January 8, 2026 — Of all the schemes that humans have devised to keep sea lions from gorging on the salmon of the Columbia River basin, none has worked for long. Local officials and researchers have chased sea lions with boats and peppered them with rubber bullets; they’ve detonated noisy explosives. They’ve outfitted the docks where the animals like to rest with uncomfortable spinners, electrified mats, flailing tube men, and motion-activated sprinklers. (“Very surprisingly, they don’t like to get wet on land,” Casey Clark, a marine-mammal biologist at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, told me.) At one point, the Port of Astoria dispatched a 32-foot fiberglass replica of sea lions’ primary predator, the orca, outfitted with real orca sounds, that almost immediately capsized. Scientists have captured sea lions and released them thousands of miles away, as far as Southern California. No matter the tactic, the result is largely the same: Within weeks, or sometimes even hours, the sea lions swim right back.
Evans Becomes North Pacific Fisheries Management Council’s Fifth Executive Director
January 8, 2026 — A longtime veteran of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council in Anchorage is the federal regulatory body’s new Executive Director. Diana Evans becomes the council’s fifth leader since it was established under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976.
Evans has been employed by the council since 2002 and served as the deputy director since 2017. She replaces David Witherell, who retired in October 2025 after serving thirty-three years with the council. As the Executive Director, Evans oversees a staff of fourteen from the Anchorage office, coordinating public input for regional decisions by US Department of Commerce fisheries managers.
MASSACHUSETTS: Fishing Heritage Center Awarded Expand Massachusetts Stories — Story Forward Grant from Mass Humanities to Share the Catch from Casting A Wider Net
January 8, 2026 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:
New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center (FHC) has been awarded an Expand Massachusetts Stories — Story Forward Grant from Mass Humanities to share the Casting A Wider Net (CAWN) exhibit with the greater New Bedford community in a new initiative called Sharing the Catch. The funding will allow FHC to travel the CAWN exhibit to three sites across New Bedford in 2026, create tie-in programing and curriculum materials, and develop a CAWN digital exhibit on FHC’s website. The exhibit will travel to the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center, the Community Economic Development Center, and Global Learning Charter Public School. This will allow students and community members who were not able to view the exhibit at FHC a new opportunity to learn about and connect to the stories of immigration, labor, and family that are integral to New Bedford’s fishing industry in the spaces they frequent most often, breaking down barriers to access and bringing the archive to life.
The Casting A Wider Net Community Oral History Project was developed to collect and share stories of Cape Verdean, Vietnamese, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Guatemalan, and Salvadoran members of New Bedford’s commercial fishing industry. The project was designed to honor the integral role they play in our food system, build bridges of understanding between newer and older immigrant groups, expand capacity for people to tell their own stories in their own language, and ensure fisheries science and policy is informed by those voices. CAWN provided ethnographic training for nine community members who led the documentation effort. They conducted, transcribed, and translated fourteen interviews in four languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Kriolu. The interviews, interview transcripts, and associated photographs are now publicly accessible on the Center’s online collections database and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Voices Oral History Archive. Learn more about CAWN on FHC’s website: https://fishingheritagecenter.
These interviews provided the basis for the CAWN exhibit which was on display at FHC from November 2024 – June 2025. The exhibit featured photos, videos, and audio excerpts in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Cape Verdean Kriolu, and Vietnamese, and opportunities to reflect on and respond to narrators’ stories. The exhibit then travelled to the Cape Verdean Veterans’ Memorial Hall and was on display during the Cabo Verdean Heritage Month in July to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cape Verde’s independence from Portugal. The exhibit opening featured a panel of Cape Verdean CAWN community ethnographers and narrators who spoke about the project and its significance for New Bedford’s Cape Verdean community. The exhibit remained on display through the end of August 2025.
Project funding for CAWN was provided by: the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a Mass Humanities Expanding Massachusetts Stories Grant, and a New Bedford Creative Wicked Cool Places Grant.
The CAWN traveling exhibit is supported in part by: A Wicked Cool Places grant funded by the City of New Bedford through its Arts, Culture & Tourism Fund, and by the New Bedford Economic Development Council, which receives support in part from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
About New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center. Established in 2016, New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is located at 38 Bethel Street in New Bedford’s Seaport Historic District and is dedicated to preserving and sharing the story of the commercial fishing industry, past, present, and future. Learn more about FHC’s mission and programs by visiting the Center’s website: www.fishingheritagecenter.org
ALASKA: Alaskan lawmakers introduce Bycatch Reduction and Research Act
January 8, 2026 — Alaska’s Congressional delegation has proposed new legislation designed to reduce salmon bycatch in commercial fisheries and protect seafloor habitats from trawling operations.
“In recent years, Alaskans have witnessed unprecedented declines among some fish and crab species in parts of the state while, in other parts, runs have been strong and historic,” U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said in a release. “We need to get to the bottom of all potential causes of this increased variability, including concerns about bycatch and trawl gear habitat impacts, to strengthen the sustainability of our fisheries.”
US lawmakers include funding for fish conservation, hatcheries, and battling invasive carp in Department of the Interior budget bill
January 7, 2026 — U.S. Congressional appropriations leaders have included several fisheries and aquaculture provisions in a recently released bipartisan budget bill for the U.S. Department of the Interior, which is part of a package of bills that need to pass by the end of January to avoid another government shutdown.
The legislature is months behind schedule in passing appropriations legislation for the fiscal year of 2026, having missed the 30 September deadline and plunging the nation into a government shutdown for several weeks. Lawmakers finally passed a short-term spending bill in November to reopen the government, but that funding is set to run out 30 January. With just a few weeks left to authorize more federal funding, Congressional leaders from the House and Senate appropriations committee have negotiated and released a trio of appropriations bills that will fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Annual Arctic report card documents rising temperatures, melting glaciers
January 7, 2026 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued its annual Arctic Report Card, which documents the way rising temperatures, diminished ice, thawing permafrost, melting glaciers and vegetation shifts are transforming the region and affecting its people.
The agency has released the report for 20 years as a way to track changes in the Arctic.
“The Arctic continues to warm faster than the global average, with the 10 years that comprise the last decade marking the 10 warmest years on record,” Steve Thur, NOAA’s acting administrator for oceanic and atmospheric research and the agency’s acting chief scientist, said at a news conference Dec. 16.
The report card is a peer-reviewed collaboration of more than 100 scientists from 13 countries, with numerous coauthors from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It was officially released at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in New Orleans, where Thur and other officials held the news conference.
The report is the first under the second Trump administration, at a time when the federal government’s commitment to documenting Arctic climate change has diminished: The president has repeatedly called climate change a hoax and federal departments are cancelling climate change-related research and projects, as well as scrubbing climate information from public view.
Request for Nominations: Scientific and Statistical Committee – Apply by Jan. 16
January 7, 2026 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) is seeking qualified candidates to serve on its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). Successful candidates will serve a three-year appointment beginning in March of 2026.
The SSC serves as the Council’s primary scientific/technical advisory body and provides independent scientific advice for fishery management decisions, including recommendations for acceptable biological catch and rebuilding targets. The SSC also provides science advice and information on stock status, bycatch, habitat, social and economic impacts of management measures, and research priorities. SSC members are also expected to serve on various technical working groups and peer review panels as part of their SSC responsibilities.
The SSC typically meets 4-5 times per year, with meetings lasting from one to three days. Meetings may be held in-person or via webinar, and in-person meetings are usually held in the Mid-Atlantic region (e.g., Philadelphia, PA or Baltimore, MD). Eligible SSC members receive a daily stipend for meetings and are reimbursed for travel expenses.
Membership is composed of state and federal employees, academia, and independent experts with scientific and technical expertise in biology, statistics, stock assessments, economics, social science, and other relevant disciplines. Highly qualified candidates from all relevant fields are encouraged to apply. Special consideration will be given to applicants with expertise in stock assessments, survey design, fisheries ecology and life history, and recreational fisheries.
Individuals interested in applying for nomination to the SSC must submit a curriculum vitae (CV) or resume and a brief letter describing qualifications, relevant experience, and reason for interest in joining the SSC. Materials should be submitted by email to admin@mafmc.org by 5:00 P.M. on Friday, January 16, 2026. The Council’s Executive Committee will review all applications and recommend applicants for consideration and approval by the full Council.
Additional information about the SSC is available at https://www.mafmc.org/ssc. If you have any questions or need further information about the process, please contact Brandon Muffley at bmuffley@mafmc.org or 302-526-5260.
Seafood sales for 2026 and beyond expected to benefit from health, protein trends
January 7, 2026 — U.S. grocery sales are expected to continue on a steady growth trajectory over the next few years, and several consumer trends are pointing toward seafood being a top beneficiary of that growth.
According to a recent report from LLC Attorney, U.S. food retail sales are projected to soar from USD 245.8 billion (EUR 210 billion) in 2026 to USD 389 billion (EUR 333 billion) in 2029, enjoying a growth rate of more than 12 percent annually during that time frame. A large component of that projected growth will come from seafood, according to the firm, which predicted that seafood is expected to outpace every other food segment throughout the end of the decade, with projections of 13.8 percent annual growth and USD 11.4 billion (EUR 9.7 billion) in sales by 2029.
US Congress rejects Trump’s NOAA Fisheries cuts in compromise budget proposal
January 6, 2026 — U.S. lawmakers largely rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts to NOAA Fisheries in a new compromise appropriations bill Congress needs to pass before the government once again runs out of money on 30 January.
On 5 January, House and Senate appropriations leaders released a compromise piece of legislation that will fund the U.S. Department of Commerce – which houses NOAA Fisheries – through the rest of fiscal year 2026, which runs until the end of September. The compromise bill’s spending for NOAA Fisheries largely aligns with the original Senate version of the legislation, ignoring the Trump administration’s proposal to slash the agency’s funding and eliminate programs.
Environmental organization sues federal government to protect horseshoe crabs in Maine and U.S.
January 6, 2026 — The Center for Biological Diversity is suing the federal government for failing to protect American horseshoe crabs under the Endangered Species Act.
Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center, says since 2000, horseshoe crab populations have crashed by more than 70% across their range from Maine to Louisiana.
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