Saving Seafood

Severe U.S. drought undermined Gulf fisheries, raising food security concerns

March 18, 2026 — A severe and prolonged U.S. drought in the late 1980s played a central role in one of the largest fisheries declines ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a new study published in Nature Communications.

The research, led by scientists at the University of Haifa and co-authored by Ben Kirtman, a climate scientist and dean of the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science, found that drought-driven reductions in Mississippi River flow sharply limited nutrient delivery to coastal waters.

“Our findings show that the fisheries collapse was not driven by fishing pressure alone,” said Igal Berenshtein, head of the Marine Ecology and Ocean Health Laboratory at the University of Haifa, and the study’s lead author. “The prolonged drought reduced river discharge and nutrient input to the Gulf, weakening phytoplankton production and primary productivity at the base of the food web. That disruption cascaded through the ecosystem, ultimately reducing fish biomass and fisheries yields.”

The study documented a roughly 42 percent drop in total fish biomass and a 34 percent decline in fisheries catch following the drought period. Nearly 90 percent of species groups examined showed decreases in biomass.

Read the full article at The University of Miami

UConn Helps Sea Scallop Communities Adapt to Ocean Warming

March 17, 2026 — A combination of conservation measures has helped the industry weather the effects of overfishing. Now, warming and acidifying oceans are posing new threats and prompting new solutions.

A team of researchers co-led by UConn Associate Professor of Marine Sciences Samantha Siedlecki, Shannon Meseck, of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and Robert “Bobby” Murphy, a social scientist with NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, is exploring how environmental data can be used to develop a new management approach adapted for and responsive to a changing ocean. With the support of a three-year grant of just over $1 million from NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), the project will integrate oceanographic modeling, industry engagement, and socioeconomic research to create actionable strategies for industry and management. The project is one of six announced by OAP in November aimed at helping U.S. coastal communities adapt to ocean acidification.

“This is one of the earliest attempts to forecast optimal regions for Atlantic sea scallop growth, based on both carbon content and ocean temperature,” says Siedlecki.

Ocean acidification occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) sent into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels and other human activity is absorbed by the oceans. Like sponges, the oceans of the world soak up about one-third of the CO2 generated by humans. Once dissolved in seawater, the CO2 forms carbonic acid, which increases acidity and reduces the carbonate ions that shell-building sea life, like sea scallops, need to form shells and skeletons.

Read the full article at UConn Today

Fish stocks are on the line: Climate change impacts global fishing yields

March 16, 2026 — As the saying goes, there are plenty more fish in the sea—but climate change is rapidly challenging that notion, with fish stocks around the world under threat. New modeling from Monash University predicts how climate change will alter fishing yields in many regions, threatening food security, livelihoods and the future of marine life as a sustainable food source.

Existing prediction models have looked at how fish species respond to warming temperatures in the absence of evolutionary change. However, the research published in Science now looks at how fish will evolve in response to future climates.

Fisheries provide billions of people with animal protein, for which the demand is predicted to increase. But as oceans warm and weather patterns shift, fish are evolving, breeding less or disappearing from waters entirely.

Read the full article at phys.org

Warming Waters Threaten Seafood Supply

March 13, 2026 — In the world’s waters, fish are making a quiet, biological retreat. The once simple rules of the ocean—grow larger than potential predators—are being rewritten as temperatures reach record highs. Desperate to survive, fish are hitting the fast-forward button on life in a biological shift that will soon impact what ends up on dinner tables globally.

Fish are getting smaller and dying at higher rates as they adapt to warming waters, researchers warn in a report released Thursday in the journal Science. This evolutionary change will reduce global fish yields by one-fifth under current warming predictions, and up to 30 percent in high-emissions scenarios.

This will trigger potentially irreversible evolutionary processes, shaking up entire ecosystems and food webs, with consequences for the billions of people who rely on seafood for protein—a demand expected to increase.

“What I found frightening about this work was that it was difficult to identify winners and losers—there are simply no real winners here,” said Craig White, the study’s co-author and an evolutionary physiologist at Monash University in Australia. “The combination of warming and evolution was always bad for fisheries.”

Read the full article at Inside Climate News

Upwelling Fueled Productive West Coast Ocean, Holding Warm Waters Offshore in 2025

March 10, 2026 — A massive marine heatwave warmed the eastern Pacific Ocean through much of 2025, but the wind-driven upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water that drives the rich marine productivity of the West Coast kept the ecosystem healthy.

That is the conclusion of the California Current Ecosystem Status Report, an annual assessment of the West Coast marine ecosystem by NOAA’s California Current Integrated Ecosystem Assessment team. The report provides ecological insight for the Pacific Fishery Management Council and others on the ecological, social, and economic factors likely to influence fisheries and other ocean uses in the coming year.

The report assesses conditions and trends over the last year for insight on coming seasons. The leading takeaways from the annual report include:

  • Strong upwelling fostered productive waters and held heatwave warmth offshore
  • Deep-water nutrients likely fostered toxic algae as it mixed with warm surface water
  • Juvenile salmon, young rockfish and anchovy flourished in productive conditions
  • Shrimp-like krill, which often reflect the health of the ecosystem, proved abundant coastwide
  • Precipitation on land reduced drought conditions but sparse snowpack reduced water storage
  • Four coastal fish processors closed as total coastwide landings remain low

This year’s report also highlights new technology, ocean forecasts, and collaborations with vessel operators that provide fishing fleets and managers with timely ecosystem insight that helps support sustainable fisheries. It includes projections that many marine species will move farther offshore and into deeper waters as the ocean warms, which could affect fishing fleets and their communities on the West Coast.

Researchers from the NOAA Fisheries Northwest and Southwest Fisheries Science Centers presented the findings to the Council this week. They said abundant forage such as krill, juvenile rockfish, and anchovy helped boost species including salmon, squid, seabirds, and more.

“Warming continues to be an inescapable reality off the West Coast, but upwelling saved the day,” said Andrew Leising, a research oceanographer at the NOAA Fisheries Southwest Fisheries Science Center and an editor of the annual ecosystem reports. “The cold water influx helped hold off the marine heatwave and sustained many of the fisheries and species the California Current is known for.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

MAINE: Maine’s catch of lobster declines again as high costs and climate change impact industry

March 9, 2026 — Maine’s catch of lobsters declined for the fourth straight year, state fishing regulators said Friday, as the industry continued to grapple with soaring business costs, inflation and a changing ocean.

The haul of lobsters, Maine’s best known export and a key piece of the state’s identity and culture, has declined every year since 2021, and some scientists have cited as a reason warming oceans that spur migration to Canadian waters.

The sector brought in 78.8 million pounds (35.7 million kilograms) of lobsters in 2025, down from more than 110 million pounds (49.9 million kilograms) in 2021, regulators said. It was the lowest total since 2008.

Inflation hit the industry hard last year, and there were more than 21,000 fewer fishing trips than in 2024, according to Carl Wilson, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Market uncertainty due to tariffs and a late start to the busy portion of the fishing season also played roles, he said.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

SMAST researchers secure major funding to advance sustainable fisheries

March 9, 2026 — Faculty at UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) have received a series of competitive research grants supporting projects that address some of the most pressing challenges facing modern fisheries. The awards fund work on innovative fishing technologies, climate-informed fisheries management, and collaborative scallop research programs that connect scientists with the commercial fishing industry.

SMAST Dean Kevin Stokesbury receives $550K grant from the Schmidt Family Foundation

UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Professor and SMAST Dean Kevin Stokesbury received a research grant from the Schmidt Family Foundation and Marine Technology Partners to evaluate the Katchi Net System, an innovative, low-impact fishing technology, against traditional commercial trawls on U.S. fishing grounds. Developed to reduce bycatch and seafloor damage, the Katchi net uses cutting-edge sensors and design to improve sustainability in commercial fishing. Stokesbury and his team will test the net’s effectiveness in collaboration with industry partners, aiming to provide data that supports more responsible harvesting practices.

Stokesbury also secured research awards totaling $403K and $350K for video trawl surveys that use a trawl-net-mounted camera to identify fish as they enter the net.

Read the full article at UMass Dartmouth 

After a Brutal Winter, Worse News for Oyster Farmers

March 9, 2026 — Peter Stein stood on a dock on Peconic Bay and stared at the wreckage. After weeks of being seized in ice off the East End of Long Island, hundreds of his oyster cages were now broken and scattered all over the bay.

A month earlier, the cages were full of oysters that can cost more than $4 apiece at Manhattan restaurants like Balthazar, Gramercy Tavern and Oceana.

But Mr. Stein said that most of his floating farm system — more than 2,000 cages, each holding up to 250 oysters — had been ripped apart by ice that was “by far the worst” he’d seen since he founded Peeko Oysters a decade ago.

The thaw from one of the harshest cold snaps in memory strewed Mr. Stein’s cultivation gear far and wide. Parts of cages, lines and floats were left drifting around the bay, stranded on shorelines and even tangled around the propeller shaft of a Shelter Island ferry.

Read the full article at The New York Times

West Coast Waters Experiencing Another Large Marine Heatwave

March 4, 2026 — A massive marine heatwave has dominated waters off the West Coast since last summer. This marks only the third time on record that such a large section of the coastal ocean has remained so warm for so long—particularly into winter months—without it being an El Niño, NOAA scientists report. NOAA Fisheries and our partners are tracking possible heatwave impacts, which can include harmful algal blooms that can sicken marine mammals and close shellfish fisheries.

Third Time as Warm

At one point last September, the current marine heatwave rivaled the enormous 2013–2016 marine heatwave known as “The Blob” in terms of size and surface temperatures. The current heatwave has raised the temperature of waters along the West Coast roughly 3 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. On September 9, 2025, the northeast Pacific reached its highest ever average temperature of 20.6 degrees Celsius, or about 69 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s almost a half-degree warmer than ever before. Past marine heatwaves shook up marine ecosystems that drove shifts of species, die-offs, and other disruptions of ecosystems in the Northeast Pacific Ocean.

“We have forecast tools that provide some insight, but we are also watching carefully for implications on the marine ecosystem,” said Andrew Leising, a research oceanographer at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center. He runs the California Current Marine Heatwave Tracker. The tracker has been documenting marine heatwaves off the West Coast through NOAA data from satellites, ships, and buoys since 2019.

The North Pacific has repeatedly hit record or near-record temperatures since The Blob. Like others before it, the current marine heatwave weakened and receded from the coast in October and November 2025. Unlike others, it has since strengthened and returned. “We’re in La Niña, but water temperatures along our coast look much different,” Leising said. “The conditions are hard to reconcile. We want to be cautious in our interpretation, but at the same time this is not a situation that we have seen before.”

Heatwaves Shift Species

The current heatwave has brought news of species in unusual areas, such as tunas caught in large numbers in Alaska last fall. The Blob and other marine heatwaves have been shown to reduce the survival of salmon in the ocean, leaving fewer fish to catch and to return to rivers to spawn. “We know these marine heatwaves alter ecosystem conditions, which affects fish and other marine life,” Leising said. “We’re very interested in what the fishing fleet and others who are out on the water are seeing and are looking into new ways to collect this information. Are there species in unusual places, or what might be changing?”

In addition, the unusual warmth could begin to set the stage for a repeat of last year’s harmful algal bloom off Southern California. It hit unusually early in 2025 and killed hundreds of California sea lions, dolphins, and seabirds. Harmful algal blooms can also close fisheries, especially recreational fisheries involving shellfish that concentrate the toxins, affecting the coastal economy.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

US lawmakers introduce marine carbon dioxide removal bill

March 3, 2026 — U.S. lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation to improve research into removing carbon dioxide from the ocean, potentially through aquaculture practices like seaweed farming.

“Carbon dioxide removal is an essential tool in the fight against the climate crisis, in addition to being a driver of American innovation,” U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said in a release. “Our bill will encourage research into mCDR [marine carbon dioxide removal] to ensure it’s safe and effective, benefits coastal communities, and protects ecosystems.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource