Saving Seafood

Commerce Department releases $123.6 million in fishery disaster aid

June 24, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Commerce announced June 17 the allocation of $123.6 million in fishery disaster relief funding to address a series of commercial fishery collapses that struck Alaska, Oregon, California, and Washington’s Squaxin Island Tribe between 2019 and 2023. The money was appropriated by Congress through the American Relief Act, 2025.

The funding covers six previously declared fishery resource disasters: the 2023–2024 Bering Sea snow crab fishery in Alaska; the 2023 Oregon ocean commercial salmon fishery; the 2022 Chignik salmon fishery in Alaska; the 2023 Upper Cook Inlet East Side Setnet salmon fishery in Alaska; the 2024 California Sacramento River Fall Chinook and Klamath River Fall Chinook ocean and inland salmon fisheries; and the 2023 Squaxin Island Tribe Puget Sound Fall Chum salmon fishery in Washington.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA to send $123 million in disaster relief to West Coast salmon fisheries

June 24, 2026 — Federal disaster relief funding is on the way for California’s struggling salmon fishing industry after years of closures and restrictions tied to low salmon return numbers.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced $123 million in fishery disaster funding for California, Oregon and Alaska to help mitigate losses from poor salmon returns that forced widespread closures.

James Stone, president of the NorCal Guides and Sportsmen’s Association, said California’s salmon fishery has been devastated and described the state’s role in seeking disaster assistance.

“And it is the design for the state of California to file an emergency disaster for that publicly trusted resource,” Stone said.

Read the full article at KRCR

NOAA announces USD 124 million in fisheries disaster assistance

June 23, 2025 — NOAA has announced USD 124 million (EUR 109 million) in fisheries disaster aid to the states of Alaska, Oregon, and California, as well as the Squaxin Island Tribe.

“Fishery resource disasters have devastating effects on local communities and our economy,” NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs said in a release. “This disaster funding provides much needed assistance to our fishing industry, and we will work with the affected communities to help them recover. This action demonstrates our continued commitment to hardworking American fishermen and to the president’s vision to uphold the United States as the world’s dominant seafood leader.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump administration to buy back another energy company’s offshore wind leases for 4 more projects

June 18,2026 — The Trump administration said Wednesday it’s buying back another energy company’s U.S. offshore wind leases for four more wind projects, as it seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.

The latest deal brings the total amount spent on these agreements to nearly $2.6 billion.

Chicago-based Invenergy has agreed to end its four offshore wind leases that were very early in development in exchange for reimbursements of lease fees totaling $765 million. The company had already canceled the largest of the four in November, Leading Light Wind off New Jersey’s coast. The others are off the coasts of Maine and California. It will invest that money in natural gas and geothermal ventures that can be built more quickly instead.

By buying back leases, the Republican administration is stopping offshore wind farms that President Donald Trump does not support, and redirecting the money to fossil fuel projects that he does. It adopted this strategy after federal courts thwarted Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action. Trump has frequently talked about his hatred of wind power and calls turbines ugly.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

Trump Administration to Buy Back Four More Offshore Wind Leases

June 18, 2026 — Continuing its strategy of canceling offshore wind projects by buying back the leases in exchange for other energy investments, the Department of the Interior announced its third agreement. The administration has committed nearly $2.6 billion to canceling offshore wind leases even as the strategy is being challenged in court and by regulators.

Invenergy will voluntarily terminate four offshore wind leases it purchased in the past from the government and will redirect the investments toward other domestic energy sources, said the Department of the Interior. It valued the four leases at $765 million for one lease in the New York Bight for a New Jersey wind farm, two for floating offshore wind farms in Maine, and one off the coast of California.

The largest and most advanced of the projects was Leading Light Wind, which had submitted its offshore wind project bid to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) in August 2023. It called for up to 2.4 GW, which would have made it the largest in the United States. It would have been more than 40 miles off the coast near Atlantic City, New Jersey, and included a battery storage option that would provide 253 MW of advanced energy storage, but it had yet to submit a Construction and Operations Plan proposal to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

NOAA says $123 million coming for six ‘fishery resource disasters’

June 18, 2026 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a package of fishery disaster relief for West Coast and Alaska fishermen is on the way.

 NOAA announced the allocation of $123.6 million in fishery resource disaster funding, appropriated by Congress in the American Relief Act, 2025. The money will go to address fishery resource disasters that occurred in Oregon, California, the Squaxin Island tribe in Washington State, and multiple Alaska fisheries between 2019 and 2023.

“Fishery resource disasters have devastating effects on local communities and our economy,” said Neil Jacobs, NOAA’s administrator. “This disaster funding provides much needed assistance to our fishing industry, and we will work with the affected communities to help them recover.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

U.S. Department of Commerce allocates $123.6M in fishery disaster funding to Alaska, Oregon, California and Squaxin Island Tribe

June 17, 2026 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA announced the allocation of $123.6 million in fishery resource disaster funding, appropriated by Congress in the American Relief Act, 2025. The funding will address fishery resource disasters that occurred in Oregon, California, the Squaxin Island tribe, and multiple Alaska fisheries between 2019 and 2023.

“Fishery resource disasters have devastating effects on local communities and our economy,” said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D, NOAA administrator. “This disaster funding provides much needed assistance to our fishing industry, and we will work with the affected communities to help them recover. This action demonstrates our continued commitment to hardworking American fishermen and to the President’s vision to uphold the United States as the world’s dominant seafood leader.” 

Today’s allocation announcement applies to previously declared fishery resource disasters, including:

  • 2023/2024 Bering Sea snow crab fishery in Alaska
  • 2023 Oregon ocean commercial salmon fishery
  • 2022 Chignik salmon fishery in Alaska
  • 2023 Upper Cook Inlet East Side Setnet salmon fishery in Alaska
  • 2024 State of California Sacramento River Fall Chinook and Klamath River Fall Chinook ocean and inland salmon fisheries  
  • 2023 Squaxin Island Tribe Puget Sound Fall Chum salmon fishery in Washington.

NOAA Fisheries used commercial revenue loss information to allocate funding across the eligible disasters. 

“These fishery resource disasters are of great concern for the fishing industry and the people and communities that depend on these fisheries to support their local economies,” said Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “NOAA will continue to provide guidance and resources to boost recovery and support more resilient fishing communities in the future.”

These funds will help improve the long-term economic and environmental sustainability of the impacted fisheries. Funds can be used to assist commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, charter businesses, shore-side infrastructure, subsistence users, and other impacted community groups. Activities that can be considered for funding include fishery-related infrastructure projects, habitat restoration, state-run vessel and fishing permit buybacks, job retraining and more. Certain fishery-related businesses impacted by the fishery disasters may also be eligible for assistance from the Small Business Administration. 

As delegated by the Secretary of Commerce, NOAA Fisheries will administer the funds. In the next steps, NOAA Fisheries will work with the state of Alaska, the state of California, the state of Oregon, and the Squaxin Island Tribe and/or the appropriate designated entity. Fishing communities and individuals affected by these disasters should work with their state or Tribe as appropriate.

For more information see the detailed allocations to states and learn more about fishery disaster assistance.

7 Ways El Niño and Large Marine Heatwave Could Affect West Coast Marine Species

June 15, 2026 — A large marine heatwave has bathed parts of the West Coast in very warm ocean waters over the past year, breaking temperature records in the Pacific. NOAA has also announced that El Niño has developed in the tropical Pacific and is predicted to intensify to a moderate or strong level this fall. El Niño represents another form of marine warming , though with different drivers and influences. The prolonged period of high temperatures could affect fisheries and marine life in the California Current that have already been buffeted by shifting ocean conditions over the last decade.

One factor may help dampen the impacts, though: The same strong upwelling of cool water along the coast that fuels the West Coast ecosystem with nutrients could help keep some warmer waters at bay, as happened in 2025.

We have seen these back-to-back heat events before. About a decade ago, a major marine heatwave known as “The Blob” began raising ocean temperatures off the West Coast, peaking in 2015. One of the strongest El Niños on record followed in 2015–2016, amplifying ocean warmth—as the current forecast predicts for the coming year. That was a worst-case scenario that drove changes around the world. The Pacific endured a record count of tropical cyclones and the Caribbean Sea and parts of Africa experienced severe droughts. That situation was more extreme than now, with the Blob lasting longer and affecting the entire West Coast compared to the smaller recent marine heatwave. However, research and observations during that unprecedented climatic pileup suggest the kind of changes we may see in the coming months along the West Coast. Though these changes are centered in the Pacific, they have far-reaching impacts.

