June 1, 2012 – The Maryland Legislative Sportsmen's Foundation (MLSF) has awarded the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Director of Fisheries Bill Goldsborough the organization’s "Sportsmen's Best Friend of the Year 2012" award in recognition of his leadership and determination to reduce the commercial harvest of Atlantic menhaden and rebuild the population of this ecologically critical species.
"This past year saw great victories that without his leadership, laser-like focus, courage, and determination, simply would not have happened," said Steve Linhard, a MLSF board member, in presenting the award. "Giving this depleted stock the ability to recover and end overfishing will rebuild this most important forage stock that is so important to the fish that we as fishermen pursue. His leadership in working with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the fishing community, fishing constituents in other Atlantic states, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and many others is what allowed these victories to be accomplished."
The award ceremony took place Thursday evening, May 31, at the Westin Hotel in Annapolis. Goldsborough is a board member of the sportsmen’s association, which works to support fisheries conservation. The award itself was an inscribed, poster-size, historic photo of a menhaden harvest vessel.
Goldsborough also represents Maryland as a commissioner of the ASMFC. The organization voted this past November to set new fishing limits for menhaden and new targets for a healthy population. The decision will allow the "most important fish in the sea," as menhaden have been called, to rebound from a dangerous population decline, and will boost the health of the coastal ecosystem and other fisheries that depend on the fish. Goldsborough and ASMFC are now working to draft a management plan to achieve those new standards.
Read the full story at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.