September 14, 2026 — The California Coastal Commission has approved a consistency certification for Ocean Rainforest’s proposed 2,000-acre commercial kelp farm to be built in the Santa Barbara Channel.
According to the Goleta, California, U.S.A.-based aquaculture company, the certification was the final major regulatory hurdle it needed before beginning construction.
September 11, 2026 — Alaska’s four candidates for governor faced off over fisheries policy in Kodiak Wednesday night, offering commercial fishermen their clearest look yet at how the next administration could reshape fisheries management in the state.
For fishermen, the differences went beyond campaign politics. Depending on who wins, Alaska could see changes to who represents the commercial fleet on the Board of Fisheries, how conservation restrictions are shared among user groups, who is nominated to the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (NPFMC), and even how fisheries leadership is structured within state government.
Republicans Dave Bronson, Treg Taylor and Bernadette Wilson joined Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for the Sept. 9 gubernatorial fisheries debate at Kodiak’s Gerald C. Wilson Auditorium. Hosted by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce and KMXT Public Radio, the event is Alaska’s only gubernatorial debate devoted exclusively to fisheries. Questions were submitted by members of the public and the seafood industry and vetted by a committee representing different sectors of the fishing industry.
September 11, 2026 — At a fisheries forum held Wednesday night in Kodiak, all four candidates remaining in Alaska’s gubernatorial race found plenty of common ground.
Former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a Democrat, and the three Republicans, former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, former state Attorney General Treg Taylor and business owner and talk-show host Bernadette Wilson, described the seafood industry as a pillar of the state’s economy and fish as part of the state’s identity.
All four gubernatorial candidates, who are set to face off in the general election in Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, said they consider bycatch — the accidental interception of nontargeted species — to be an urgent problem for salmon runs.
All said they want to appoint a special adviser on fisheries, something that past governors have done but that current Gov. Mike Dunleavy has not.
All said they wanted to appoint members of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the panel that oversees practices in federal waters, and the Alaska Board of Fisheries, which has jurisdiction over state waters, who would represent state interests broadly, including non-commercial interests.
All vowed a commitment to science, support for the state agency that markets Alaska’s seafood and investment in the infrastructure in coastal communities.
But there were differences that emerged at the event, sponsored by the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce. Those started with the candidates’ personal connections to and knowledge of seafood issues.
September 11, 2025 — Commercial fishermen in Southeast Alaska will get another shot at red king crab this fall, marking the region’s first back-to-back fisheries in more than two decades.
The 2026/27 Southeast Alaska commercial red and blue king crab fishery will open as a competitive fishery at 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, with a regionwide guideline harvest level of 213,076 pounds, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).
It will be the second consecutive year the Southeast fishery has opened following several years without one. The last time the region saw consecutive commercial red king crab fisheries was from 2001 through 2003.
“So, you know, 20-plus years since we’ve had fisheries back to back,” Adam Messmer, ADF&G regional shellfish biologist, told KFSK.
This year’s 213,076-pound guideline harvest level is slightly higher than last year’s harvest level. ADF&G developed its estimates by surveying seven bays and assessing the available crab stock. Messmer said this year’s consecutive opener is being supported by a population increase in several bays.
September 11, 2026 — Fisheries regulators say commercial blue crab landings in North Carolina declined again in 2025 and surveys continued to find low juvenile abundance, while the latest monitoring produced less definitive signals for southern flounder, speckled trout and striped mullet.
The findings are contained in the 677-page North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries 2025 Fishery Management Plan Review that was released Friday.
The annual report covers 12 species or groups managed under state plans, 21 managed by federal councils or the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and two managed through state Marine Fisheries Commission rules.
The document is not a single new stock assessment.
Rather, it compiles commercial and recreational fishing information, standardized field surveys, biological samples and previously completed stock assessments.
Most of the monitoring data were collected during 2025, but some of the stock-status determinations are based on assessments with data ending several years earlier.
September 10, 2026 — Local, state, and federal authorities are collaborating on a new hydrographic dye study to learn how wastewater flowing from the New Bedford Wastewater Treatment Plant into Buzzards Bay impacts shellfish.
“Here in Massachusetts, we pride ourselves on our nation-leading seafood industry, including culturally and economically important traditions of shellfishing in Buzzards Bay,” Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Commissioner Tom O’Shea said in a release. “We look forward to the results of this important study and are grateful for the partnership of researchers and our shellfish industry to make this possible.”
September 10, 2026 — An algae bloom in Casco Bay could be harming fish and shellfish.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources is monitoring the bloom of a common phytoplankton called Karenia mikimotoi. The phytoplankton are not harmful to humans, but they can produce compounds that can harm fish and shellfish.
The department was alerted to the bloom when the Portland Harbor Master and wharf owners in Portland Harbor noticed a dark brown tint to the water, according to a social media post by the Maine DMR .
September 10, 2026 — Right now, the Maine Department of Marine Resources is monitoring a threat to fish and shellfish from Casco Bay to Middle Bay in Harpswell.
Testing shows counts of toxic phytoplankton blooms are relatively low.
Yet they’re still believed to be what’s killing lobsters and littleneck clams off Harpswell and in Portland Harbor.
While the phytoplankton blooms, like the one causing brownish water off Widgery Wharf, can be deadly to fish and shellfish, it is not harmful to humans.
September 10, 2026 — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced a fishery restoration partnership with the Hoopa Valley Tribe to help salmon populations recover.
“This partnership demonstrates how Tribal and state agencies can work together to achieve multiple resource management goals,” CDFW Director Meghan Hertel said in a release. “I’m incredibly proud of the hard work by our Tribal partners and CDFW staff that led us to this historic accomplishment.”
September 9, 2026 — A species once declared overfished has rebounded, and its return to the docks will give scientists their first good look at the fish in decades.
Oregon fishing fleets will be allowed to keep and sell yelloweye rockfish next year for the first time in 25 years.
The species was declared overfished in 2002, closing commercial fishing for it. A recent assessment found the population has rebuilt.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fishery manager Troy Buell discussed the change with fishermen at a meeting in Port Orford Thursday.
“There was a time I didn’t think I’d ever see another yelloweye rockfish at the dock legally,” Buell said. “Now, it’s rebuilt.”
The amount fishermen will be allowed to land in 2027 and 2028 is small compared with catch limits for other species, but it represents a significant milestone in the recovery of yelloweye rockfish.