Saving Seafood

El Niño is here, and it’s already scrambling fisheries throughout the Pacific

July 8, 2026 — We’re not even one month into “super” El Niño, the natural Pacific weather pattern characterized by warmer than average sea surface temperatures, and fisheries around the world are already getting scrambled.

In Peru, government officials have effectively canceled the fishing season for anchovies, one of the country’s most important exports and a leading source of fish oil and animal feed globally. The Indian government is preparing for a season of smaller, less plentiful Indian mackerel. Meanwhile, in Southern California, recreational and commercial fishers have reported some of the most successful months of tuna fishing they’ve ever seen.

Read the full article at Grist

OREGON: Oregon coast lawmakers push back on fish hatchery cuts

July 8, 2026 — The Bonneville Power Administration said in June that it would cut funding for a program that raises millions of salmon in hatcheries.

But a bipartisan group of Oregon coastal lawmakers wants the agency to reverse that decision, saying it could rock the commercial and sportfishing industries that their communities rely on.

BPA provides more than $2 million annually to the Select Area Fisheries Enhancement, or SAFE, program, which the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife manages. It has helped cover more than a third of the SAFE program’s cost.

Read the full article at OPB

New tagging study tracks Dungeness crab movement in Puget Sound

July 8, 2026 — State and tribal fishery managers in Washington are using a floy-tag study to track how Dungeness crab move through parts of Puget Sound, with the goal of improving how catch quotas and fishing seasons are set in areas where crab populations have struggled.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), working with the Suquamish and Jamestown tribes, has tagged and released 885 legal-size male Dungeness crab since September 2025 across Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet), Marine Area 10 (Seattle and Bremerton area) and the portion of Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal) north of Ayock Point.

In late September 2025, WDFW and the Suquamish Tribe tagged and released 555 crab across six sites in Marine Area 10, ranging from Alki Point in West Seattle north to Apple Cove Point near Kingston. As of June 25, 2026, 84 of those crab had been recaptured in recreational, state, and tribal commercial fisheries.

On June 9, 2026, WDFW and the Jamestown Tribe tagged and released another 330 crab in Marine Areas 9 and 12. Two had been recaptured as of June 25.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Sullivan reintroduces sweeping bill targeting bycatch, seafloor impacts

July 8, 2026 — U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) has reintroduced the Bycatch Reduction Act, legislation that would expand federal efforts to reduce bycatch, limit seafloor impacts from trawl gear, improve fisheries monitoring and increase transparency in fishery management.

According to Sullivan’s office, the bill builds on recommendations from the Alaska Salmon Task Force, which was created through legislation he authored and signed into law in 2022.

The proposal would establish new standards and monitoring requirements designed to keep both midwater and bottom trawl nets off the seafloor, require proven salmon excluder devices on pollock vessels, invest in salmon tagging and genetic sampling, expand ecosystem research, and create a new flume tank testing facility to evaluate fishing gear under simulated ocean conditions. The bill also would reauthorize NOAA’s Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program and encourage fishermen to test new gear and technologies aimed at reducing bycatch and habitat impacts.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

GEORGIA: NOAA says snapper permits top priority locally in ‘America-first’ seafood strategy

July 8, 2026 — A new federal push could have a big impact on fishermen in Coastal Georgia and the Lowcountry.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association announced a new “America First” seafood strategy aimed at boosting the U.S. seafood industry July 2. The plan focuses on supporting commercial fishermen, cutting regulations and expanding access to domestic seafood.

For the South Atlantic region, which includes Georgia and South Carolina, NOAA officials said its priorities are to revise the Snapper Grouper permit policies and support state agency led exempted permits for red snapper.

Read the full article at WSAV

NORTH CAROLINA: How one NC fish house ships fresh catch to seafood markets across US

July 8, 2026 — On a late March morning, barrels full of slippery bluefish straight off the boat glistened in the sun at O’Neal’s Sea Harvest in Wanchese. Within hours, the fresh catch would be shipped to seafood markets stretching from Canada to Louisiana.

“You try to get it in and out as quick as you can because it’s perishable,” said Ashley O’Neal. “They go on a truck today, and they’ll be wherever they are going by 2 or 3 o’clock tomorrow,” he said.

O’Neal’s Sea Harvest is one of several competitive fish houses on the southern tip of Roanoke Island on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The family-owned company also operates a seafood market and restaurant in front of its fish process center in Wanchese Seafood Industrial Park.

Benny and Linda O’Neal started the business in 1995. Today, their three children, Nicole Harper and brothers Colby and Ashley O’Neal, along with their respective wives, Lara and Abby, operate it.

Read the full article at the Miami Herald

 

NOAA accepting feedback on increasing Gulf red grouper quotas

July 8, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries has opened a public comment period on Amendment 62, a multi-year plan that would increase red grouper catch limits for the Gulf of Mexico by 53 percent in the first year.

At the same time, the Gulf Council is pushing forward with a follow-up plan that would establish a three-year pilot program that would set aside some of the commercial catch for the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford fishermen eye return to Northern Edge of Georges Bank as Trump plans reopening

July 7, 2026 — A prominent scallop fishing ground could soon reopen after more than three decades.

Pres. Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he plans to reopen the Northern Edge of Georges Bank, an area that has been closed to commercial fishing since 1994. In the announcement, Trump also gave a shoutout to New Bedford, highlighting the city as one that could benefit from the move.

For many fishermen, the news is generating excitement about returning to waters that previous generations once worked.

Read the full article at WJAR

ALASKA: Alaska’s wild salmon harvest climbs to over 14.5 million fish

July 7, 2026 — On the eve of July 4 and a plethora of holiday barbecues, Alaska’s commercial salmon harvest had already brought in over 14 million wild sockeye salmon, with the big surge coming from Bristol Bay.

Silver Bay Seafoods and Trident Seafoods posted $1.60 a pound for chilled, bled sockeye, 30 cents more than last year’s pre-season price and considered a conservative starting price for the 2026 season, said Janis Harsilla, business manager for the Bristol Bay Fishermen’s Association.

Retail sales were steady, with prices ranging between $16.99 to $18.99 a pound at King Soopers supermarkets, between $23 and $29.99 a pound at some online direct-to-consumer shops, $15.99 a pound at Anchorage Fred Meyer, part of the Kroger chain, and $20.99 a pound at Anchorage Carrs-Safeway supermarkets. The best deal in town was still $14.99 a pound at Costco warehouses in Anchorage for fresh Copper River reds. 

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Trump administration promises to make U.S. ‘dominant seafood leader’

July 7, 2026 — Advocates for the U.S scallop fleet hailed President Trump’s declaration of a “National Scallops Day” July 2, leading a list of NOAA Fisheries actions the administration says are aimed to “stabilize markets, improve access, enhance economic profitability, and prevent closures.”

Measures for the lucrative Northeast and Mid-Atlantic scallop fishery headed priorities announced by NOAA Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler. The changes will open the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to the scallop fleet, and advance “permit stacking” on scallop vessels, two reforms the industry’s Sustainable Scallop Fund has sought for years.

“Permit stacking will let scallop permit holders consolidate operations, cut costs, and fish more safely and efficiently. Opening the Northern Edge returns the fleet to a productive, well-managed resource that has stayed closed for years,” the group says.

“We are grateful to President Trump and his team for listening to the men and women of the scallop fleet and acting on their behalf,” said SSF president John Lees. “Permit stacking and Northern Edge access will make our fishery more competitive, more sustainable, and more valuable to the American families who depend on it. This is what it looks like when Washington puts American fishermen first.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman