Saving Seafood

Council Actions

American Samoa Secures Landmark Victory at WCPFC22, US Makes Progress on Commitments for 2026

December 6, 2025 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The 22nd Regular Session of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC22) meeting concluded Friday with a unanimous decision securing the long-term future of the South Pacific albacore fishery, a major gain for the American Samoa longline fishery managed by the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council.
By consensus, WCPFC members adopted a new management procedure (MP) that could reduce overall South Pacific albacore catch by about 10-12% from recent years to approximately 56,000 metric tons in commission waters. The decision is expected to ease oversupply and improve market conditions for small island fleets, including American Samoa, which saw some of the worst economic conditions on record in 2024. It also meets a key requirement to maintain Marine Stewardship Council certification that allows the American Samoa longline fishery to sell albacore to the local StarKist cannery at a premium price.
“This management procedure has been nearly a decade in the making, and the U.S. Pacific territories took it over the top with their steadfast support,” said Kitty Simonds, Council executive director. “It is a critical step to stabilize the albacore fishery and the island economies and food security that depend on it.”
Council member Nathan Ilaoa, director of the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, championed a more conservative approach during negotiations. “When operational costs are high and catch rates are low, the only fleets that can continue to operate are those receiving substantial subsidies,” Ilaoa said. “That creates a critical inequity for the American Samoa longline fleet and other small island domestic fleets.”
Representatives from Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands supported American Samoa and other Pacific Island delegations. “These positions are consistent with protecting island food security and economies,” said Council member Chelsa Muña, director of Guam’s Department of Agriculture.
Next year, WCPFC members will negotiate an implementing measure and catch allocations to fully operationalize the new albacore MP.
The U.S. delegation, led by NOAA’s Drew Lawler, advanced priorities for Council-managed fisheries, including work toward a bigeye tuna management procedure that considers purse seine as well as longline impacts, and a commitment to adopt a conservation and management measure on electronic monitoring in 2026.
“Members of the U.S. and territorial delegations viewed his leadership as a vast improvement over previous years and said this year’s delegation presented a much stronger unified front,” Simonds said.

US bill would authorize disaster funding for commercial fishers hurt by foreign subsidies

December 8, 2025 — U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced legislation that would allow fishery disaster funding to be awarded to commercial fisheries hurt by foreign subsidies, predatory pricing, and illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s fishery resource disasters assistance program provides financial assistance to commercial fishers and related businesses that experience sudden, unexpected losses. NOAA Fisheries has awarded fishery disaster determinations for hurricanes, harmful algal blooms, oil spills, and other man-made or natural events that cause harm to commercial fisheries.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

OREGON: Oregon fisheries try old technology to boost salmon returns

December 8, 2025 — On a tributary of the Clatskanie River, near Astoria, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has set up a “hatchbox.”

It’s basically six large barrels: three that filter the stream water and three that carry trays of salmon eggs so the water can flow over them.

Tom Stahl, with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said hatchboxes can be useful tools in the attempt to restore salmon to local waterways.

When salmon eggs in the barrels turn into tiny fish, usually around January, they’ll be swept into the stream. Essentially, the hatchbox protects the eggs from predators while they grow. Hatchboxes can also be used to bring fish eggs from other locations and introduce them into a new stream.

Older Oregonians may remember hatchboxes from school, where they were used to illustrate the salmon’s lifecycle. But over the years hatchboxes have fallen out of favor, largely because the fish they release compete with wild salmon.

Read the full article at the OPB

Congress tackles growing sea lion population in Columbia River

December 8, 2025 — The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources took on the Columbia River’s salmon-eating sea lion problem in a nearly 2½-hour hearing Wednesday.

After establishing the scale of the sea lion population explosion around the Pacific Northwest, the meeting looked at the effectiveness of legislative efforts to address the problem — mostly centering around killing them.

The killings had largely faded from controversy as other proposed solutions to salmon extinction have floundered, leaving sea lions as an obvious target. That culminated earlier this year when the federal permit that allows Northwest states and some Native nations to trap and kill sea lions in the Columbia River was reapproved without almost any opposition.

The reapproved permit allowed hundreds of sea lions that weren’t killed under a 2020 approval to be killed by 2030. During the hearing, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, questioned why more of the 716 that were initially approved to be killed had not been.

Read the full article at The Columbian

CNMI community pushes back on seabed mining as comment period deadline looms

December 8, 2025 — Saipan residents packed an amphitheater last week to voice concerns about deep-sea mining plans off the Marianas, with local leaders warning the federal government is steamrolling territories without adequate input or financial benefit.

A Dec. 3 forum at American Memorial Park drew community members as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s 30-day comment period on a request for information, or RFI,  nears its Friday deadline. The meeting revealed deep skepticism about the process and mounting frustration over territorial sovereignty.

“This is not self-government where people will just come in and dictate what they’re going to do to your resources,” said Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Rep. Vincent “Kobre” Aldan, who chairs the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation, and Communications. “Self-government is very powerful. That’s the reason why we negotiated.”

Aldan pointed to the U.S. Constitution’s Territorial Clause as the legal foundation allowing the federal government to act unilaterally in territorial waters. He urged Pacific islanders to unite in challenging the provision, which grants Congress broad authority over U.S. territories.

“Can we beat it? Yes, we can. How? By numbers,” Aldan said. “If we can work together with our territorial brothers and sisters, not just here in the Pacific, but also in the Caribbean, and by numbers, sign a petition, get a resolution going, and send it up to the U.S. Congress, then they’ll listen.”

The forum brought together marine scientists, traditional navigators, economists, and government officials to discuss the proposed mining area east of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. The site sits about 128 nautical miles from Saipan in federal waters beyond the CNMI’s three-mile territorial boundary.

Governors David Apatang of the CNMI and Lou Leon Guerrero of Guam have jointly requested a 120-day extension to the comment period, which had not been granted as of Monday, when the BOEM RFI docket page at regulations.gov showed 224 comments received.

Sheila Babauta, chair of Friends of the Mariana Trench, told The Guam Daily Post in an interview last week that her organization opposes the RFI and supports the extension request. She noted the document contains an error describing the proposed area as west of the trench when it’s actually to the east.

Read the full article at The Guam Daily Post

OREGON: Oregon to open southern coast for Dungeness crab harvest 16 December

December 8, 2025 — After delaying the full season by two weeks, the U.S. state of Oregon will open its southern coast to commercial Dungeness crab harvesting on 16 December.

“Oregon’s crab fishery is an economic driver for coastal communities,” Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Marine Resources Program Manager Justin Ainsworth said in a release. “I appreciate crab fishermen being patient as we tried to align our opening with Washington, but the best option now is to open up what we can.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: NOAA Fisheries implements slow zone after right whale detection in Cape Cod Bay

December 8, 2025 — NOAA Fisheries has announced two new slow zones for right whales, including Cape Cod Bay. The restrictions are in place through December 20th after the whales were discovered last Friday. The other slow zone is east of Ocean City, Maryland, using a buoy that was operated partly by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. […] The post NOAA Fisheries implements slow zone after right whale detection in Cape Cod Bay appeared first on CapeCod.com.

Read the full article at Cape Cod Daily News

Most Threatened and Endangered Pacific Coast Salmon Populations Increased After Listings

December 5, 2025 — Most Pacific Coast salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act have increased in abundance over the past 25 years, arresting earlier declines. These findings were published in new research by NOAA Fisheries scientists who have studied the species.

The scientists examined trends in 28 population groups, called distinct population segments, within five species of salmon and steelhead listed from 1989 to 2007. These groups represent specific geographic areas and genetic characteristics, and are the smallest units that can be listed under the Act. The scientists found that a majority of the population groups protected as threatened or endangered increased in abundance. None disappeared into extinction. Protected population groups also increased faster than unprotected populations of the same species.

“At the time of the salmon listings, there was a path toward recovery and a path toward extinction,” said Michael Ford, lead author of the new research published in Fish and Fisheries. Ford recently retired as a research scientist at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center. “So far, we have avoided extinction and even succeeded in moving many populations in the right direction, but most are still far from complete recovery.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

US House committee approves Stop Illegal Fishing Act

December 5, 2025 — The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee has approved the Stop Illegal Fishing Act, legislation that authorizes U.S. President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on foreign individuals and vessels that engage in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) fishing.

The authors of the bill say the measure is necessary to crack down on large foreign fishing fleets that have dodgy records on the environment and human rights – particularly China’s distant-water fleet.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource