September 11 - Wicked Tune-Up for Tuna Rules - Fishermen who catch tuna with harpoons, hand gear, purse seine nets, and longlines gathered last Wednesday in Gloucester, MA, for a hearing on proposed changes to the way we manage the catch of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Bluefin are highly prized for the sushi market and for recreational fishing. Strong, sleek, and muscular, these fish are astonishingly fast giants that can reach well over a thousand pounds. But their popularity has led to plummeting populations and has landed the bluefin on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

September 12 - The Bottom Line: Rebuilding Plans Work for U.S. Fisheries - By Lee Crockett, The Pew Charitable Trusts. A congressional hearing this week on the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act examined a new report from the National Academies on the law’s effectiveness in rebuilding depleted fish populations. As a member of the peer-review panel for the report, I can attest to the amount of work that went into this study, which clearly recognizes our nation’s overall success in restoring fish stocks.

September 13 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, September 13 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, fishing stakeholders respond to a report and hearing on Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization and rebuilding requirements; a seasonal lobster closure begins in Long Island Sound; Serious Eats highlights Maine lobstering; New Bedford’s Working Waterfront Festival will take place September 28-29; GMRI’s Out of the Blue campaign continues with a focus on whiting; new research shows changes in marine life distribution follow the direction and speed of climate change.

September 4 - We can restore river herring, but the Mid Atlantic Council and NOAA Fisheries need to step up - This post was written by John McMurray, a charter fishing captain and MAFMC member. We should acknowledge and stress that we can rebuild this culturally and economically important fish that has historically been a critical part of the marine food chain. And that we can, at least to some extent, control mortality both inshore and offshore. A stocks-in-the-fishery designation would give us the tools to do that. It won’t be easy for NOAA Fisheries, or Council staff, to make it happen, but it’s their/our obligation.

September 6 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, September 6 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, an NAS report evaluates the success of the Magnuson-Stevens Act; EDF’s Sarah Smith argues that closed areas can help fisheries build resilience to climate change; species distribution in New England is changing, with bonito, black sea bass, and squid moving north; Maine’s record seafood revenues in 2012 were mostly from lobster; UMass scientists prepare to tag juvenile bluefin tuna; USFWS will no longer stock the Merrimack with salmon; the NEFMC releases the agenda for its next meeting; Massachusetts closes 40 oyster beds; PCB resistant killifish in New Bedford Harbor stump scientists.

August 19 - Troubled Waters for Herring - Everything eats herring—from whales to striped bass to seabirds. Without abundant herring stocks, the Atlantic food web doesn’t work. That’s why herring protection brings together a diverse coalition of interests that includes recreational and commercial fishermen, conservation groups and whale-watching businesses. Sadly, two recent decisions by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will have serious impacts on herring, and all of the species that depend upon them.

August 21 - Mean, Green Eating Machines: The European green crab is “one of the world’s worst invasives” - Warming ocean temperatures have allowed green crabs to persist farther and farther north along the North American coastlines. Where cold winter chills used to keep its numbers in check, populations of green crabs are now booming places like the Gulf of Maine, and they are eating their way through our precious local seafood.

August 23 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, August 23 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, the Science and Statistical Committee discusses yellowtail and haddock; an opinion piece says Saltonstall-Kennedy funds should go to research, not NOAA; magazines argue over the high consumer price of lobster; Massachusetts’ summer flounder season ends; marine protected areas can protect fish populations without hurting fishermen; California serves as an example of successful coexistence with growing seal populations; scientists tag 20 loggerhead sea turtles.

August 12 - Deep Sea Canyons on Your Desktop - The live streaming video from the NOAA research vessel Okeanos Explorer brings eye-popping images from the ocean floor as scientists maneuver a remotely operated vehicle (or ROV) called Deep Discoverer along the canyons and seamounts at the edge of the continental shelf.

August 16 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, August 16 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, NOAA and the Council continue to argue over herring trawl observer coverage; lobster shell disease moves north; the Maine Lobstermen Union holds its first meeting; a new NOAA research vessel will map the seafloor; shark fin bans may hurt the dogfish fishery; low sand lance abundance hurts whale watch businesses; southern species are becoming more common in New England; an expedition to tag great white sharks is moving slowly; lobstermen oppose gear changes; the MAFMC discusses coral conservation; MA fishermen catch fewer, larger bluefin; climate change may inhibit Atlantic salmon recovery; recovering alewife populations feed the lobster bait industry.

August 5 - Man, Eating Shark - My plan was to kick off Shark Week by feasting on Squalus acanthias, aka Spiny Dogfish, and reporting my impressions. Spiny dogfish are one of the few fish populations in good biological condition that New England fishermen can still catch, having recovered from a crash back in the early 1990’s. Once a fish despised because of the havoc it caused with fishing gear and its voracious predation on more valuable commercial fish, many fishermen who can no longer find cod or other prime species are turning to dogfish out of financial desperation.

August 6 - Uncertain Science Isn’t to Blame for Groundfish Crisis - The real issue is not whether there is uncertainty in fisheries management science. Of course there is, and the more you get into the weeds of fishery management science the more the numerous uncertainties reveal themselves. The real issue is how managers choose to deal with the uncertainty that is inherent in fisheries management. In New England, by and large, they deal with it badly.

August 7 - Managing Fisheries in “A Climate of Change” - The Maine nonprofit Island Institute organized the two-day symposium “A Climate of Change” to bring fishermen, scientists, fishery managers, and NGOs together to share information and ideas about how climate change is already affecting fishing, and what they can do about it.

August 9 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, August 9 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, a new study shows marine species moving poleward in response to climate change; the ASMFC delays a decision on elver management; NEFMC chair Rip Cunningham writes to John Bullard in response to NERO’s refusal of Amendment 5 to the herring plan; NOAA declines to list river herring under the Endangered Species Act; Obama nominates Kathryn Sullivan to lead NOAA; Maine’s lobster monoculture is vulnerable to climate change; Senator Warren calls for federal disaster aid for the groundfish industry.

July 29 - Overfishing Threatens Genetic Diversity of Winter Flounder - New research by scientists in six bays of Long Island, New York, shows that overfishing of winter flounder living in these bays has led to severe inbreeding, a factor that is not typically considered in marine fisheries management.

August 2 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, August 2 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, fishermen and environmentalists are disappointed with NMFS’ rejection of observer requirements for the herring fleet; industry members say that uncertainty in stock assessments means catch limits should be eased; the NEFMC chairman tells NOAA that observer requirements for closed areas access are excessive; the Island Institute hosts a symposium on fisheries and climate change; oyster thieves hit another Cape Cod farm; three fishery management councils agree to protect deep-sea corals; NOAA announces a new fisheries research grant opportunity; scientists begin an expedition to tag twenty great white sharks off Chatham.

July 18 - Help Protect New England’s Cod Habitat - The public has until July 26th to submit comments on a proposed rule that would open nearly 3000 square miles of protected habitat to destructive commercial trawling. Click through to see an infographic for more information and to take action.

July 19 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, July 19 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, the Senate Appropriations Bill includes $150 million in fisheries disaster funding; WCAI’s “Long Haul” series continues with five more articles on New England fishing; debate continues over NOAA’s move to open protected areas to commercial fishing; Massachusetts lifts its ban on the sale of lobster tails; NOAA proposes rules to reduce marine mammal entanglements in fishing gear; state lawmakers approve funding for the Newburyport Shellfish Purification Plant.

June 24 - At-Sea Catch of River Herring Gets Long Overdue Attention - Severely depleted river herring and shad have been the focus of extensive restoration efforts in rivers for years—dams have come down, fish ladders and passages have gone up, and millions of dollars have been spent to improve habitat and water quality. Yet the loss of hundreds of thousands of these fish in the nets of trawlers has gone largely unaddressed—until now.

June 27 - Worst times, or just very, very bad? Industry splits hairs over the awful condition of cod - There remain some marginal voices in the fishing industry who continue to claim that cod populations are not in bad shape. Taking issue with a recent conclusion of mine that Atlantic cod were in their worst condition in history, these apologists for overfishing suggest that cod are just “in the middle of a rebuilding period.” Nonsense.

June 28 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, June 28 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, another Boston Globe opinion piece says Martha Coakley’s lawsuit will have negative consequences; NOAA’s John Bullard hosts a conference call to discuss industry recovery; a new yellowtail assessment will involve industry participation; Penny Pritzker is confirmed as Commerce Secretary; the Hook changes its name; members of Congress ask for a higher bluefin tuna catch limit; letters to the editor point out the poor state of groundfish stocks; Scott Lang and Brian Rothschild start a NOAA watchdog group; Maine allocates $2 million to lobster marketing.

June 10 - Day of Celebration on the St. Croix - It’s not often you get the chance to celebrate such a clear victory for the environment as the return of the alewife to the St. Croix River watershed. As discussed in prior posts, a Maine law prohibiting alewives from accessing this fish ladder at the Grand Falls Dam was repealed this past May and for the first time in two decades, alewives are able to return to their spawning grounds upriver.

June 10 - Veteran Gloucester Journalist Richard Gaines Dead at Age 69 - We at Talking Fish are saddened to hear of the passing of Gloucester Daily Times columnist Richard Gaines yesterday afternoon. Richard worked for 11 years at the Daily Times covering city hall, politics, and the fishing business, and in his 40-year career, he also worked as a political writer for UPI and as editor of the Boston Phoenix. Our thoughts are with his wife, family, colleagues, and the Gloucester community.

June 12 - The Bottom Line: For New England’s Fishing Fleet It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again - Twenty years later, the sense of déjà vu is unshakeable. A new season brings a troubling scenario of depleted fish populations and deficient management. Fourteen of the region’s 20 groundfish—or bottom dwelling—species are currently overexploited. Cod stocks are at the lowest levels ever recorded. New England’s best captains could not find enough cod in the past year to meet more than a third of their allotted quota on Georges Bank. It is, officially, an economic disaster, as the U.S. Department of Commerce declared last fall. In short, here we are, with our storied fishing grounds in even worse shape than they were two decades ago.

June 14 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, June 14 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, a Globe editorial says Attorney General Martha Coakley’s lawsuit has “destructive potential”; Gloucester Daily Times journalist Richard Gaines dies; Cape Cod fishermen seek cleaner fuels; the Cape’s first great white shark of the season spotted off Orleans; Ed Markey and Gabriel Gomez answer questions on groundfishand Cape Wind; Connecticut scales back salmon stocking efforts; Maine defeats a bill to let groundfishermen land lobster; the MA State House holds a hearing on seafood mislabeling; Senator Mo Cowan adds amendments to the Farm Bill to help fishermen.