Saving Seafood

Opinion: Seabed mining would strip mine fishermens’ future

August 24, 2026 — As a family of lifelong commercial fishers, we’ve always done our best to take care of the ocean off Virginia’s coast. But right now, an out-of-state company wants to dig out the foundation of our fishing grounds.

The federal government is considering a recent proposal by a Florida-based mining company to dredge Virginia’s seabed. If granted, our entire Eastern shore – 2,500 square miles – could be opened up to mining that would tear up the ocean bottom and crush the marine life that depends on it.

The two of us have saltwater running through our veins.

As for me – Jim – I fell in the water when I was two and have been driving a skiff since I was eight. My great uncle was a crabber, and my great aunt was picking crabs. I always knew I wanted to be a commercial fisherman here – just fell in love with fishing.

And as for me – Katie – my neighbor in Freeport, Long Island, threw me in the water and told me to swim when I was three. At about nine, I’d take the neighbors’ dog out on a paddle boat at six am to grab mussels off the pylons and stay out until dark. Neighbors would tell my parents they’d seen me.

Today, we are Virginia’s largest harvesters of black sea bass and flounder, fishing over 100 trips per season. Jim, the tech whiz with a chemistry degree, recently designed and built our own boat and fishes all day with our 24-year-old son, Matt. Katie takes care of lobsters in the tank and delivers our product every Saturday to people’s houses. Around Chincoteague, some people know us better as “Jimmy Neutron” and “The Lobsta Lady.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Court order could threaten permits for surviving US wind projects

August 19, 2026 — A court decision remanding prior approvals for a wind energy project off New Jersey could pose a new threat to offshore turbine arrays under construction, as the Trump administration presses its relentless campaign against them.

The Aug. 10 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb in the District of Columbia granted a request by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to reconsider its permitting for  Atlantic Shores, planned as a 2.8 gigawatt project near Long Beach Island, N.J.

Local activist group Save Long Beach Island had sought a remand and reconsideration of the project’s construction and operations plan, approved in October 2024 in the waning days of the Biden administration.

Save LBI contended that BOEM failed to adequately consider the project’s likely effects under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act, among other federal laws.

Read the full article at WorkBoat

Former Menhaden Vessel F/V Calcasieu Pass Begins Second Life as Artificial Reef Off Delaware

August 14, 2026 — The following was released by Ocean Harvesters:

The F/V Calcasieu Pass, a retired menhaden fishing vessel formerly operated by Ocean Harvesters, was intentionally sunk Wednesday, August 12, at Delaware Reef Site 13, approximately 26 miles off Indian River Inlet.

The Calcasieu Pass will now begin a second life as artificial reef habitat, adding structure for marine life and providing new opportunities for recreational fishing and diving off the Delaware coast.

Ocean Harvesters transferred the retired vessel to Coleen Marine for a nominal $1 purchase price in 2024, donating the Calcasieu Pass for conversion into an artificial reef. Coleen Marine subsequently prepared, towed and sank the vessel at the Delaware reef site.

“Retired working vessels can continue to provide value long after their fishing days are over,” said Monty Deihl, CEO of Ocean Harvesters. “We’re pleased to see the Calcasieu Pass begin a new chapter as marine habitat, supporting the ecosystem while creating new opportunities for anglers and divers.”

Menhaden vessels have a long history of being repurposed as artificial habitats. In 2023, the former F/V Mermentau and F/V G.P. Chauvin were intentionally sunk off the Mississippi coast as part of that state’s artificial reef program. Other retired vessels associated with the menhaden fishery have been deployed as artificial reefs in Louisiana, Delaware and Mississippi.

Another former menhaden vessel, the Reedville, was sunk off Delaware in 2020. Like the Calcasieu Pass, the vessel was prepared and deployed by Coleen Marine as part of Delaware’s artificial reef system.

Artificial reefs provide hard structure on otherwise largely featureless ocean bottom, creating habitat for marine organisms and attracting fish while expanding recreational fishing and diving opportunities. Delaware has developed a network of artificial reef sites along the Atlantic Coast and in Delaware Bay using retired vessels and other cleaned, stable materials.

The Calcasieu Pass deployment adds another retired working vessel to that network and extends a practice that allows vessels which spent decades supporting coastal fishing communities to continue serving the marine environment after their working lives have ended.

Video
Video of the F/V Calcasieu Pass being sunk at Delaware Reef Site 13 is available here.

About Ocean Harvesters
Ocean Harvesters owns and operates a fleet of more than 30 fishing vessels in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of America. The company’s purse-seine fishing operation is exclusively engaged in the harvest of menhaden, a small, nutrient-dense fish used to produce fish meal, fish oil, and fish solubles. Both its Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden fisheries are certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. Committed to responsible fishing operations, Ocean Harvesters is proud to be heir to a fishing legacy that extends nearly 150 years.

Trump admin to reconsider permits for Atlantic Shores wind project

August 13, 2026 — In the latest blow to the offshore wind industry, a federal court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to reconsider permits for the Atlantic Shores project off the coast of New Jersey.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Monday that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management could review the construction permits it issued to the project. The permits were issued under the Biden administration.

“Remand is appropriate here in the interest of judicial economy and in light of the lack of prejudice to Atlantic Shores,” the order read.

Read the full article at E&E News

VIRGINIA: Coastal Virginia communities push back against proposed offshore seabed mining

August 12, 2026 — Chincoteague resident Jim Dawson has been fishing the waters off the Eastern Shore for more than four decades, catching species including black sea bass and Atlantic lobster.

During his many hours out at sea, Dawson said he’s come to appreciate the tiniest creatures that dwell on and around the seafloor.

“The microscopic world is just phenomenal, that you would never know is there,” he said. “What lives in that water, we don’t know anything about. And everything is vital.”

Dawson worries a new federal proposal to dig up huge portions of the seabed could threaten the ecosystem that supports his livelihood.

“Once you knock one thing off balance, it really impacts all of it,” he said.

The Trump administration announced in June that it is considering issuing an ocean lease to allow mineral mining within a 2,700-square-mile area flanking the Eastern Shore, stretching from 3 to 63 miles off the coast.

The move was prompted by an unsolicited request from a Florida company late last year.

Administration officials say the industry, which mines the seabed to extract valuable minerals, could reduce U.S. reliance on foreign suppliers.

But many community leaders and residents along the Virginia coast are strongly opposing the proposal, particularly on the Shore.

The counties of Accomack and Northampton sent the government formal notices against it.

Read the full article at WHRO

American Icons: Reviving the River Herring

July 31, 2026 — As he watched the British bombarding Fort McHenry from a truce ship on the Patapsco River, inspiration struck Francis Scott Key. When the American flag was raised after 24 hours of explosive assault, Key wrote what would become “The Star Spangled Banner.” Our national anthem was born, along with our country’s obsession with fireworks.

But long before there were red rockets glaring in the sky, the Patapsco River had an equally impressive natural spectacle of its own. Every spring, it would turn silver with millions of river herring. The annual migration of these fish was a sight to behold in rivers up and down the East Coast of North America. In fact, here at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Maryland, Muddy Creek used to be called Herring Creek.

Emphasis on “used to.” In less than a century, river herring populations have dwindled by well over 90 percent. These fish have certainly seen better days, but recovery efforts are well underway. Scientists are fighting an upstream battle to protect what remains, using cutting-edge research and… bombs bursting in air?

Read the full article at the Smithsonian Magazine

Baby sharks grow up in New Jersey’s back bays. Climate change could threaten the nurseries

July 31, 2026 — New Jersey’s back bays, those lush wetlands that sit between the barrier island beach towns and the mainland, are home to unknown numbers of baby sharks that feast on the American eel, crabs and small fish that thrive in the coastal salt marshes. Giving birth to litters in those food-rich shallow waters like Little Egg Harbor is just about all the maternal care given to the shark pups by their mothers, who swim back out to the Atlantic Ocean soon afterwards.

The tiger shark, the sandbar shark and the smooth dogfish return each summer to the Jersey coast to give birth between June and July, utilizing the safety of shallow waters that are free from predators that would devour their newborns. Although the smooth dogfish can grow to 3 feet long, the babies are no larger than 12 inches at birth and litters range in size from four to 20 pups. The dogfish are benthic feeders, meaning they forage along the bottom of the marsh.

“We all have our favorite shore towns,” said Adrianna Zito-Livingston, an ecologist who works as the climate adaptation project manager for the New Jersey Nature Conservancy. “We come back year after year. The sharks are doing the same thing.”

The Nature Conservancy is working with Monmouth University to research the health of the salt marshes that have become eroded due to the impacts of climate change. As part of that work, researchers like Zito-Livingston are tagging the sharks with acoustic trackers that are then monitored by listening stations placed along the Jersey coast. She said the sharks provide a good indication of the health of the salt marshes.

“In a lot of ways, sharks are a canary in the coal mine,” she said. “They’re top predators and healthy sharks with a good distribution are indicative of healthy, diverse ecosystems.”

Read the full article at WHYY

NOAA holds first-ever international cooperative research gathering

July 28, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries recently held what it is describing as its first-ever international cooperative research knowledge exchange with Scotland.

NOAA hosted 16 members of the Scottish Fishermen’s Association in a three-day event which involved tours of multiple ports, fishing vessels, and seafood processing facilities. The goal of the exchange was to share fisheries knowledge between the two organizations, which share management of multiple fisheries species in the Atlanic including Atlantic cod, Atlantic pollock, haddock, Atlantic mackerel, and Atlantic herring.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Fishermen could soon be allowed to hunt more sharks under Trump team proposal

May 20, 2026 — Atlantic fishermen could be allowed to catch even more sharks, if the Trump administration’s newly proposed updates to fishing regulations are approved.

The regulations would impact protections for the endangered blacknose shark, which has seen its population cut by more than half over the last quarter of a century. They would also raise the number of sharks recreational fishermen can catch per species and alter how big the sharks that are caught need to be.

The proposed changes are necessary to make it easier for recreational and commercial fishermen in the Atlantic Ocean by reducing the shark population, the administration says.

Read the full article at The Independent

MARYLAND: Maryland loosens striped bass rules, boosts quota flexibility

March 18, 2026 — Maryland officials have rolled out a set of updates to commercial striped bass regulations aimed at improving flexibility for fishermen while keeping overall harvest limits intact.

According to a report by Coast TV, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced the changes to address long-standing challenges with quota access and permit transfers in both the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean striped bass fisheries.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman