Saving Seafood

Management & Regulation

Expanded commercial fishing eyed in Pacific marine monuments

August 15, 2025 — Opening marine monuments to commercial fishing may prove more challenging than President Donald Trump thought when he proclaimed in April he was “unleashing American commercial fishing” in the Pacific Ocean.

A federal court in Hawaii ruled last week that the president cannot reinstate fishing by executive fiat but must use the standard regulatory review and public comment process before allowing about 160 fishermen licensed to harvest tuna, mahi-mahi and wahoo access to roughly 256 million surface acres of ocean in the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument.

The ruling effectively stayed NOAA’s action to implement Trump’s April 27 proclamation rolling back the commercial fishing ban across roughly 400,000 square miles of the Pacific Islands monument about 900 miles southwest of Hawaii.

Read the full article at E&E News

New England council seeks fishermen for advisory panels

August 15, 2025 — The New England Fishery Management Council is seeking commercial and recreational fishermen to serve on all its advisory panels, starting in January 2026 for three-year terms through December 2028.

The council relies on fishermen, along with other stakeholders like coastal communities and conservation groups, to help the regional council with guidance as its members develop federal fishery management plans, actions and measures to keep Northeast fisheries healthy.

“The council seeks a diverse mix of members,” according to an announcement Aug. 15. The council seeks advisors who:

  • Represent both commercial and recreational sectors
  • Offer expertise across different fisheries
  • Fish with a variety of gear types
  • Come from across the geographic range of the fishery
  • Bring a range of social and economic perspectives

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Lobstermen Seek Injunction to Fight a New Rule

August 14, 2025 — Since 1997, lobstermen along the Eastern seaboard have had to throw back lobsters with a “V-notch” — a triangular cut in the tail of an egg-bearing female that establishes it as uncatchable breed stock.

Until last month, the notch rules differed depending upon whether a fisherman had a federal permit or a state one. Federal permits allow lobstermen to fish farther offshore but have a tighter notch size restriction. Federal permit holders could harvest only lobsters with notches measuring 1/8-inch or less — the idea being that these lobsters had more time to grow, molt, and reproduce by the time they were taken. State permit holders could take lobsters with notches of up to ¼-inch.

As of July 1, an addendum to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) lobster management plan calls for the smaller notch size for all lobster permit holders.

The change is meant to expand protection of the spawning stock, according to the text of the addendum. The measure also seeks to “resolve discrepancies between the regulations for state and federal permit-holders,” the document says.

But the Outer Cape’s lobstermen who hold state permits say that the rollover to the federal permit holders’ rule should not apply to them. That’s the majority of lobstermen here: there are 64 commercial lobster permits issued to Outer Cape fishermen, and 41 are state-only permits, according to Julia Hopkins, a spokesperson for the Mass. Dept. of Fish & Game.

Outer Cape lobstermen say they worked out an exception years ago that promised them that V-notching would be optional for fishermen working in this area in exchange for their having a larger minimum size requirement. They say this was agreed with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission because it made for better conservation in local waters.

Read the full article at The Provincetown Independent

Bluefin tuna off limits for recreational and charter anglers due to federal shutdown

August 13, 2025 –If you were hoping to catch and keep a bluefin tuna off the coast of Long Island this summer, you’re out of luck. A new federal shutdown of the bluefin tuna fishery for recreational and charter anglers is now in effect — and it’s already having a ripple effect across the local fishing industry.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ordered the closure, citing the need to stay within international conservation limits.

“This inseason action is needed to ensure the United States Atlantic bluefin tuna quota is not exceeded and is consistent with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) requirements,” a NOAA spokesperson said in a statement.

While commercial bluefin fishing can continue, the shutdown applies to all recreational and charter boat fishing. That means charter captains like Greg Gargiulo, of Patty Ann Charters based at the Captree Boat Basin, will have to drastically shift their business model by targeting yellowfin tuna instead, which are farther off shore.

Read the full article at News 12

New Chesapeake striped bass fishery plan sparks debate

August 11, 2025 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved Addendum III for public comment, introducing a new plan aimed at rebuilding the Chesapeake Bay’s striped bass population by 2029.

The management plan includes updated commercial quotas and recreational fishing regulations designed to protect the species, which has shown signs of decline, particularly among younger fish in the Chesapeake Bay.

Mike Luisi of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said the plan focuses on increasing the population of young striped bass, which spend their early years in the bay before joining the migratory adult population offshore.

Read the full article at WBOC

Offshore wind plans caught in federal headwinds, but sites east of Cape Cod unaffected

August 7, 2025 — State and local officials and regional advocacy groups are split over the federal government’s decision to back off on offshore wind projects, a shift that casts uncertainty over new projects nationwide but doesn’t affect leases east and south of Cape Cod.

State Rep. Steven Xiarhos, R-West Barnstable, welcomes the changes as “a necessary course correction.”

“It reflects what many of us on Cape Cod and across the commonwealth have been saying for some time: the rush to industrialize our oceans has gone too far, too fast, and without enough science, transparency, or respect for local communities,” he said.

He added that the action “gives us a critical opportunity to pause, reassess, and get this right.”

Read the full article at Cape Cod Times

 

Wind industry doubts any new offshore projects in next year thanks to Trump

August 4, 2025 — The offshore wind industry cast doubt on any new projects starting construction in the next year, as the Trump administration has removed subsidies for and added restrictions on the renewable power source.

President Donald Trump harshly criticized the industry while visiting Scotland in late July, saying his administration would not allow a windmill to be built in the United States. As his public criticisms increase and various agencies have taken action to stifle growth, that promise appears likely to come true.

Read the full article at The Washington Examiner

Offshore wind leasing is officially dead under Trump

August 4, 2025 — This story was originally published by Canary Media.

Offshore wind leasing is effectively dead in the U.S. following a Trump administration order issued last week.

Large swaths of U.S. waters that had been identified by federal agencies as ideal for offshore wind are no longer eligible for such developments under an Interior Department statement released Wednesday.

In the four-sentence statement, the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said the U.S. government is ​“de-designating over 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters previously targeted for offshore wind development across the Gulf of America, Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic.”

The move comes just a day after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered his staff to stop ​“preferential treatment for wind projects” and falsely called wind energy ​“unreliable.” Analysts say that offshore wind power can be a reliable form of carbon-free energy, especially in New England, where the region’s grid operator has called it critical to grid stability. It also follows the Trump administration’s monthslong assault on the industry, which has included multiple attacks on in-progress projects.

Read the full article at Maine Morning Star

Trump administration cancels plans to develop new offshore wind projects

August 1, 2025 — The Trump administration is canceling plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development, the latest step to suppress the industry in the United States.

More than 3.5 million acres had been designated wind energy areas, the offshore locations deemed most suitable for wind energy development. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is now rescinding all designated wind energy areas in federal waters, announcing on Wednesday an end to setting aside large areas for “speculative wind development.”

Offshore wind lease sales were anticipated off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Maine, New York, California and Oregon, as well as in the central Atlantic. The Biden administration last year had announced a five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production.

Trump began reversing the country’s energy policies after taking office in January. A series of executive orders took aim at increasing oil, gas and coal production.

Read the full article at the Associated Press