Fly Fishing Seattle and Worldwide
If you fish and wade around slick boulders, basalt ledges, heavy pocket water or just need the most stability a wading boot can offer, you owe it to yourself to try these boots!
Footage: Caldwell Rohrbach
Edit: Caldwell Rohrbach
Copy: Greg Fitz
Talent: Tom Mahan & Andrew Burr
For those unaware, the EPA made a significant find om the Pebble Mine issue a short time ago and now the time to speak up and back this finding with a united voice has arrived. Seattle is hosting a meeting by the EPA here tomorrow, this is worth the drive if you live within 6 hours of here. See image for details on where and when.
Blast this around and we will see you at 2pm tomorrow.
U.S. tightens fishing policy, setting 2012 catch limits for all managed species
By Juliet Eilperin, Published: January 8
In an effort to sustain commercial and recreational fishing for the next several decades, the United States this year will become the first country to impose catch limits for every species it manages, from Alaskan pollock to Caribbean queen conch.
Although the policy has attracted scant attention outside the community of those who fish in America and the officials who regulate them, it marks an important shift in a pursuit that has helped define the country since its founding.
Catch limits are intended to protect the 528 species in federally managed fisheries.
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Catch limits are intended to protect the 528 species in federally managed fisheries.
Unlike most recent environmental policy debates, which have divided neatly along party lines, this one is about a policy that was forged under President George W. Bush and finalized with President Obama’s backing.
“It’s something that’s arguably first in the world,” said Eric Schwaab, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s assistant administrator for fisheries. “It’s a huge accomplishment for the country.”
Five years ago, Bush signed a reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which dates to the mid-1970s and governs all fishing in U.S. waters. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers joined environmental groups, some fishing interests and scientists to insert language in the law requiring each fishery to have annual catch limits in place by the end of 2011 to end overfishing.
Although NOAA didn’t meet the law’s Dec. 31 deadline — it has finalized 40 of the 46 fishery management plans that cover all federally managed stocks — officials said they are confident that they will have annual catch limits in place by the time the 2012 fishing year begins for all species. (The timing varies depending on the fish, with some seasons starting May 1 or later.) Some fish, such as mahi-mahi and the prize game fish wahoo in the southeast Atlantic, will have catch limits for the first time.
Until recently the nation’s regional management councils, which write the rules for the 528 fish stocks under the federal government’s jurisdiction, regularly flouted scientific advice and authorized more fishing than could could be sustained, according to scientists.
Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, said the law’s ban on overfishing forced fishery managers to impose limits that some commercial and recreational fishers had resisted for years.
“This simple but enormously powerful provision had eluded lawmakers for years and is probably the most important conservation statute ever enacted into America’s fisheries law,” Reichert said.
And unlike many environmental regulations, which are written and enforced by Washington officials, the fishing limits were established by regional councils representing a mix of local interests.
“Because the final decisions were left on the local level, you have a higher assurance of success,” said James L. Connaughton, who helped prepare the reauthorization bill while chairing the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “If it had been imposed in Washington, we’d still be stuck in 10 years of litigation.”
But the changes have not come without a fight, and an array of critics are seeking to undo them. Some commercial and recreational operators, along with their congressional allies, argue that regulators lack the scientific data to justify the restrictions. And they suggest that the ambitious goals the law prescribes, including a mandate to rebuild any depleted fish stock within a decade, are arbitrary and rigid.
Target stores to sell Alaska salmon, drop farmed productFRESH: Chain removes all farmed fish from stores in an “environment-friendly” plan.
By The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp., the nation’s second-largest discounter after Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said Tuesday that it pulled all farmed salmon from its stores as it looks to be more environmentally conscious.
The retailer said it will no longer carry farmed salmon in its fresh, frozen
or smoked seafood sections. The move impacts national brands and the chain’s own Archer Farms and Market Pantry brands, which will now use wild-caught Alaska salmon.
Target — which has two stores in Anchorage and one in Wasilla — said sushi carried in its stores that currently use farm-raised salmon will switch to wild-caught salmon by year’s end.
“Target strives to be a responsible steward of the environment, while also providing our guests with the highest-quality food choices,” Greg Duppler, senior vice president of merchandising, said in a statement.
Companies have increasingly shifted away from farmed salmon due to pressure by consumers and environmentalists, who want wild-caught salmon used because it can help preserve salmon levels as well as species health and doesn’t hurt local habitats.
Salmon farms are viewed by these parties as hazardous due to the pollutants and chemicals they can emit as well as the potential dangers of farmed fish escaping and intruding on native salmon.
Target’s salmon transition comes in the midst of its $1 billion store
renovation project. The company will introduce a new store format starting in April that features spruced up home furnishing offerings, larger grocery sections, better video game displays and shelf lighting in the beauty section. The move, which impacts 340 U.S. stores, is aimed at increasing sales and profit and grabbing market share from rivals.
The retailer has 1,744 stores in 49 states.
