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 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 — U.S. states filed two lawsuits on Wednesday accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of illegally weakening the federal Endangered Species Act, a landmark law that has shielded the bald eagle and other wildlife from dangers posed by development.
The lawsuits by the Democratic attorneys general of 20 states and Washington, D.C. were filed less than two months after the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce announced final rules that could make it easier for developers, fossil fuel companies and others to disturb lands that environmental advocates say need protection from business interests.
Enacted by Congress in 1973, the Endangered Species Act has been credited with saving animals including the California condor, grizzly bear and humpback whale.
In one lawsuit, the states challenged a rule that narrowed the Endangered Species Act’s definition of “harm,” which had long included encroachments on habitats where endangered animals live.
The new rule, which the states called “a reversal of staggering proportions,” allows oil drilling, mining and other activities in those habitats so long as those activities are not “directed immediately and intentionally” against particular animals, even if they cause injuries or death.
In the other lawsuit, the states challenged two rules. One rule eliminates broad protections for newly threatened species unless the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service creates species-specific protections. The second rule requires the government to consider objections by businesses, such as potential economic burdens, before declaring areas as “critical habitats.”
“The Trump administration is trying to undermine the law, the will of Congress and the will of the people who overwhelmingly support protections for endangered species,” Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said at a press conference. “Instead of stewardship, this administration’s approach to our land, to our water is one of exploitation.”
September 9, 2026 — An organization representing shrimp harvesters and other related small businesses in eight Southern states last week cautioned the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to choose its next round of potential large-scale offshore commercial aquaculture sites carefully.
Published July 30, NOAA’s latest request for information seeks guidance from the public and industry stakeholders on selecting the most suitable locations for what the federal agency calls Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs). NOAA has already undertaken this process in Alaska, California and the Gulf of Mexico, which the Trump administration prefers to call the Gulf of America. The deadline for public comment is Sept. 14.
The Florida-based Southern Shrimp Alliance said in a news release Sept. 3 that NOAA’s process must be mindful of what already exists in the Gulf.
The SSA noted identifying AOAs is the “first critical step in a multi-year process” of downstream planning and environmental review, in this case for NOAA’s South Atlantic fisheries. It added feedback it previously gave had helped prevent two important shrimping areas in the Gulf from being designated as AOAs.
September 8, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries quietly issued several fishery disaster determinations in July, opening the door for federal funding to be allocated for those fisheries.
U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) welcomed the determinations for fisheries in his state, which include California’s red sea urchin fishery and the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s Klamath River fall Chinook salmon fishery.
September 5, 2026 — Has El Niño reached the West Coast?
You might think it has. After all, the ocean off Southern and Central California is unusually warm. But that is from a recent marine heatwave predates the current El Niño. Much of the Pacific Coast is experiencing relatively normal conditions while still awaiting the impacts of what could be a very strong El Niño.
In June, NOAA’s National Weather Service declared that El Niño had developed. That finding, however, is based on ocean temperatures from the tropical Pacific Ocean, near the Equator, which warm ahead of El Niño’s impact on the Americas.
While eastern tropical Pacific temperatures have already risen more than 2°C (about 3.6°F) above normal, El Niño-related warming along the West Coast typically lags that increase by a few months. NOAA Fisheries scientists are tracking West Coast conditions as part of our Integrated Ecosystem Assessment. Here are some of the changes in ocean conditions and marine life that typically signal the arrival of El Niño’s influence along the West Coast.
September 6, 2026 — Massive bluefin tuna are being reeled in off Northern California in numbers local fishermen say they rarely see.
Dustin Barbane, who runs D&D Fishing Company out of Richmond, said crews are seeing bluefin feeding aggressively near the surface.
“We’re seeing them foaming, or busting up on anchovies,” Barbane said. “They’re eating bait on the surface.”
Bluefin tuna generally favor warmer water, and fishermen say this year’s catches have been unusually strong.
“We’ve seen guys catch up to eight tuna in a day, which is pretty unheard of up here,” he said.
The unusual activity is not limited to tuna. Commercial fisherman Dick Ogg, based in Bodega Bay, said fishermen have noticed rapid shifts in water temperature, unusual concentrations of anchovies and even large numbers of giant octopus.
“It’s kind of a weird thing,” Ogg said. “All of a sudden guys were seeing 20, 25 octopus in their pots all of a sudden up and down the coast.”
September 3, 2026 — Bordered by the Pacific and Arctic oceans and the Bering Sea, Alaska is home to the richest fisheries in the world, and the source of half the wild fisheries harvest in the U.S.
Managing the fisheries of the 900,000 square mile EEZ, or exclusive economic zone, surrounding the state effectively requires massive amounts of data that are often collected by different entities, public and private, using different methods. Harvesting the bounty safely and economically also relies on information about weather, waves, ice conditions, stock migration patterns, and more.
To gather and share the data being collected to support Alaska’s marine economic and subsistence activities, the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) was founded in 2003 and started operating in 2004 as one of the regional hubs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) national Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). IOOS was formally established in 2007 and continues to expand in its role as an information portal on many fronts.
“It’s a lot to manage,” says AOOS’ executive director, Sheyna Wisdom. “If you look at California, for example, they have two regional hubs, and they’re both on the Pacific. Ours are very spread out, and if you look at the Arctic, it doesn’t have the same information needs as Southeast.”
Besides marine traffic, water quality, and other projects, much of the AOOS budget of over $4 million goes into funding research that supports fisheries and coastal communities that depend on fisheries.
“What we do is collect information and make sure it is available to the people who need it,” says Wisdom. “With the Alaska Sea Grant, we co-host the bi-monthly Alaska Marine Policy Forum where the public gets updates on marine policy issues. We also facilitate several collaboration networks to connect people across Alaska, such as the Alaska Harmful Algal Bloom Network or the Alaska Ocean Acidification Network. We take our role as a connector very seriously.”
August 31, 2026 — California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission moved forward with their earlier challenges and filed a lawsuit on August 28 against the Trump administration and Golden State Wind over what it is calling “the unlawful buyout” of the offshore wind energy lease. The state is contending the deal to buy back the offshore wind lease is illegal and would jeopardize its investments to support the project, the state’s energy policy, and the commitments from the developer for workforce training, the supply chain, and investments in the local communities.
The California Energy Commission in May served an administrative investigative subpoena to Golden State Wind seeking documents and information related to the buyout. The California Department of Justice and CEC followed up in June by sending a Notice of Intent to Sue targeting what it terms an “unlawful agreement between the Department of the Interior and Golden State Wind.” It is asserting that the deal is “blatantly unlawful” and is asking the courts to strike it down.
“The Trump administration’s backroom buyout with Golden State Wind to stop offshore wind development in favor of gas and oil drilling is, unfortunately, a classic playbook for them to line the pockets of their Big Oil donors,” said Attorney General Bonta, announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
August 27, 2026 — More than 30 federal lawmakers from California are protesting a formal government review of the state’s management of its coastal development, arguing that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is simply removing local control in order to advance the president’s policy preferences.
“This extraordinary federal review which singles out California is based upon a thinly veiled and non-evidential argument. It is an attempt to curb our state’s federally approved authority to evaluate offshore energy, infrastructure, and commercial activities,” the lawmakers stated in a 21 August letter to NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs. “This unprecedented review threatens to disrupt 48 years of successful coordination between the state of California and the federal government to protect California’s coast.”