of climate change:

• Adapt where possible — for instance, some shellfish hatcheries in the north west USA have learned to avoid taking in seawater during periods of high acidity
• Undertake vulnerability assessments of fisheries and aquaculture operations
• Strengthen coastal zone management to reduce land-sourced pollution, over-harvesting and physical damage to resources
• Create new habitats such as artificial reefs to act as fish nurseries in areas where coral reef destruction occurs

Sardine recovery drives Q1 Chile pelagic catches up 28%, offsetting drop in jack mackerel

May 23, 2014, 2:17 pm
Alicia Villegas  

Sardines. Photo by Juuyoh Tanaka.

Chile’s pelagic landings rose by 27.8% to 522,600 metric tons in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2013.

This was driven by good sardine catches, which more than doubled year-on-year.

By the end of March, 197,000t or 52.8% of the quota set for Chile’s sardine fishery in 2014 had been caught, according to Chile’s undersecretariat for fisheries and aquaculture Subpesca.

All of these landings were from the area between the V and X regions.

This means that during the next nine months of the year, catches cannot exceed 176,000t, as the sardine fishery saw the steepest drop in absolute volume of total allowed catches (TAC) for 2014, slashed by 38.3% to 373,000t.

The cut was in response to the steep drop in Chile’s sardine catches last year, which drove pelagic landings down by nearly 650,000t in the first nine months of 2013.

Anchovy catches also nudged up in Q1 this year, but only slightly, by 1.8% to 168,600t year-on-year.

Regions XV and II accounted for most landings (148,000t), which is also 11.2% up from last year’s 165,600t.

Jack mackerel, poor landings

Jack mackerel, the third main pelagic species caught by the Chilean fleet, had poor landings in comparison to sardine and anchovy.
chile_pelagics_q12014

Chile’s pelagic landings in 2014 first three months: jack mackerel (red), anchovy (green) and sardine (purple).

Vessels landed 107,000t of jack mackerel in the three month period, which is 13.9% down as the same time last year, said Subpesca.

Regions V and X were the main jack mackerel’s landings areas, totaling 95,100t, involving a fall of 19% year-on-year.

Cuttlefish catches double

Cuttlefish catches were also up in the first three months of 2014 when compared with the same time a year ago.

“The cuttlefish resource increases strongly, doubling its catches,” Subpesca said.

Cuttlefish landings totaled 37,400t by the end of March, mainly in the V and X regions.

Hake down 47%

On the other hand, hake catches were down 47.3% to 5,000t year-on-year.

Industrial vessels contributed to 37.8% or 1,900t of hake landings, while the artisanal fleet increased its catches by 10.9% to 3,100t.

According to media reports, however, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing of hake in Chile could have totaled 19,000t so far this year.

That would if so represent 83.3% of the total allowable catch for the artisanal fisheries, set at 7,600t.

Landings for mackerel, for its part, also decreased by 33.7% to 9,200t year-on-year.

Commercial Fishing Value Doubles Recreational Sector

by Laine Welch

The debate over which sector — commercial or recreational fishing — provides the bigger economic punch can finally be put to rest.

The annual “Fisheries Economics of the U.S.” report by the Department of Commerce shows once and for all that in terms of values, jobs, sales and incomes, the commercial sector far outscores recreational fishing. A breakdown of the extensive report by market analyst John Sackton shows that in 2012, commercial fishing had $140 billion in sales compared to $58 billion for sport fishing. And for the value contributed to the national economy, commercial fishing added nearly $60 billion — double the recreational sector.

In terms of jobs, the seafood industry employed 1.27 million people compared to 380,000 for sports anglers. The most striking difference, Sackton said, is where those people are employed. For sport fishing, employment was building boats and engines, representing 82 percent of both employment and sales and is very regionally concentrated. The NOAA report added that less than 20 percent of the jobs in the sport industry come from guides, boat operators, tackle shops and various rentals.

For the commercial fishing industry, the value and jobs created are spread throughout the entire country. The recreational sector is concentrated in a few states and industries. For example, Florida accounted for 30 percent of all U.S. recreational fishing jobs. Add the Gulf States and North Carolina, and the number jumps to nearly half the national total.

The economic benefits of the commercial seafood sector also penetrate all parts of the U.S. and the economy. Unlike his sport counterparts, a fisherman in Alaska is supporting dozens of other U.S. jobs in retail, wholesale, distribution and import sectors. In short, the facts negate the argument that recreational fishing has a greater or more direct economic impact than the commercial fishery.

The economics report also breaks down information by region. In terms of prices, the report shows that of 10 key U.S. species, sea scallops, Pacific halibut and sablefish received the highest ex-vessel (dock) prices in 2012 at $9.83, $4.48 and $3.42 per pound, respectively.

Menhaden and pollock had the lowest ex-vessel prices in 2012 at $0.07 and $0.12 per pound. However, landings of both species were the largest in the U.S. at 1.77 billion pounds of menhaden and 2.87 billion pounds of pollock. Find a link to the ‘Fisheries Economics of the U.S. report at www.alaskafishradio.com.

Get your gear on

The call is out for entries in the international Smart Gear competition. The contest, which began in 2005 by the World Wildlife Fund, rewards new gear ideas that help fishermen retain target catches while letting marine mammals, turtles, birds or small fish swim away.

This year’s competition offers the largest prize pool ever, said program director, Michael Osmond in a phone interview.

“There is a $30,000 grand prize, two $10,000 runner-up prizes, and we have two $7,500 that we call special bycatch prizes,” Osmond said. “One of them is a tuna bycatch reduction prize, and the other is a marine mammal bycatch reduction prize.”

The competition goes beyond cash prizes, he added.

“The second step is to get those ideas to the stage where they can actually be used by industry, and doing the job they were designed to do,” he said.

WWWF and its partners continue working with gear innovators and — to date — almost 50 percent of the winning ideas from the competition are now out on the water. That includes the 2011winners: Japan’s double-weight branchline that prevents seabird bycatch; Florida’s “Seaqualizer” that lets fish with air bladders be safely returned to deep water; and California’s simple LED lights or glow sticks that keep turtles away from gillnets.

Osmond said 60 to 70 percent of the gear entries come from fishermen — as do the majority of winning ideas. The 2011 competition attracted 74 entries from a record 31 countries. Osmond said Alaska is always in the mix with three or four entries.

“We haven’t yet had a winning idea from Alaska,” he said, “but this year is just as good a chance as any.”
Deadline to enter the Smart Gear contest is Aug. 31. Go to www.smartgear.org

Pollock opp flop

It’s the peak time of the year for jig fishing for cod, and 60 boats have landed more than 1.5 million pounds of a nearly 6-million-pound quota. At the same time, jiggers can keep as much pollock as they catch. But so far it hasn’t been much of a draw.

“No one seems to be taking advantage of the pollock jig fishery in the sense that they are going out and targeting pollock,” said Matt Keyse, a regional manager at Fish and Game in Kodiak.
So far, 15,000 pounds of pollock was delivered by jig boats. Keyes said that’s about average.
“Every year, jig cod boats tend to land between 20-30,000 pounds of pollock,” he added. “I expect we’ll be in that same range if things remain the same.”

The jig cod price at Kodiak is 35 cents a pound; pollock is closer to 13 cents. A dozen seiners signed up for the first-ever pollock fishery and Keyse said he’s just waiting for the boats to show.

“At this point, we are waiting for someone to approach us and say they are ready to go,” Keyes said.
The Kodiak salmon season begins on June 9. Keyes said there won’t be conflicting seine gear in the water.

View original post here. HomerTribune.com

dead fish wash ashore in marina del rey

By Q McCray
Sunday, May 18, 2014
MARINA DEL REY, Calif. (KABC) —
Massive cleanup efforts are underway after thousands of dead fish were found floating in Marina Del Rey Saturday afternoon, near Ballona Creek.

Anchovies, stingrays, halibut, sunfish and an octopus were among the thousands of dead fish that rose to the surface at Basin A of the marina near Tahiti Way, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

View original story here. ABC7.com

Intense El Nino seen likely to be developing this fall

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SCOM] – May 15, 2014 –

New NASA satellite images seem to show that El Niño conditions seem to be developing in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, data from satellites and ocean sensors indicate.  The ocean temperature profile in May 2014 appears very similar to that of 1997, when an intense El Nino cycle formed.

A natural climate cycle that brings abnormally toasty temperatures to the Pacific Ocean, El Niño occurs when winds pile up warm water in the eastern part of the equatorial Pacific, triggering changes in atmospheric circulation that affects rainfall and storm patterns around the world.

Sea-surface height can reveal if such heat is being stored in particular regions of the ocean, since water expands as it warms. Above-normal sea-surface height in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, in turn, can suggest an El Niño is developing, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory.

That’s what is showing up right now, as satellite images taken from the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 satellite reveal sea-surface height, averaged over a 10-day period centered on May 3, is above normal. A similar anomaly showed up during May 1997 — which coincided with one of the strongest El Niños ever experienced. That year North America saw one of its warmest and wettest winters on record; Central and South America saw immense rainstorms and flooding; and Indonesia along with parts of Asia endured severe droughts, the Earth Observatory noted.

“What we are now seeing in the tropical Pacific Ocean looks similar to conditions in early 1997,” said Eric Lindstrom, oceanography program manager at NASA headquarters, in an Earth Observatory statement. “If this continues, we could be looking at a major El Niño this fall. But there are no guarantees.”

A network of sensors in the Pacific Ocean reveals a deep pool of warm water shifting eastward, supporting the satellite data, according to the Earth Observatory.
Model predictions issued on May 8 by the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center forecast that the chances of an El Niño developing during the summer are more than 65 percent. “These atmospheric and oceanic conditions collectively indicate a continued evolution toward El Niño,” the alert read.

This event may be just the beginning of more intense El Niños to come, according to research detailed Jan. 19 in the journal Nature Climate Change. That study suggested the most powerful El Niño events may occur every 10 years rather than every 20 years, due to rising sea-surface temperatures overall in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Republished with permission of SeafoodNews.com

View the original article here.

Scientists Warn of Rising Oceans From Polar Melt

By JUSTIN GILLIS and KENNETH CHANG
MAY 12, 2014

A large section of the mighty West Antarctica ice sheet has begun falling apart and its continued melting now appears to be unstoppable, two groups of scientists reported on Monday. If the findings hold up, they suggest that the melting could destabilize neighboring parts of the ice sheet and a rise in sea level of 10 feet or more may be unavoidable in coming centuries.

Global warming caused by the human-driven release of greenhouse gases has helped to destabilize the ice sheet, though other factors may also be involved, the scientists said.

The rise of the sea is likely to continue to be relatively slow for the rest of the 21st century, the scientists added, but in the more distant future it may accelerate markedly, potentially throwing society into crisis.

“This is really happening,” Thomas P. Wagner, who runs NASA’s programs on polar ice and helped oversee some of the research, said in an interview. “There’s nothing to stop it now. But you are still limited by…”

Read the entire article online here. NYTimes.com

Pew/NatGeo Column Oversimplifies Ecosystem-Based Management of “Forage Fish”

“Environmental NGOs have launched a nationwide campaign to protect “forage fish”.  Groups such as Pew are broadcasting the same protectionist message on the west coast as well as the east and gulf coasts.  On the west coast, the Pacific Council has already adopted an Ecosystem Plan, but as this article attests, managing “forage species” is not a one-size-fits-all proposition.  In fact, west coast fishery regulations for coastal pelagic species, also called forage fish, are the most precautionary in the world.”

Pew/NatGeo Column Oversimplifies Ecosystem-Based Management of “Forage Fish”

It’s not as simple as “ABC”

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) May 7, 2014 — In a recent article, “The ABCs of Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management-Part II,” the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Director of Federal Fisheries Policy and National Geographic online guest writer, Lee Crockett, focuses on the management of “forage fish” — a much used, though highly debated categorization for a number of small, marine species. The article’s title suggests that management of forage species is as simple as learning the alphabet, but in reality that is far from the case. Fisheries management is a highly complex process, and fisheries managers have stated that much remains to be studied and understood before ecosystem-based management can work for every species.

The term “forage fish” simply describes a number of tiny fish and invertebrates that share a similar niche in the marine food web (they are often “foraged” upon by larger predators). The range of included species is broad, and their differences are diverse. Targeted stocks like shrimp, squid, herring, and menhaden can all be classified as “forage” species, as can non-targeted species like jellyfish, bay anchovy, sand lance, and sea worms. These species have a variety of biological differences, and don’t have much in common outside of their trophic level. So while the term may seem convenient, all species labeled “forage fish” cannot be successfully lumped and managed in the same way, as Pew and a number of environmental groups often suggest.

An example of this flaw can be found in the calculations Mr. Crockett cites from the Lenfest Forage Fish Taskforce. The Lenfest analyses are based around the assumption that the various “forage species” can be managed under the same broad guidelines. However, there are a significant number of different variables — including fecundity, spawning periods, migration, predator-prey relationships, and habitat — that must be considered to properly manage these species and are more relevant than their shared trophic role.

Different forage species will likely respond in different ways to management measures. For example, one of the species mentioned in the article, Atlantic herring, has lower levels of fecundity when the stock biomass is high. Another species mentioned, Atlantic menhaden, has historically shown a poor correlation between harvest levels and biomass. Some of the peak years in menhaden biomass, particularly in the early 1980s, were preceded by years of heavy fishing mortality. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) states that, “menhaden recruitment appears to be independent of fishing mortality and spawning stock biomass, indicating environmental factors may be the defining factor in the production of good year classes.” Mr. Crockett’s broad reference to “forage fish” as a general category does not factor in these differences.

Lenfest’s economic analysis, concluding that “forage fish” are more valuable if left in the water than if caught, rests on unproven assumptions about predator species. First, that all “forage fish” left in the water will be consumed by predator species, and second, that predator species are currently constrained by a lack of forage. But the report does not actually provide evidence that this is the case.

In fact, these assumptions are demonstrably untrue for several predator species. Some, like weakfish, are currently overfished, and an increase in available forage would not be an effective solution to problems facing the stock. Other species, like striped bass, have not historically been abundant at the same time as forage species like menhaden.

A shift toward ecosystem-based fisheries management for all fisheries is a common goal shared by managers, industry members, and conservationists alike. But such a transition requires that fisheries management reach a point of technological and scientific innovation that enables responsible and informed management in that capacity. Fisheries managers are constantly working to improve and obtain the most up-to-date and comprehensive scientific information regarding species interactions, but at the present, many fisheries simply have not yet reached the point at which ecosystem-based management is possible and productive.

In the mean time, “forage” species like menhaden are being watched and managed closely to ensure their sustainable harvest. The menhaden fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic are two of the most closely monitored and regulated fisheries in their respective regions. In the Atlantic, commercial menhaden harvesters now operate under a 20 percent reduction in allowable harvests. That historic cut was implemented by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), with the support of groups such as Mr. Crockett’s employer, for the express purpose of ensuring the species’ continued sustainable harvest. In the Gulf of Mexico, the menhaden fishery has been lauded as a “close to perfect” fishery thanks to its remarkably low bycatch and closely monitored commercial operations.

Managers in the Gulf have also openly discussed ecosystem-based management for the menhaden fishery there, for which they have decades of scientific records. But as is the case for many fisheries for now, scientists concluded that the data and technology are simply not there yet for such a significant transition. In their most recent Gulf menhaden stock assessment, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC), which manages regional species in the Gulf of Mexico, stated “that data and techniques [for ecosystem-based management] are insufficient at present to incorporate them into the assessment.” In other words, to adopt premature and incomplete ecosystem-based components to future stock assessments would prove difficult to accurately project the true health of a species’ population. Ultimately, a hasty transition would leave fisheries with less science-based management than at the present.

Mr. Crockett also references Federal law governing fisheries management, the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA). He alleges that “forage” species are at risk of exploitation without strongly worded protections within the MSA against commercial harvests. But harvest cuts like those for Atlantic menhaden, and closely monitored menhaden management in the Gulf of Mexico already exemplify that law’s intent. In both cases, managers are actively fulfilling the law’s fundamental requirement that fisheries management balance long-term sustainability with the socioeconomic needs of our fishing communities. The Magnuson-Stevens Act exemplifies the principle of sustainable marine resource management. Its intent and application demonstrates that conservation is not an end in itself, but also a means for ensuring that those who rely on these fisheries remain economically afloat.

Commercial fishermen, including those who harvest species like menhaden, share an interest in ecosystem-based management. Fishermen and scientists have long worked together to develop more timely and comprehensive fishery science to that very end. But forcing fishery managers into a system that is not yet supported by fundamentally important scientific findings and technology will not advance responsible resource management.

In the case of “forage fish,” those involved in fishery management have regulated and monitored these species with recognition of the reality that they are a highly diverse group whose behavior is far from uniform. To the benefit of these species, as well as the fishing communities who depend on their sustainable management, there is more work to be done before making a move toward the ecosystem-based management that Mr. Crockett endorses.

Read this response online at Saving Menhaden

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U.S. Climate Has Already Changed, Study Finds, Citing Heat and Floods

The effects of human-induced climate change are being felt in every corner of the United States, scientists reported Tuesday, with water growing scarcer in dry regions, torrential rains increasing in wet regions, heat waves becoming more common and more severe, wildfires growing worse, and forests dying under assault from heat-loving insects.

By Justin Gillis | May 6, 2014 | NYTimes.com

View the entire article here.