April 29, 2026 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Supplemental materials for the ASMFC’s 2026 Spring Meeting are now available at https://asmfc.org/events/
April 29, 2026 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
Supplemental materials for the ASMFC’s 2026 Spring Meeting are now available at https://asmfc.org/events/
April 29, 2026 — The Downeast Maine fleet is mourning the loss of one of its own after a longtime Steuben lobsterman was found dead in the water.
63-year-old Thomas West was discovered in Dyer Bay early Wednesday morning near his 35-foot lobster boat Aces and Eights. The Maine Department of Marine Resources said West was found around 6 am after a search effort that began the night before, when local fishermen reported his vessel running with no one aboard.
Maine Marine Patrol launched a search on Tuesday night, deploying a remotely operated vehicle to scan the area near the moored boat. The effort was suspended in the early morning hours due to low visibility but was set to resume before West’s body was ultimately located by family members and brought aboard a relative’s vessel, according to News Center Maine.
April 29, 2026 — A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation that would extend offshore boundaries for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to match those of Texas and Florida.
Rep. Troy Carter Sr. (D-LA) introduced the Offshore Parity Act alongside Reps. Mike Ezell (R-MS), Clay Higgins (R-LA) and Shomari Figures (D-LA).
According to the lawmakers, the current law gives Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama jurisdiction over just three nautical miles offshore. Texas and Florida have nine nautical miles, and the new bill would bring all three Gulf states up to that same limit.
April 29, 2026 — Alaska’s Board of Fisheries is considering a major change to the type of gear Cook Inlet’s east-side setnet fishermen can use when king salmon runs are poor. The group will take up a proposal Friday that would replace setnets with beach seines in the fishery’s management plan.
Fishermen would only be allowed to fish with beach seines when the state forecasts a run of at least 14,250 large king salmon. Currently, fishermen are allowed to use setnets when that threshold is met.
The proposed pivot to beach seines might seem like an abrupt about-face. But a small group of setnetters have been experimenting with beach seines for years now. Armed with an experimental permit from the state, a Kenai couple deployed custom seines on their setnet site to see if the gear could harvest commercial levels of sockeye salmon without killing king salmon.
Setnets catch when fish swim into and get their gills caught on the net’s mesh diamonds. That means caught fish are usually dead by the time they’re hauled onto the beach. Seine nets have smaller diamonds, though. They billow with the tide and scoop fish onto the beach – alive.
April 28, 2026 — Alaska’s statewide commercial salmon harvest this year is expected to total 125.5 million fish, less than two thirds of the total landed by commercial harvesters in 2025, according to the annual forecast released last week by state biologists.
The anticipated 2026 total, detailed in Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2026 forecast and 2025 review, is lower than annual statewide harvests in all but four years since 2000, according to department records.
The lowered expectations for the statewide salmon harvest are driven mostly by anticipated declines in runs of pink salmon, also known as humpback salmon, according to the forecast.
Pink salmon are the most plentiful, smallest and cheapest of Alaska’s five salmon species. They have two-year life cycles, the shortest of all of Alaska’s salmon species. Although there are regional variations, the general pattern for the recent past is alternating big-run and smaller-run years, with 2025 as one of the big-run years.
The year-to-year difference has been significant, said Forrest Bowers, who heads the department’s commercial fishing division.
April 28, 2026 — A new agency for offshore energy development that’s seen its workforce shrink in recent years — and is targeted for funding cuts next year by the Trump administration — will be taking on a quickly growing portfolio of responsibilities.
The Marine Minerals Administration unveiled this month by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will oversee not only a larger oil and gas leasing program but also will help set up and police the nation’s first-ever offshore mining industry.
The agency merges two existing bureaus within the Interior Department that managed energy development and safety in federal waters. While the offshore regulators together once employed 1,500 full-time staffers under the Biden administration, that’s since fallen to about 1,000 employees this year, according to the Office of Personnel Management data. The Trump administration has proposed further reducing the staff down to 874 people.
April 28, 2026 — The Trump administration announced two more payouts Monday for energy companies to walk away from U.S. offshore wind projects under development.
Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind have agreed to end their offshore wind leases in exchange for reimbursements totaling nearly $900 million. Both companies have decided not to pursue any new offshore wind projects in the United States, the Interior Department announced Monday.
Bluepoint Wind is an offshore wind project in the early stages of development off the coasts of New Jersey and New York, while Golden State Wind is a floating offshore wind project proposed off California’s central coast.
Interior said it’s following the model of its recent deal with the French energy company TotalEnergies, which is getting a $1 billion payout to walk away from projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York. TotalEnergies agreed in March to what’s essentially a refund of its leases, and will invest the money in fossil fuel projects instead.
April 28, 2026 — Yukon River Chinook salmon are headed for another dismal year, according to preliminary estimates predicting the 2026 run will remain near historic lows ahead of April’s official forecast.
Fisheries managers estimate approximately 25,000 Canadian-origin Chinook will return this year, according to Zachary Liller, Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Arctic, Yukon and Kuskokwim region research coordinator.
That would mirror the poor runs of 2024 and 2025—a devastating decline from historical averages exceeding 100,000 fish annually.
The Joint Technical Committee—made up of Alaskan and Canadian researchers and management biologists—will present its official 2026 forecast to the Yukon River Panel at its April spring meeting.
April 28, 2026 — With fishing season approaching, Maryland fishers face uncertainty.
Right now, there are all kinds of different restrictions on size limits and season dates based on whether someone is fishing off the Eastern Shore in state or federal waters.
But Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) is trying to change that. Most recently, he sent a fiery letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about delays in publishing proposed recreational fishing measures.
He wants the agency to clear up the confusion by approving a set of regulations that would establish one set of rules for fishers in both state and federal waters.
April 28, 2026 — A webinar is scheduled for late May to share with the public steps in the process to develop a new benchmark blue crab assessment, intended to better understand population dynamics and determine the fishery’s stock status.
The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries is holding the online meeting 6-8 p.m. Thursday, May 28, via WebEx. Register online to join the webinar. There will be a listening station in the division’s office in Morehead City as well.
A 2018 benchmark stock assessment indicates the state’s blue crab stock is overfished, which means that the population size is too small, and overfishing is occurring, which means that the removal rate is too high.
There was a 2023 stock assessment update but division staff and external peer reviewers identified concerns with model specifications and results, so the assessment is not being used for management,” officials said. “However, available data from Division sampling and monitoring programs indicate a continued decline of the Blue Crab stock. The Division has started the process of developing a new benchmark stock assessment.”
