Saving Seafood

The fish behind America’s fish sticks is fueling a fight over trawling in Alaska

October 9, 2026 — The net rose from the heaving Bering Sea swells, packed so tightly with Alaska pollock that their heads squeezed through the webbing.

As the catch spilled onto the deck, other dead marine life came with it: a skate, crabs, jellyfish and, among the most consequential, salmon — the fish at the center of a growing political and cultural fight over industrial trawling in Alaska.

“This is a wild capture fishery so you do run into your nontarget species, and a lot of people have a problem with that,” said Maverick Blake, the boat’s captain. “But this is what it takes to put seafood on the table.”

Blake redirected the boat toward another fishing ground where he hoped to encounter fewer salmon.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

NORTH CAROLINA: Hemilright, 59, remembered for commercial fishing advocacy

October 9, 2026 — Dewey Hemilright, an Outer Banks commercial fisherman known both for his passion for the seafood industry and his criticisms of fisheries regulation, died Oct. 2, 2026, from complications after suffering a stroke in August.

He was 59. His celebration of life is at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in Manteo First Assembly in Manteo. The full obituary as well as a place to share condolences and memories are on the Twiford Funeral Homes, Outer Banks, website, which handled the arrangements.

Born Feb. 20, 1967, Francis Duon “Dewey” Hemilright, Jr., of Kitty Hawk, owned and operated the fishing vessel Tar Baby out of Wanchese. He represented the state’s commercial fishing industry as a member of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council for 11 years, seven of which as chairman for the council’s Highly Migratory Species Committee, North Carolina Fisheries Association, Blue Water Fishermen’s Association, NC Catch, and the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, NOAA Fisheries Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel, and International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT.

He was recognized with numerous awards for his commercial fishing advocacy, including the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which honored him in 2024 with the Ricks E Savage Award “given annually to an individual who has made exceptional contributions to the management and conservation of fishery resources in the mid-Atlantic region.”

Read the full article at CoastReview.org

NORTH CAROLINA: Fishermen oppose expansion of military training area in Pamlico Sound

October 9, 2026 — Commercial and recreational fishermen are objecting to a proposed expansion of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point’s military training and operations in public trust waters. Some voiced strong opposition during an in-person public hearing Sept. 29, hosted by the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management (DCM) at NC State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology.

The six in-person comments opposing the measures — which are the only comments made available to the News-Times — are among more than 30 that have been submitted to the state environmental agency so far, as DCM completes a federal consistency review of the proposal.

The proposed project, submitted to the state by military officials, would increase aircraft and unmanned systems operations, add watercraft operations and increase restricted areas around two bombing targets in the Pamlico Sound.

Read the full article at Carolina Coast Online

ALASKA: Alaska announces total allowable catch for red king, Tanner, and snow crab for 2026-27 season

October 9, 2026 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) released total allowable catch (TAC) numbers for Alaskan red king crab, Tanner crab, and snow crab ahead of the 15 October season opening.

“These TACs reflect the continued careful, science-based management of Alaska’s crab stocks,” Mark Pedersen, CEO of crab processor and wholesaler Keyport, said in a release. “Harvest levels remain measured, and at the same time, the cost of fishing, processing, and getting crab to market continues to climb.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

LOUISIANA: Price of diesel affecting shrimping industry

October 8, 2026 — For years, the shrimping industry has battled wave after wave of challenges, from surges of imported shrimp to plummeting prices and wild weather. Now, a new threat looms: skyrocketing diesel fuel costs.

Diesel fuel has hit a record price of close to $6 a gallon in South Louisiana, and the national average is $6.52, according to AAA. That is up an average of $3.69 a gallon at this time last year.

With fuel prices so high, many shrimpers remain at the dock.

Albert and Cheryl Granger are a husband-and-wife team who own a 55-foot-long shrimp boat that their son, Albert Jr., operates. They sell their shrimp from their home in the north Vermilion area. Their business is called “Granger Seafood.”

It is a method they have been doing since the early 1980s, long before it was popular.
But in recent months, they have watched their hard-earned profits slip away, eaten up by the relentless climb of fuel prices.

Read the full article at VermilionToday.com

How Will El Niño Affect Your Local Fisheries?

October 8, 2026 — What does El Niño mean for U.S. fisheries and marine life? What can fishermen and coastal communities expect to observe and experience as this event continues and potentially intensifies? And what are scientists at NOAA Fisheries doing to track this natural phenomenon?

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation is a powerful atmospheric cycle that occurs in the Pacific Ocean along the Equator and weakens trade winds that blow from east to west. This allows warm surface water in the Pacific to slosh back east towards the Americas. It reduces the amount of cold water upwelling that usually occurs off the coast of South America. This natural phenomenon can have intense atmospheric and oceanographic effects, such as increased precipitation, flooding, and warmer ocean temperatures. These impacts vary by geographic location but are typically felt most directly by regions within the Pacific Basin.

