Policy News
Newly appointed Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, testified before the House Committee on Appropriations’ Interior Subcommittee on June 8 regarding the agency’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018. That proposal prioritizes maintenance of National Parks infrastructure and energy development and may include increased oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf while offering cuts in... Read More
Today, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, with concurrence from the White House, named Chris Oliver Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. The Texas native assumed his new position on June 19. As Assistant Administrator, Oliver will oversee the federal agency responsible for recreational and commercial fisheries. In addition to managing productive and sustainable domestic fisheries, including some... Read More
This week, AFS staff attended Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW), an annual conference convened by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. Each year, CHOW brings together more than 600 national and global policymakers, scientists, scholars, businesses and conservation leaders to address pressing science, conservation, and management issues facing our oceans and Great Lakes. A Congressional Roundtable... Read More
Last week, President Trump announced the U.S. will exit the Paris Climate Agreement, prompting an outcry from business leaders, state and local governments, and the environmental community. The announcement followed the release of the President’s Fiscal Year 2018 Budget proposal to Congress which included sharp cuts to a number of critical programs that fund climate... Read More
This week, President Trump released “A New Foundation for American Greatness,” $4.1 trillion budget request for fiscal year 2018 (FY18) to Congress which largely mirrors the Administration’s Budget Blueprint released earlier this year. The proposal calls for sharp cuts to several agencies that would significantly impact fisheries conservation, research, and management in exchange for increased... Read More
May 9, 2017 — U.S. commercial and recreational fishing generated $208 billion in sales, contributed $97 billion to the gross domestic product and supported 1.6 million full- and part-time jobs in 2015 — above the five-year average — according to NOAA’s Fisheries Economics of the United States report released today. Also out today, the Annual Report to... Read More
As part of our new AFS approach to policy work, the Society recently spent a day in the halls of Congress. In response to on-going efforts to modernize the Endangered Species Act, Tom Bigford and Patrick Shirey met with Legal Counsel and the Marine Policy Fellow in Sen. Booker’s (D-NJ) office and with the Senior... Read More
Whatever your professional fisheries calling, you’ve no doubt been hearing the growing call to add an ecosystem perspective to traditional fishery management. The concept is at least 20 years old and is definitely gaining momentum. Read More
Science is foundational to the American Fisheries Society (AFS) and we strongly support scientific research, science application to management and policy, and the science education of our members and of society. The March for Science, set for April 22, in Washington, D.C., and in various locations around the world, is a non-political event that will... Read More
With the release Thursday of the President’s Budget Proposal, it is clear that federal agency budgets, regulation enforcement, and regional conservation initiatives are in serious jeopardy. [See table below for details of fisheries-related budget cuts.] As interpreted by the Washington Post: “Climate change and ocean research would suffer sharp cuts… a reduction of 16 percent,... Read More
