October 8, 2025 — U.S. district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by conservation NGO Oceana challenging bottom trawling in the North Pacific, finding that NOAA Fisheries acted in accordance with the law in regulating commercial fishing in the area.
Oceana filed the lawsuit in August 2024 in an effort to block bottom trawling in the North Pacific, an activity the group claims can cause substantial damage to seafloor coral and sponge habitats.
October 3, 2025 — The U.S. maritime economy is growing faster than the economy as a whole, supporting over 2.6 million jobs and contributing $511 billion to the nation’s GDP.
From lobster docks in Maine to oyster farms in Florida, kelp farms and commercial fisheries on the West Coast to maritime training in Alaska, charter fishing in the Gulf, and inland shipping in the Great Lakes, America’s coastal and freshwater industries are fueling economic growth, feeding families, and sustaining communities.
At the heart of that growth is Sea Grant, a trusted federal program linking science, communities, and industry across every coastal and Great Lakes state. According to the most recent federal data, the marine economy grew by 5.9 percent in GDP, outpacing national GDP growth, and Sea Grant plays a critical role in sustaining and accelerating that momentum.
Modeled after the Land Grant college system that helped transform American agriculture, the Sea Grant college program has spent more than 50 years doing the same for the nation’s marine and freshwater economies, combining applied research, hands-on education, and direct investments in communities and businesses to promote sustainable growth.
That model works. It works for the charter boat captain who needs up-to-date science on fish stocks, reef health, and ocean conditions. It works for the shellfish farmer navigating complex permitting processes, building a skilled workforce, and developing business plans to stay competitive. It works for the lobsterman who relies on data about juvenile lobsters entering the fishery to make informed decisions about their gear, boat, and future, because without that data, they’d be navigating blind. It works for the seafood processor hiring the next generation of workers, and for the harbor manager planning infrastructure upgrades to withstand future storms. It works for the grocery shopper a thousand miles from the coast looking for fresh, healthy seafood, and for the inland communities whose economies depend on waterborne trade and shipping. It works for families, for small businesses, for regional economies, and ultimately, for the nation.
October 2, 2025 — The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC), responsible for overseeing federal fisheries off Alaska, is navigating turbulent waters marked by both budget uncertainty and the government shutdown. NPFMC is one of the eight regional councils established by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976.
After months of delays due to the Trump administration’s cuts to NOAA, the council finally secured its 2025 operational funding this summer. However, as Yereth Rosen reported for Alaska Beacon on September 30, a federal government shutdown now threatens to derail the science-based decision-making that the fisheries depend on.
October 2, 2025 — A pair of new studies validate the economic importance of the Alaska pollock industry. The Alaska Pollock Fishery Alliance (APFA) paid for two studies prepared independently by Northern Economics and the McKinley Research Group.
Both studies found significant economic impacts from pollock fishing and processing and contributions to Community Development Quota (CDQ) groups. The studies put the value of the fishery at the billions of dollars, including thousands of jobs in the seafood sector and the transportation and other support industries.
October 1, 2025 — After months of uncertainty amid the Trump administration’s deep cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the council that manages commercial fisheries in federal waters off Alaska now has all the federal funding that had been allocated to it for 2025 operations.
But the North Pacific Fishery Management Council now faces a new source of uncertainty: the federal government shutdown.
The funding and shutdown complications have reshaped the council’s October meeting, underway this week.
September 30, 2025 — The commercial salmon harvest in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, site of the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs, held a mixture of good news and bad news this year.
The run of sockeye salmon, also known as red salmon, exceeded preseason expectations and totaled 56.7 million fish, the seventh highest since 2005, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported in its preliminary summary of the summer harvest. The commercial sockeye harvest was also bigger than expected, totaling 41.2 million fish. That was 18% above the preseason forecast and 23% higher than the recent 20-year average.
The total amount of money paid to fishers delivering their catches totaled $215.3 million, about 7% above the 20-year average of $200.7 million, the department said in its summary.
The bad news is that while Bristol Bay sockeye salmon continued what has been a streak of huge runs — and while sockeye dominate the commercial harvest — other salmon species there continued to falter. Bristol Bay’s harvest of chinook, also known as king salmon, hit a 20-year low this year, totaling only 6,148 fish, compared to the most recent 20-year average of 33,469 chinook, the department reported.
September 30, 2025 — Scientists used a model to detect and classify fish in videos more quickly than humans. The detection model is called You Only Look Once, version 11 (or YOLOv11). It’s helping scientists evaluate the effectiveness of excluders that help salmon escape from fishing nets intended to catch pollock.
YOLOv11 is an object detection deep learning model for images. Scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center customized it to detect and identify both pollock and salmon in fishing nets. This allows scientists to semi-automate the video review process used to evaluate the effectiveness of bycatch reduction devices. They can also observe fish behavior to improve the performance of these devices.
September 30, 2025 — Bristol Bay sockeye salmon harvests of 41.5 million fish for 2025 exceeded the forecast by 18 percent, and with catches of Chinook, chum, and coho salmon, put the season’s exvessel harvest value at $215.3 million.
That total was 7 percent above the 20-year average of $200.7 million, and those prices may not include incentives for icing, bleeding, floating, or production bonuses, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said in the annual Bristol Bay season summary released on Sept. 25.
Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association officials, who are already planning their 2026 marketing campaign, said that the average weight of the drift gillnet caught red salmon was 5.1 pounds.
The overall nationwide demand for all Alaska salmon has been upbeat.
September 24, 2025 — The Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) and The Conservation Angler (TCA) have announced plans to sue the federal government over the damage they claim hatchery fish are doing to wild salmon, steelhead, and orca populations.
“Mitchell Act hatcheries are causing harm that we know how to prevent. We’re taking this action today as part of our long-standing commitment to hold the federal government accountable and prevent further violations that imperil these species and the ecosystems they depend on,” WFC Executive Director Emma Helverson said in a release. “It’s time for NOAA to stop prioritizing maintaining harmful hatchery practices over their responsibility to protect wild fish for current and future generations.”
September 22, 2025 — A brand-new Pacific tuna fishery is open in the eastern Gulf of Alaska and state fisheries officials are anticipating a commercial harvest coming soon.
“It is very exciting; we are hoping to see some tuna harvested in the Sitka area,” said Rhea Ehresmann, Region 1 groundfish project leader for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).
Pacific tuna species are not currently covered by federal fisheries management in Alaska waters, so they are being managed by the state. Commercial fishermen eager to target, retain and sell Pacific tuna must apply for a commissioner’s permit and possess a valid Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (CFEC) vessel license and miscellaneous saltwater finfish interim use permit for the gear type used for directed fishing – in this case hand troll, power troll, or mechanical jig.
Pacific tuna caught as bycatch in the salmon troll fishery may be retained using the fisher’s CFEC salmon troll permit card, but salmon trollers must also apply for a commissioner’s permit, Ehresmann said.
The permits are issued with specific stipulations – such as dates the permits are valid, legal gear types, area restrictions/closed waters, requirements for logbooks and fish tickets, and restrictions on bycatch of other species.