Saving Seafood

Council Actions

Ecological Reference Points Benchmark Stock Assessment Workshop Scheduled for March 3 – 6, in Arlington, VA

February 21, 2025 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Ecological Reference Points (ERP) Work Group will be meeting March 3 – 6, 2025 at the Commission’s office, 1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200A-N, Arlington, VA.  The ERP Work Group will explore various modeling approaches to be used in the assessment, which will be used to evaluate the health of the stock and inform the management of the species in an ecological context.
 
The ERP assessment is scheduled to be peer-reviewed later in 2025 through the SouthEast Data Assessment Review process. Visit the Commission’s website calendar (https://asmfc.org/events/) for information on the dates and times of those meetings.  
 
All Commission assessment workshops are open to the public. Time may be allotted for public comment at the discretion of the Chair of the ERP Work Group but may also be limited to keep the workshop on schedule. Additional information on the workshop, including webinar registration, can be found here. 
 
For more information about the assessments or attending the workshop, please contact James Boyle, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at jboyle@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740, or Jainita Patel, Fisheries Science Coordinator, at jpatel@asmfc.org or 703.842.0720.

GEORGIA: Georgia lawmakers approve bill requiring restaurants to label imported shrimp

February 21, 2025 — State lawmakers from the U.S. state of Georgia have passed a bill that would require restaurants to clearly note on their menus if the shrimp they are serving is imported.

“It is time we support our domestic shrimpers and ensure that consumers know what they are eating,” Representative Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) said upon introducing the legislation in January. “Only 5 percent of imported foods are inspected, and shrimp from Thailand, China, India, and Ecuador primarily are often pond-raised in unsanitary environments. I believe this measure will give consumers the knowledge they need to request domestic and, hopefully, Georgia wild shrimp.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: Moulton gets an earful from fishing industry

February 21, 2025 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, got an earful from representatives of the 402-year-old seaport’s fishing industry about the uncertainty and opportunity amid a sea change in Washington, D.C., with the month-old Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency filleting certain federal agencies.

Moulton sat in a conference room of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association in Blackburn Center with Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game Deputy Commissioner Sefatia Romeo Theken leading a discussion among local fishing industry representatives, including about a dozen commercial lobstermen and fishermen, seafood processors and industry advocates.

Read the full article at Gloucester Times

CALIFORNIA: A ‘perfect storm’ of environmental and political issues is driving Santa Cruz fishers out of the water

February 20, 2025 — Would Santa Cruz still be Santa Cruz without a fishing industry? After nine rocky years of delayed, shortened and outright canceled fishing seasons, the coastal community could soon have to face a cultural reckoning as the number of commercial fishing boats active in the Santa Cruz Harbor dwindles to fewer than 20.

For generations, fishers along California’s Central Coast have relied on two primary catches to make their living: Dungeness crab in the winter and Chinook salmon in the summer.

But over the past nine years, this traditional rhythm has been disrupted by a cascade of environmental challenges. Migrating whales are lingering in crabbing areas longer, contributing to delayed seasons and reduced catch limits, while droughts and fluctuating river levels have decimated salmon populations.

The impact on Santa Cruz County’s commercial fishers has been profound. The state’s salmon fishery has been closed since 2023, with little sign of recovery, while the crab season has been shortened and restricted for the past six years.

Read the full article at Lookout Santa Cruz

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center features new generational fishing exhibit

February 20, 2025 — The popular seafood restaurant and market Turk’s Seafood will be featured this Thursday as the first in a new series of mini exhibits at the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center.

This fishing family’s story kicks off Hauling Back: A Generational Fishing Family Project exhibit.

The Hauling Back exhibit will open this Thursday, Feb. 20, and will present the story of Turk’s Seafood and the Pasquill family.

The first mini exhibit will remain on display through March. Turk’s is closed for the winter, but will reopen March 5.

Read the full article at The Standard-Times

MAINE: Patrick Keliher retires as Maine DMR commissioner

February 20, 2025 — The longest-serving commissioner in DMR history, Patrick Keliher, leaves a legacy of powerful advocacy and support for Maine’s marine industries and environment.

Governor Janet Mills today announced that Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), will retire from his position on March 14, 2025

Keliher is the longest-serving commissioner in DMR history. He was re-appointed by Governor Mills as DMR Commissioner in 2019 after serving in the position since 2012. Over his tenure, Keliher has earned a reputation as a strong and influential voice for the protection of Maine’s marine resources and environment and a powerful advocate for the Maine industries, communities, and people that depend on them.

Under Keliher’s leadership, DMR worked to strengthen Maine’s commercial and recreational fisheries and aquaculture industry through responsible management and industry partnerships. He worked closely with Maine’s Federal delegation and State lawmakers to protect Maine’s fisheries and marine environment and expand investments to restore fish passage and marine habitats. In recent years, he led State efforts to help Maine’s marine industries recover from the pandemic and rebuild working waterfronts after devastating winter storms last year.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW YORK: Dire Straits: Montauk Inlet Emergency Dredging to Restore Safe Passage for NY’s Top Fishing Port

February 20, 2025 — So much sand built up in Montauk Inlet that commercial fishing boats bumped the bottom, ran aground, some large trawlers were forced to dock in Rhode Island, and surfers rode waves crashing over the shoals.

It was dire straits for the largest commercial fishing port in New York State until a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dredge ship that arrived over Valentines Day weekend began the emergency project to make the inlet safely passable again. The arrival came two weeks after the agency secured funding for the project and surveyed the inlet to verify reports that shoaling made for dangerously shallow waters in parts of the inlet, especially at low tide.

“It’s been a really treacherous situation,” Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in Montauk, told Dan’s Papers. “The month of January was pretty much a loss to the packhouses. The inlet was three feet in places.”

Read the full article at Dans Papers

US confirms Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary amid uncertainty over NOAA’s future

February 20, 2025 — The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Howard Lutnick as the secretary of the Department of Commerce despite fears that the Trump administration plans to cut NOAA funding or dismantle the agency altogether.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Commerce, which oversees such agencies as NOAA, was confirmed on a 51-45 vote, with no Democrat senators supporting his nomination.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Climate change is robbing Pacific islands of another resource: Tuna

February 19, 2025 — Fourteen Pacific island nations will receive $107 million to adapt their tuna-dependent economies as climate change pushes the fish farther from their shores, the Green Climate Fund announced Tuesday.

The fund’s largest grant-only project to date, the money will be used to create an advanced warning system to enable Pacific island nations to track changes in tuna migration and potentially pursue compensation when warming waters drive the fish from these countries’ exclusive economic zones.

“These are the countries that contribute the least to the climate crisis and now are going to lose a resource that they have collectively stewarded better than any other ocean basin,” said Jack Kittinger, senior vice president at Conservation International, the Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit environmental organization that led the research behind the grant. “This is the ultimate climate justice issue.”

Read the full article at The Washington Post