November 3, 2025 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved a 20 percent reduction in the catch of “menhaden,” an important lobster bait more commonly known as “pogies.”
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Lobster Population Falls off New England, Leading Regulators to Declare Overfishing
October 31, 2025 — A new report says America’s lobsters, which have been in decline since 2018, are now being overfished off New England.
The stock has declined by 34% since that year in its most important fishing grounds, the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said Thursday. The commission said it now considers overfishing of the species to be occurring, and that could bring new management measures that restrict fishermen from catching them in the future.
But the lobster population has shown “rapid declines in abundance in recent years,” the commission said in a statement.
The assessment said the decline and overfishing were taking place in fishing areas off Maine and Massachusetts where most lobster fishing takes place. The assessment also considered the southern New England lobster stock, which it said has been depleted for years and remains so.
Fisheries commission again holds fire on striped bass limits
October 31, 2025 — With a glimmer of hopeful news about harvest pressure and a warning from commercial fishermen that their economic survival is at stake, East Coast fishery managers have pulled back from ordering another round of catch restrictions on struggling Atlantic striped bass.
Meeting in Dewey Beach, DE, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Oct. 29 not to require any additional cuts in either the recreational or commercial catch of the migratory finfish known as rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay.
The vote against tightening already-strict catch limits came after more than a year of debate by the panel, which regulates nearshore fishing on migratory species along the Atlantic coast. Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and North Carolina voted for more restrictions.
Widely regarded as the most prized finfish in the Chesapeake and along the Atlantic Coast, striped bass were declared overfished in 2019, with the number of large female fish below what was needed to sustain the population. The commission responded by ordering a series of catch reductions in ensuing years aiming to rebuild the stock by 2029.
Feds Gamble on Offshore Wind Funding for Future Cleanup
October 30, 2025 — For decades, nuclear power plant owners have been required by law to set aside money for decommissioning at the start of operations, but developers of two New England offshore wind farm projects face no such immediate mandate. The latter, according to a local grassroots organization, puts federal taxpayers at risk of being on the hook.
“BOEM (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) abdicated its responsibility to the American people by relying heavily on the ‘financial strength’ of the project instead of upholding its duty to protect the environment, public health, and safety,” Thomas Stavola, attorney for Save LBI, said last week.
The group is taking BOEM to task over its 15-year deferral of financial responsibility for the owners of Rhode Island’s Revolution Wind and Massachusetts’ Vineyard Wind.
Stavola called the approvals “patently absurd.”
In an Oct. 16 letter, Save LBI, which has swelled to more than 10,000 supporters, urged the U.S. Department of the Interior “to end the egregious practice of letting operators of offshore wind farms postpone providing financial assurance earmarked for the future decommissioning and removal of turbines and related infrastructure.”
The group said the postponement provides the developers with an exorbitant amount of time to establish the necessary decommissioning funds it will take to remove the planned 127 turbines off the New England coast. Stavola and Bob Stern, Save LBI president and co-founder, signed the letter.
“BOEM authorized a deferral for Revolution Wind on the basis that ‘providing the full amount of its decommissioning financial assurance prior to receiving any revenue under its power purchase agreements would be an unnecessary and unreasonable financial burden on the company.’ However, such revenues are received by the company well before the 15-year deferral given,” according to the letter.
Save LBI is asking BOEM to revoke prior financial deferrals and require future approvals to fully fall in line with the Code of Federal Requirements.
In a statement released earlier this month, Save LBI said BOEM’s action does not take into consideration use of funding for unplanned events, such as Vineyard Wind’s blade failure last year, and heightens the chance developers would not be able to finance the removal of aging turbines from the ocean floor 15 years from now.
Major menhaden fishing company says quota cuts will likely lead to “operational adjustments”
October 30, 2025 — The largest menhaden fishing company in the U.S. announced it will likely need to reexamine its operations in 2026 due to proposed cuts to the total allowable catch (TAC) for Atlantic menhaden.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) voted on 28 October to cut the 2026 Atlantic menhaden TAC by 20 percent, reducing it from 233,550 metric tons (MT) to 186,840 MT. The vote drew criticism from both the fishing industry and environmental groups, with the industry calling it unnecessary and environmental groups claiming it ignores problems with the stock.
ASMFC bans female horseshoe crab bait harvest in Delaware Bay for two years
October 30, 2025 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council (ASMFC) has voted to continue a ban on female horseshoe crab bait harvesting in the Delaware Bay for two years.
Horseshoe crabs are both harvested for bait and bled for their blood, which is valued in biomedical testing for its unique ability to clot when exposed to bacterial toxins.
Menhaden board cuts amount harvesters can catch along the Atlantic next year
October 30, 2025 — The coastwide catch limit will be reduced by 20%, which is less than environmental and recreational fishing groups had hoped after a recently reported decline in the menhaden population.
Officials who regulate the Atlantic menhaden industry continue to wrestle with how to balance the fishery business with growing concerns about the ecosystem.
After hours of back-and-forth and competing motions, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Tuesday to reduce the coastwide catch limit by 20% for next year’s season.
The compromise was less than what environmental groups and recreational anglers wanted and more than the industry did. Virginia’s delegation voted against it.
Board members agreed to revisit the topic next fall, with the potential for further cuts for 2027 and 2028.
The commission helps manage fisheries for 15 states along the East Coast, from Florida to Maine. That includes setting the total allowable catch, or TAC, the maximum amount of menhaden that can be harvested along the coast.
Virginia is allocated about 75% of the total because it’s the last East Coast state that permits menhaden reduction fishing.
Ocean Harvesters, which operates a fishing fleet to supply Omega Protein, collects menhaden by using large walls of netting called purse seines. Omega then processes, or “reduces,” them into fishmeal and fish oil at a plant in Reedville.
Offshore wind projects feel brunt of Trump policy decisions
October 29, 2025 — On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum prohibiting new offshore wind leasing for all areas of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf and directing his Cabinet to review previously approved projects.
The president’s animosity toward wind turbines already was well-known, going back over a decade to when he couldn’t stop an offshore wind farm from being built near one of his golf courses in Scotland.
“We don’t allow windmills,” he said at an August Cabinet meeting. “We’re not allowing any windmills to go up. I mean, unless there’s a legal situation where somebody committed to it a long time ago.
“They’re ugly, they don’t work, they kill your birds, they’re bad for the environment,” he added.
That sentiment, as well as the president’s first-day memo, set the tone for a dramatic reduction in federal support for wind energy, especially projects located offshore.
Over the last nine months, the Interior, Energy and Transportation departments announced a series of approval and funding rescissions for wind projects off the coasts of the United States. The administration’s stated reasons for the changes include a preference for energy-dense sources of power, such as that generated by fossil fuels and through nuclear energy, an interest in being more selective when it comes to federal subsidies, and what some experts call unfounded concerns that offshore wind turbines harm whales and birds.
ASMFC approves 20 percent cuts to Atlantic menhaden quota for 2026
October 29, 2025 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has chosen to cut the 2026 Atlantic menhaden quota by 20 percent for 2026, drawing criticism from the fishing industry and environmental groups alike.
The ASMFC menhaden management board met on 28 October and decided to reduce the total allowable catch (TAC) for menhaden to 186,840 metric tons (MT), down 20 percent from the 233,550-MT quota the commission set for 2025. The reduction was based on a number of different factors, including ecological reference points (ERPs) that include interactions between fishing mortality rates and striped bass, as well as other predator biomass targets, and a lower estimated fecundity of menhaden.
Southern states ask US government to hand over control of red snapper management
October 29, 2025 — Officials from three Southern states are again asking the U.S. federal government to cede its regulatory authority over red snapper fishing in the South Atlantic Ocean to state governments, arguing that more local control of the species will be better for the fisheries.
While the South Atlantic red snapper fishery is federally designated as subject to overfishing, recreational fishers claim the fish population is far greater than official numbers, and state representatives and officials have resisted all efforts to limit fishing.
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