These websites offer a broadened perspective on the seafood industry and coastal environments:
www.aboutseafood.com – The National Fisheries Institute is the nation’s largest seafood trade association and represents a wide spectrum of firms from family-owned operations to multinational corporations that import seafood products. A great source for info on the nutritional benefits of seafood, the NFI is also a factual touchstone for those wishing to appraise the typically hyperbolic rhetoric of anti-fishing activists and mass media.
www.bayjournal.com – A newspaper and website that provide independent reporting on environmental and seafood-related issues in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
www.carolinacoastalvoices.wordpress.com – Coastal Voices is an oral history project about the maritime heritage of the Outer Banks and Down East region of coastal North Carolina.
www.consumerfreedom.com – The Center for Consumer Freedom educates on food issues and reveals funding sources and PR ploys of animal rights groups, environmental organizations, and other “non-profits” that mold public opinion.
www.crcl.org – The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana is dedicated to the restoration of South Louisiana’s rapidly eroding coastline.
www.fishingnj.org – The Garden State Seafood Association’s director Nils Stolpe offers facts and opinions on fishery issues and tracks the funding of the players that are piling into fishery management.
www.cortez-fish.org – The Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) educates the public on commercial fishing via its maritime museum and sustains a preserve of over 100 acres of fishery habitat with funds raised, in part, from the Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival that it hosts each February.
www.fishwatch.gov – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oversees management of our federal fisheries. According to NOAA, “FishWatch will arm you with the facts about the industry, science, and management sustaining your seafood—from the ocean or farm to your plate.” The site includes profiles of more than 100 marine seafood species.
www.floridawildlifecorridor.org – The Florida Wildlife Corridor is an effort to link and protect Florida’s remaining natural ecosystems to help preserve the state’s wildlife, waters, and rural economies.
www.gulfseafoodfoundation.org – The Gulf Seafood Foundation supports the Gulf of Mexico’s seafood harvesters, processors, retailers, restaurants and the communities and consumers they serve.
www.iucn.org – The International Union for the Conservation of Nature is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.
www.iwmc.org – Eugene Lapointe’s IWMC World Conservation Trust is a global voice for sustainable use of the planet’s wild resources and the preservation of the cultures and traditions that depend upon them.
www.louisianaseafood.com – The Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board is a division of the state’s wildlife and fisheries agency.
www.marketumbrella.org – “We connect the city to the country” is this New Orleans-based organization’s motto. The group cultivates community markets—including its flagship Crescent City Farmers Market—which offer urban consumers access to fresh foods produced by regional farmers and fishermen.
www.nationalfisherman.com – National Fisherman is the news source for America’s commercial fishermen.
www.nccoast.org – The North Carolina Coastal Federation keeps its eye on the prize—maintaining a clean and productive coastal environment. Founded in 1982 by Carteret County native Todd Miller, the federation has over 12,000 members and 3,000 active volunteers as well as a staff of more than 30—including lobbyists and reporters—who work out of three different offices. Widely recognized as the state’s premier environmental group, the inclusive federation works with all coastal stakeholders, including sport and commercial fishermen, to achieve its aims.
www.ncfish.org – The North Carolina Fisheries Association advocates on behalf of the state’s family fishermen in one of America’s most prolific fishing grounds.
www.ncwu.net – North Carolina Watermen United represents the interests of all the fishing community’s stakeholders including charter and head-boat fishermen, private recreational fishermen, commercial harvesters and seafood consumers.
www.savingseafood.org – Funded by the fishing industry, Saving Seafood keeps seafood folks aware of issues and events of concern and conducts media and public outreach on their behalf.
www.sfaonline.org – The Tallahassee-based Southeastern Fisheries Association represents the commercial fishing industry in the southeastern United States.
www.seagrant.noaa.gov – Administered through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sea Grant supports the responsible use of the nation’s fishery resources through university research. Extension agents in each coastal state disseminate the results of such research to the public, and work with stakeholders to seek practical applications.
www.seagrantfish.lsu.edu – A wealth of unbiased, science-based information on Louisiana’s fisheries, by Louisiana Sea Grant and the LSU Agricultural Extension Service.
www.southernfoodways.org – The Southern Foodways Alliance, within the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, celebrates the region’s culinary traditions and the producers—including commercial fishermen—who make it all possible.
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/educational-materials/voices-fisheries – “Voices from the Fisheries” is an extensive collection of oral histories by fishermen, their spouses, processing and other shore-side business workers, recreational and subsistence fishermen, scientists, marine resources managers and other stakeholders in the nation’s fisheries. Includes several interviews regarding North Carolina’s 1997 Fisheries Reform Act.
www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/commercial-fisheries/commercial-landings/annual-landings/index – Commercial fisheries landings data, directly from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.
www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/recreational-fisheries/data-and-documentation/queries/index – A direct link to NOAA’s recreational fishing database.