July 23, 2026 — A fisherman spent hours stranded in the water after falling overboard, until a New Bedford fishing crew rushed to his aid.
Joao Dasilva told 12 News that it was a normal day for him and the rest of the crew on the Seel Jr. as they were nearing the end of a nine-day trip.
They heard a call for help about a man overboard and didn’t hesitate to step in.
“So, we haul back … and once we got there, Sammy’s like, ‘go out on the bow and see if you can see anything,’” Dasilva recalled.
July 23, 2026 — In a July 21 Bristol Bay fisheries update, the region’s sockeye salmon run has now exceeded preseason expectations, with the total run climbing to 44.38 million fish—surpassing the forecast of 44.05 million—while the cumulative harvest reached 29.29 million sockeye.
The baywide catch on Monday totaled 164,316 fish, nearly double the previous day’s harvest, while daily escapement remained relatively steady at 69,410 fish.
The Nushagak District added 14,689 sockeye to the harvest, bringing its season total to 8.97 million fish, while the district’s total run reached 15.1 million. The Nushagak River sonar counted 3,422 sockeye, pushing seasonal escapement to more than 3.11 million fish, well above the upper end of its escapement goal.
July 23, 2026 — The U.S. House has passed the Destruction of Hazardous Imports Act (H.R. 2715), kicking it up to the Senate.
The bill was advanced out of a subcommittee in May, passing with a 43-0 vote in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. On 20 July, the bill passed quickly in the U.S. House of Representatives after roughly 40 minutes of debate.
July 21, 2026 — According to a July 17 fisheries update from KDLG in Dillingham, Alaska, Bristol Bay’s 2026 sockeye salmon run continues to track toward its preseason forecast, with the total run reaching more than 43.2 million fish and the commercial harvest approaching 28.5 million.
Fishermen harvested 356,707 sockeye on Thursday, bringing the season’s cumulative catch to 28,484,324 fish, about 88 percent of the preseason harvest forecast of 32.26 million sockeye. Total escapement reached 43,297,216 fish, putting the overall run within roughly 750,000 fish of the forecasted 44.05 million fish.
Egegik posted the largest daily harvest, with 163,104 sockeye landed Thursday. The district’s season catch has climbed to 8,571,718 fish, already surpassing its preseason harvest forecast of 7.5 million. Egegik’s total run now stands at 10,477,480 sockeye, well above the projected 8.9 million fish.
June 21, 2026 — A delegation of commercial fishing leaders from Scotland toured ports across the Northeast last month to study how cooperative research between fishermen and scientists is shaping fisheries management, with hopes of applying similar approaches as Scotland revises its own fisheries policies.
According to NOAA Fisheries, 16 members of the Scottish Fishermen’s Organisation participated in the agency’s first international cooperative research knowledge exchange, visiting four ports over three days. The group toured 12 commercial fishing vessels, six seafood processing facilities and dealers, a net manufacturing company in Point Judith, R.I., and the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center.
The delegation focused on fisheries shared by the United States and Scotland, including Atlantic cod, haddock, Atlantic pollock, Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic herring, dogfish, and shortfin and longfin squid.
July 21, 2026 — The following was released by the The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will meet Tuesday, August 11 – Thursday, August 13, 2026 at The Westin Philadelphia. The meeting is open to the public and will also be accessible via webinar. Meeting materials, webinar information, and public comment instructions are available on the August 2026 Council Meeting Page.
Major agenda items include:
The Council welcomes public comment from in-person and remote participants. Instructions and deadlines for submitting comments are available on the meeting page.
Questions? Contact Mary Sabo at msabo@mafmc.org or (302) 526-5261.
July 20, 2026 — A bill cosponsored by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine’s 2nd District that would further delay new protections for North American right whales has advanced out of Committee.
Golden has cited government layoffs and other slowdowns as reasons for extending a moratorium on new regulations from 2028 to 2035.
Golden said in remarks to the House Natural Resources Committee that the extended moratorium would provide time to collect more data, ensuring that Maine fisheries aren’t unfairly burdened. The Maine Department of Marine Resources and the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association wrote letters of support for the legislation.
“We need more time to make sure that any new measures we ask lobstermen to take will strike a very careful balance between protecting marine life and protecting the livelihoods of fishermen themselves,” Golden said at the committee hearing.
But Gib Brogan of ocean protection nonprofit Oceana said the science is clear.
“All of the available evidence shows that the protections that are in place right now are not enough to support the recovery of North Atlantic right whales.”
July 20, 2026 — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has announced the reopening of the commercial Gulf shrimp season, following its annual assessment of shrimp populations and growth in Texas coastal waters.
According to TPWD, the reopening date is determined using biological sampling conducted each June to maximize benefits for both the shrimp resource and the commercial fishing industry while ensuring sustainable harvests.
July 20, 2026 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries is seeking information from fishery participants and others with specialized knowledge on the potential voluntary use of ropeless fishing gear, which includes on-demand fishing gear and other fixed gear that does not use persistent buoy lines.
Responses to this request for information may inform the potential future voluntary use, development, and management of ropeless fishing in the Greater Atlantic Region. NOAA Fisheries is seeking feedback from various stakeholders, primarily fixed-gear and mobile-gear fishermen, and intends to summarize the responses to this request for information and share that summary publicly.
The comment period is open through October 14, 2026. Submit your comments through the e-rulemaking portal. NOAA will accept anonymous and non-anonymous comments.
For more information, read the request for information as published in the Federal Register.
July 20, 2026 — Counting salmon in Alaska has been done the same way since the 1950s.
A field biologist climbs a tower, counts the number of fish swimming through the area every 10 minutes on the hour, hops down and into a skiff, moves to the opposite bank, and counts for another 10 minutes. They then spend 40 minutes reporting that data – just to do it all again the next hour.