In June 2026, NOAA forecasters announced that El Niño had formed in the tropical Pacific. As of October, they have predicted a greater than 83 percent chance of a “very strong event” during the Northern Hemisphere fall and winter 2026–27. Experts expect this event will persist through early spring 2027, with the potential for observable impacts in marine ecosystems for months or even years afterwards.

Scientists still can’t predict exactly what will occur during this period. But NOAA Fisheries can draw upon historic observations and an abundance of data collected throughout previous El Niño events to suggest likely impacts across our ecosystems. Additionally, we are actively deploying tools and strategies to monitor and predict El Niño’s impact on the marine environment across the United States, including:

Learn more about what you can expect from this El Niño event and what NOAA Fisheries is doing to forecast and document its impacts.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

ALASKA: Fishing groups concerned over proposed Cook Inlet data center

October 8, 2026 — Alaska commercial fishing and conservation center in Cook Inlet warns that the project could affect salmon migration, fishing operations, and marine habitat.

East Coast company DeepGreen Cook Inlet is proposing a 100-megawatt subsea data center that could include as many as 350 underwater turbines and 66 “hives” housing artificial intelligence servers. The system would use Cook Inlet water for power and cooling.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted DeepGreen’s preliminary permit application on Sept. 1, opening a two-month public comment period. The preliminary permit would not authorize construction but, if approved, would give the company priority to apply for a license while studying the site.

The Alaska Commercial Fisheries Conservation Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, and Kenai Peninsula Borough have filed motions to intervene in the federal proceedings, citing concerns ranging from commercial fishing and salmon migration to Cook Inlet’s endangered beluga whale population.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: 2026-27 catch limits set for red king, snow, and Bairdi crab

October 8, 2026 — Alaska crab fishermen will head into the 2026-27 season with total allowable catches set for Bristol Bay red king crab, Bering Sea snow crab, and Bairdi Tanner crab, with all three fisheries scheduled to open Oct. 15.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) set the Bristol Bay red king crab TAC at 3.41 million pounds, while the Bering Sea snow crab, or opilio, TAC was set at 5.1 million pounds, according to an Oct. 6 release from seafood supplier Keyport LLC.

Bairdi Tanner crab will account for the largest harvest, with a combined 32.1 million pounds available across the eastern and western Bering Sea. The western Bering Sea TAC is set at 27.2 million pounds, while the eastern Bering Sea TAC is 4.9 million pounds.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Florida fishers fight red snapper fishing season that starts Oct. 9

October 8, 2026 — Six commercial fishing businesses and fishermen, including two on the Treasure Coast, have filed a lawsuit challenging a two-week recreational red snapper fishing season for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina that starts Oct. 9.

The lawsuit contends the decision to allow the 14-day season was based on unsupported assumptions that will lead to overharvest of red snapper.

Read the full article at TC Palm

ALASKA: Pollock industry, Senate race and culture collide in a fight over fish

October 7, 2026 — Evon Waska’s fish camp was too quiet this summer.

“Well, this is my smokehouse,” he said, opening the door to the plywood structure at the water’s edge in Bethel, where he says his parents settled when they gave up their nomadic ways.

It’s next to empty salmon-drying racks and fish-cutting tables that have seen too few fish for many years running.

A few smoked king fillets still hang. Waska caught about 40 at the start of summer. That was a relief. Some years subsistence fishermen on the Kuskokwim River weren’t allowed to harvest any, and it’s worse on the Yukon. But Waska said he got only half of what his household needs.

His fish racks should be filled with silver salmon now. But the silver return was too weak to fish. So instead of getting more salmon in late August, his family was already dipping into what they put up for winter.

Waska, like a lot of people along the Kuskokwim River, say the problem is in the Bering Sea, with the trawl fleet. The trawlers are after pollock, but they are allowed to waste thousands of king and chum salmon, some bound for Western Alaska rivers like the Kuskokwim.

“They don’t close the trawlers,” Waska said. “They close me and my people first.”

Waska is up against a giant. Trawlers in the federal waters of the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska catch nearly 3 billion pounds of Alaska pollock, the nation’s largest fishery by volume. They can tow nets as wide at the mouth as a football field and a quarter-mile in length.

It’s not just subsistence fishermen who are upset about bycatch — the other species those nets scoop up. Sport, charter and commercial fishermen are also boiling mad and demanding change. In Alaska’s tight U.S. Senate race, bycatch has become a flashpoint, and the race may turn on which candidate — Sen. Dan Sullivan or challenger Mary Peltola — is perceived as the most willing and able to rein in the the trawlers.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media