October 24, 2025 — The Trump administration is readying a proposal to open almost all U.S. coastal waters to new offshore oil drilling despite opposition from state governors and the president’s previous efforts to close off some of the territory. The draft plan for selling oil leases includes waters near the southeast U.S. that President Donald Trump tried to close off while campaigning for reelection five years ago, a nod to Republican allies worried about the risk of spills fouling beaches and their tourism-tied economies.
Shutdown means some fishermen can use expired permits, NOAA says
October 24, 2025 — Fishermen in the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico can continue to fish on expired permits through the government shutdown as long as they have applied for renewals, according to NOAA’s Southeast regional office.
In a bulletin issued Wednesday, regulators said the shutdown, now in its 23rd day, has created a backlog of applications at the agency’s St. Petersburg permitting office, creating a potential disruption for thousands of fishermen and dockside dealers who purchase their catches.
Trump says trade negotiations with Canada terminated in response to television advertisement
October 24, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump announced he is terminating all trade negotiations with Canada, the U.S.’s largest seafood trading partner, in response to a television advertisement featuring a quote from former President Ronald Reagan.
Trump, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, said he was terminating the trade negotiations and that the Ronald Reagan Foundation “announced that Canada fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs.” The foundation had posted an update online saying it was “reviewing its legal options” on the advertisement, which directly quotes a real address by Reagan publicly available online.
ASMFC 83rd Annual Meeting Final Supplemental Materials Now Available
October 24, 2025 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Final supplemental materials for the Commission’s 83RD Annual Meeting are now available at for the following Boards. Links can be found under Supplemental 2 (following the respective Board’s agenda).
Atlantic Menhaden Management Board – Public Comment
ISFMP Policy Board – Revised Draft Agenda and Meeting Overview
Please note that there will not be a Marine Recreational Information Program Presentation on Thursday, so the ISFMP Policy Board will now start at 10:15 a.m. on October 30.
Webinar Information
The Law Enforcement Committee, Habitat Committee and Atlantic Coast Fish Habitat Partnership Steering Committee have unique webinar links that are available as part of the individual committee materials.
Meeting proceedings for all other boards/committees will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning Monday, October 27 at 9 AM and continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 1:30 PM on Thursday, October 30). To register for the webinar, please go to:https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5300899939524393048 (Webinar ID: 817-087-699)
If you are joining the webinar but will not be using voice over internet protocol (VoIP), you may also call in at +1.562.247.8422, access code 307-011-519. A PIN will be provided to you after joining the webinar. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, press the # key when asked for a PIN.
Each day, the webinar will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of the first meeting so people can troubleshoot any connectivity or audio issues they may encounter. If you are having issues with the webinar (connecting to or audio related issues), please contact Chris Jacobs at 703.842.0790.
Meeting Process
Board chairs will ask both in-person and virtual board members if they wish to speak. In-person members can simply raise their hands at the meeting without logging on to the webinar, while virtual members will raise their hands on the webinar. The chair will work with staff to compile the list of speakers, balancing the flow of questions/comments between in-person and virtual attendees. The same process will be used for public comment. Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.
Public Comment Guidelines
To provide a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings:
For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunities to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.
For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic. Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comments will not provide additional insight to the board.
For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.
In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comments for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action).
- Comments received three weeks prior to the start of a meeting week (October 6) will be included in the briefing materials.
- Comments received by 5 PM on Tuesday, October 21 will be included in supplemental materials.
- Comments received by 10 AM on Friday, October 24 will be distributed electronically to Commissioners/Board members prior to the meeting.
The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution. As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail and email.
Fishermen navigate a new offshore horizon
October 23, 2025 — Across every U.S. coast, there is a push for a changing horizon. Towering turbines and wave-energy buoys could steadily multiply in the same water where generations of commercial fishermen have hauled gear.
What began as pilot programs in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest has expanded into full-scale federal-led rounds off Massachusetts, New York, California, and the Gulf of Maine, marking a new era of ocean use and industrial overlap.
Supporters call it a long-overdue step towards decarbonizing America’s energy supply, but for commercial fishermen, it’s a shift that could rewrite where and how they make their living.
As the push for clean energy accelerates, offshore wind and wave projects are becoming a growing presence along the U.S. coastline. While these developments aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they also bring new challenges to fishermen working in already crowded and heavily regulated waters.
Facing a Hostile Administration, U.S. Offshore Wind Is in Retreat
October 23, 2025 – Each year, the Sweeney Center for Public Policy at Rowan University in New Jersey hosts a conference on the state’s current and future energy landscape. In 2023 and 2024, the gatherings focused heavily on the rapidly accelerating development of offshore wind, which state officials then predicted would power some 2.5 million homes — about two-thirds of the state’s total housing units — by 2030. At this year’s event, however, the industry was barely mentioned, and when it was, its one-time advocates were subdued and almost eulogistic.
Tim Sullivan, the head of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which had been closely involved with the state’s efforts to develop offshore wind, sounded wistful. “I remain optimistic and confident that it gets done sometime in our lifetime,” he told the conference.
Optimism about the future of U.S. offshore wind has collapsed since President Trump, a vehement critic of the industry, returned to office in January. In the ensuing nine months, his administration has accelerated the end of federal tax credits for wind development, imposed tariffs on turbines and other needed parts, and eliminated funds for building onshore port facilities for servicing wind farms.
US senators demand NOAA Fisheries nominee address fisheries surveys
October 23, 2025 — U.S. senators used a hearing for U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead NOAA Fisheries to demand the administration improve the survey work necessary to manage the nation’s commercial fisheries.
On 22 October, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing for Congressional staffer Timothy Petty, the president’s nominee to be assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, where he would oversee NOAA Fisheries. After former President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the agency, Janet Coit, stepped down at the end of his administration, NOAA Fisheries was initially led by longtime NOAA employee Emily Menashes. She was replaced in April when the White House named former commercial fisherman and officeholder Eugenio Piñeiro Soler acting assistant administrator.
MAINE: US Senator Susan Collins says steel tariffs are hurting Maine lobstermen
October 23, 2025 — U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) claims Maine’s lobster industry has been hit hard by U.S. President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on imported steel and is asking his administration to insulate the sector from those costs.
“Lobstering has become a more expensive profession in recent years as lobstermen’s earnings per pound in 2024 decreased to some of the lowest levels in the past 75 years, and I continue to hear from lobstermen about the ways that tariffs have exacerbated this problem,” Collins wrote in an 20 October letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Fishermen push back on proposed 55 percent cut to menhaden quota
October 23, 2025 — At the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) 83rd Annual Meeting in Dewey Beach, Delaware, the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board is weighing a drastic cut to one of the coast’s most important forage fisheries. The board will consider new specifications for the 2026 through 2028 fishing years that could slash the coastwide total allowable catch (TAC) by more than half, from 233,550 metric tons to 108,450 metric tons, based on updated point benchmarks and committee projections.
According to an ASMFC report, the 2025 benchmark assessment identified a 37 percent decline in average menhaden biomass compared with prior models, largely due to revised natural mortality data. The ecological reference point (ERP) fishing mortality target was reduced from 0.19 to 0.15, meaning the current TAC now carries a 100 percent probability of exceeding the new limit. Even the recommended 108,450-ton TAC represents only a 50 percent chance of meeting sustainability goals, according to ASMFC.
The divide between industry and environmental groups
Public comments that have already been submitted to the board show a sharp divide between recreational and commercial interests. The American Sportfishing Association (ASA), Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, and other recreational coalitions urged the board to adopt the reduced TAC, calling it essential to rebuild striped bass stocks and uphold the integrity of the ERP framework. The ASA’s letter argued that “under the current TAC of 233,550 mt, projections show a 100 percent probability of exceeding the ERP F target- placing the menhaden stock and dependent predators at risk.”
Commercial fishing group calls proposed cut “unscientific and absurd”
Commercial fishermen and their advocates see the proposed 55 percent reduction very differently. Dustin Delano, chief operating officer of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA), called on commissioners to “reject this unscientific and absurd 55 percent reduction to menhaden quota.”
Global conservation body takes first step to protect ocean’s twilight zone
October 23, 2025 — The mesopelagic zone is the chilly, dimly lit layer of ocean found 200-1,000 meters (660-3,300 feet) below the surface, which scientists say plays key roles in the marine food web and carbon cycle. On Oct. 15, delegates to the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi adopted a motion to protect it. The motion calls for any activities that could harm the mesopelagic ecosystem, including fishing, geoengineering and deep-sea mining, to be approached with caution and guided by the best available science.
The World Conservation Congress is a global forum focused on nature and conservation that takes place every four years. The motion is one of the first steps toward safeguarding the mesopelagic zone globally, although it is focused more on limiting future damage rather than repairing any harm already inflicted on this part of the ocean.
The mesopelagic zone, sometimes called the “twilight zone,” is home to an immense biomass of fish — 600 million metric tons, according to one estimate. Species inhabiting this zone include lanternfish, pearlsides and squid, which are crucial food sources for predators like dolphins, tunas, marlins and sharks. Research suggests this vast zone also plays an essential role in regulating the climate by facilitating a process called the “biological pump” that moves carbon from the atmosphere into the deep ocean for long-term storage.
For now, a commercial mesopelagic fishing industry remains largely speculative. Launching it would require overcoming difficulties in locating, catching and processing mesopelagic fish. Still, there’s considerable enthusiasm for finding a way to make it work. While mesopelagic fish have been pursued for possible human consumption, there is a particular interest now in harvesting them for fertilizers or aquaculture feed.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 150
- 151
- 152
- 153
- 154
- …
- 3677
- Next Page »