Saving Seafood

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

New AI-powered thermal cameras could reduce vessel strikes on gray whales in San Francisco

June 1, 2026 — Researchers at the Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A.-based Benioff Ocean Science Lab helped develop an AI-powered thermal camera that can detect grey whales, and scientists are using the technology to reduce the risk of vessel strikes in San Francisco Bay.

The forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras use AI-powered technology developed by WhaleSpotter that detects the heat signature of warm-blooded whale blows at all hours of the day up to 4 nautical miles out, according to a release. The project was a collaboration between the Benioff Ocean Science Lab, the U.S. Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service, and whale experts at the Marine Mammal Center.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

CALIFORNIA: California launches digital tool to track reopened commercial salmon fishery

May 28, 2026 — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has launched new digital tools that allow both commercial and recreational fishers to track in-season harvests of ocean salmon.

“We’re excited to give salmon anglers the data they need to better plan their fishing seasons while at the same time leveraging technology to support in-season management and sustainable fisheries,” CDFW Director Meghan Hertel said in a release.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US lawmakers introduce federal bill to address invasive golden mussels

May 28, 2026 — U.S. lawmakers are pushing for a stronger federal response to golden mussels, an invasive species found on the U.S. west coast that can cause massive damage to waterways and infrastructure.

“Golden mussels have spread across California with alarming speed, infesting our waterways, and destroying infrastructure and ecosystems,” U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-California said in a release. “It is clear that we must intensify efforts with local, state, and federal partners to prevent further spread of this invasive species to our water systems, and to address threats to our water quality. As millions of Californians depend on the Delta and other critical sources of clean drinking water, we must strengthen our response to eradicating this problem once and for all – in order to put the health of the public first.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

CALIFORNIA: Are California’s lofty offshore wind power ambitions on the rocks?

May 26, 2026 — California is counting on the growth of offshore wind generation to help the state meet its ambitious goal to derive 100% of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045 or earlier.

But late last month, state energy officials and offshore-wind advocates were blindsided after learning one developer abruptly withdrew plans to build a big wind farm in Morro Bay, after striking a controversial deal with the Trump administration.

It came “totally out of the blue,” said Matt Baker, one of the five voting members of the California Public Utilities Commission, “and it’s amazing the lengths that the administration is going towards trying to make this important source of energy off-limits, both to California and the rest of the country.”

Baker was one of the panelists this past week in Long Beach at the Pacific Offshore Wind Summit, a meeting of policymakers, businesses, port authorities, environmental groups and others supporting the Golden State reaping the anticipated energy bonanza blowing off its coast.

The title of this year’s convention was telling: Staying The Course on California Offshore Wind. And state energy officials insist they can ride out the storm.

Read the full article at the Miami Herald