RE: Annual Catch Limits Now in Place for Most Federal Fisheries Dear NOAA Fisheries Constituents, Everyone – commercial and recreational fishermen, NGOs, Councils, Congress and NOAA – knew it would be a heavy lift to put accountability measures and catch Read More >>

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will meet January 30 – February 2, 2012, at the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel in Mobile, Alabama. Agenda highlights are summarized below.  For a copy of the detailed agenda or to review Read More >>

For NOAA media inquiries, please contact Keeley Belva at keeley.belva@noaa.gov or 301-713-3066 For response inquiries, please phone the Joint Information Center at 985-902-5231 or 985-902-5240 To report oil on land, or for general Community and Volunteer Information, please phone 866-448-5816 Read More >>

Rep. Walter Jones has proposed Amendment #548 to H.R. 1 to prohibit funding to promote, advocate, or develop Limited Access Privilege Programs (LAPPs) in the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, and New England Regional Fishery Management Councils. The Jones Read More >>

Shareholders’ Alliance member and treasurer Buddy Guindon will testify at a briefing in Washington, D.C. today on “Reviving Coastal Economies through Healthy, Vibrant Fisheries and Oceans.” Buddy has been asked for his expert testimony on the cooperative efforts underway to Read More >>

Jim Zurbrick and several other Alliance members witnessed a bit of history last week at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) meeting in Apalachicola. Commissioners agreed to consider gag grouper rules in April for Gulf of Mexico state Read More >>

A new Government Accountability Office details billions in potential cuts Congress can make to the budget just by streamlining the federal government. The 345-page GAO report released Tuesday identified nearly two score areas in which federal programs duplicate one another’s Read More >>

by Bubba Cochrane; published in National Fishermen, May 2011 edition As a commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico, I – like all fishermen – face a lot of threats to my livelihood.  The BP oil spill is a perfect Read More >>

Today we learned the Jones Amendment, which we adamantly oppose, will be added to the FY 2011 budget. This amendment prevents Regional Fishery Management Councils from exploring any new catch share programs for east coast and Gulf of Mexico fisheries. Read More >>

Congress pulls cost-saving management choices for struggling fishermen in favor of special-interest policies proven to bankrupt fishermen, devastate fisheries (April 14, 2011) Commercial fishing groups are dismayed about federal budget negotiations that have resulted in what fishermen are calling the Read More >>

By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, Times-Picayune Following a move six months ago to protect the hermaphroditic fish’s population, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service on Friday announced an ease on gag grouper fishing regulations in Gulf of Mexico federal waters. Read More >>

By Ben Raines, Press-Register Despite media reports describing a rash of red snapper with lesions caught off Alabama in the Gulf of Mexico, such fish proved difficult to catch during 4 days of intensive fishing off the Alabama coast by a team of researchers from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. READ MORE

I’m fresh back from the 10th Annual Cooking for Solutions conference at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and “fresh” is just the right word to describe. I left the three-day conference with fresh insight on what folks in other regions understand Read More >>

A brief, but curious column in a small Florida daily recently flagged my attention last week. The May 27 outdoors column in The Ledger (by reporter Del Milligan) stated “Gulf red snapper are being considered for a catch-share program that Read More >>

The Secretary of Commerce recently appointed three Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council members; Dr. Pam Dana of Florida and Patrick Riley of Texas and  Dr. Bob Shipp from Alabama (reappointment). They will all be sworn in during the August Read More >>

By Talking Fish on June 2, 2011 Last week, President Obama nominated John Bryson, a former energy company CEO, to be the next Secretary of Commerce.  According to the Boston Globe, Bryson has a long history of business leadership, having Read More >>

June 20, 2011 The following letter was sent to Mr. Richard Gaines, a reporter with the Gloucester Times. It was also sent to us by the writer, who is a small commercial fisherman who holds IFQ on red snapper in Read More >>

Solid data brings sound decisions. The Alliance is continually working to assist NOAA in data and stock collection and your participation is invaluable for compiling strong data. If you are a fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico, please answer the Read More >>

Gulf Wild™, our pioneering brand of trackable seafood from the Gulf of Mexico continues to garner attention near and far. We’re really, really pleased with the recognition we’ve landed with respected media companies and their outlets, including a focused piece Read More >>

Old regulations forced fishermen to race against the clock. Today’s catch shares have saved lives. By SCOTT CAMPBELL JR. Many people think I’m crazy for making a living by catching crabs in Alaska. Battling 20-foot waves in icy conditions and Read More >>

There’s an alarming mistruth being played in Washington right now that catch shares cost American fishermen their jobs. Legislators are disguising politics as catch share knowledge, and falsely claiming catch shares create job loss. Those of us who are real Read More >>

Conversation: Andrew Sharpless, CEO, Oceana. Excerpts from a story by MAUREEN NANDINI MITRA – MAY 11, 2012 (Full version viewable here.) Oceana CEO Andrew Sharpless estimates that if we managed the world’s oceans better, wild seafood could potentially be a major Read More >>

Well, our hard-working House representatives did it again. They bit the very hand that feeds them — America’s commercial fishermen to be precise. Several National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration programs — including better management of fisheries under innovative catch share Read More >>

The mood is upbeat at the 6th World Fisheries Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, as keynote speakers temper doom and gloom messages of the past decade with notes of optimism. Story by Nicki Holmyard, SeafoodSource contributing editor – MAY 09, 2012 (Full Read More >>

It so difficult to understand why our U.S. congressmen and congresswomen continue to put forth legislation that puts all this in jeopardy — until you remember: Genuine conservation puts the resource before politics, and D.C. is the political capitol of the world. READ MORE

Maybe you’ve seen our Tweets and Facebook posts recently, but if you’re not familiar with a guy named Anote Tong, you probably should be — he’s my “Blue Hero” of the month. Anote Tong is President of the Pacific nation Read More >>

Governor Recants Nominations to Gulf Fishery Management Council; Commercial Sector’s Replacement Candidate Has Little Commercial Background, Is Not from the Gulf TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (March 29, 2012) – An unexpected, and yet unexplained, second submission of nominations for the Gulf of Read More >>

View Governor Rick Scott’s original endorsement of Chairman Bob Gill here. On March 15, 2012, Governor Scott nominated the well-respected Gill as his “preferred choice for the obligatory seat on the Council…I believe it is important that Mr. Gill continue Read More >>

by Lee Crockett of Pew Environment Group, via National Geographic NewsWatch Remarkable things can happen when key stakeholders and leaders in Washington find common ground for a common good. An excellent case in point is the congressional effort to reauthorize Read More >>