September 2, 2026 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Today, NOAA announced priorities for advancing reforms within NOAA Fisheries to move towards regulations grounded in science that support American seafood dominance. These agency-level actions follow the Regional Priorities guidance that was released on July 2, 2026 to apply the same standard of accountability to NOAA’s own operations, regulatory frameworks, and scientific pipelines. This priority list serves as an operational roadmap of NOAA Fisheries’ direct support of the President’s Executive order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness and will lead to the broader interagency America First Seafood Strategy that will be released in the coming months.
“Through these priorities, the agency is taking actionable steps to fulfill the President’s vision of making the United States the world’s dominant seafood leader,” said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., NOAA administrator. “NOAA is proud to deliver real-world results to the American public through innovative solutions that streamline regulations.”
“These priorities represent NOAA Fisheries’ commitment to ensuring that federal fisheries management boosts domestic harvesters,” said Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “We are proud to empower hard-working American fishermen to produce more seafood for American plates.”
After considering input from more than 700 individuals and organizations, including from councils, the fishing industry, and the public, NOAA Fisheries is advancing a science-based approach to fisheries management that supports sustainable fishing opportunities while ensuring responsible conservation practices and improving regulatory efficiency. These efforts touch on all aspects of the agency’s mission from protected resources and science to national policies and improving fishing opportunities.
The complete list of priority actions is available on the NOAA Fisheries website.
While this announcement outlines the immediate internal priorities for the agency, it also serves as a bridge towards a broader, interagency transformation of federal seafood policy. In the coming months, the agency will unveil future actions towards this goal to strengthen national seafood markets, rebuild U.S. fisheries infrastructure and processing capacity, and tackle IUU fishing issues to ensure American seafood dominance.