Here are some of the ways warming water can impact marine life, coastal communities, and economies.

1. Shifting Fisheries

Research found that some commercial West Coast species, such as market squid, may be sensitive to these long-term and episodic changes in ocean temperatures. The shift of market squid north along the West Coast in response to warming from the Blob and subsequent El Niño created new fishing opportunities in Oregon and Washington during the Blob that remained afterward. Squid landings in Oregon rose from none in 2015 to nearly 3 million pounds worth more than $1 million in 2016 and continued to grow rapidly through 2020. This provided new opportunities for purse seine vessels whose opportunities in other fisheries affected by the Blob—such as sardine, Alaska herring, and Alaska salmon—had dwindled. Seafood processors in Oregon scaled up to handle more squid, and Oregon fisheries managers developed their first regulations for the emerging squid fishery. Market squid had been the largest commercial fishery by volume in California, but California landings dropped by more than half from 2014 to 2015. They remain substantially lower than they were prior to the Blob and El Niño.

Meanwhile, tropical species such as whale sharks and hammerhead sharks made northerly appearances off Southern California while fishing vessels caught albacore tuna much closer to shore as far north as Washington. Fishing boats caught a skipjack tuna off the Copper River in Alaska, and surveys turned up an ocean sunfish and thresher shark off southeast Alaska. Pacific bluefin tuna increased in number and size in U.S. waters, exciting recreational anglers and generating new revenue for the charter fleet. This year, Southern California anglers have begun catching dorado and yellowfin tuna much earlier in the year than usual, suggesting these northerly shifts may have begun.

2. Hungry California Sea Lion Pups

Higher sea surface temperatures also affect other fish species, including sardines and anchovy. These fish are high-energy staple foods for California sea lions that breed in Southern California’s Channel Islands, but declined with warming ocean temperatures. Sea lions turned to lower quality forage species such as rockfish and squid. Nursing sea lion mothers had to travel farther to find the food their pups needed, forcing pups to fast for longer periods at the rookery. The weight of sea lion pups declined, according to long-term studies in the Channel Islands . In El Niño years, many hungry pups set off on their own in search of food before their usual weaning time. In 2013–2016, as many as 4,000 pups arrived on California beaches, skinny and hungry. These extreme events taxed rehabilitation facilities and prompted NOAA Fisheries to declare an Unusual Mortality Event for the species. Researchers later estimated that an increase of 1 degree Celsius in sea surface temperatures could reduce the growth rate of the sea lion population to zero. A 2-degree rise would reduce the population size by about 7 percent.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Calif. fisheries bill advances out of Senate

June 2, 2026 — A California fisheries bill backed by commercial fishermen and recreational fishing interests has cleared the state Senate and is headed to the Assembly.

Sen. Mike McGuire’s SB 1393 passed the Senate on May 28 with bipartisan support. According to McGuire’s office, the legislation focuses on fish habitat restoration, steelhead trout recovery efforts and updates to Dungeness crab fishery management regulations.

The bill would strengthen California’s steelhead trout fishing restoration program while directing additional funding toward fishery habitat restoration projects. It would also modernize management rules for the state’s Dungeness crab fishery and establish clear guidelines allowing vessels to transit through closed crab fishing areas even when fishing activity is restricted.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

 

CALIFORNIA: California Senate passes Dungeness crab bill with multiple changes in fishery management

June 1, 2026 — The California state senate has passed legislation that would make several changes to how the state’s Dungeness crab fishery is managed, most notably by freeing up commercial fishing vessels to transit through closed areas even if they have crabs on board.

“The commercial fishing fleet is the lifeblood of rural coastal communities here on the North Coast,” State Senator Mike McGuire, who sponsored the bill, said in a release. “From Crescent City to Half Moon Bay, we depend on the success and sustainability of California’s commercial and recreational fishing fleet. SB 1393 advances the modern management needed to protect our natural resources, strengthen our fisheries, and keep our coastal and rural economies strong for years to come.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource