Saving Seafood

CALIFORNIA: New partnership aims to reduce whale entanglements in California Dungeness crab fishery

October 26, 2026 — A new partnership of marine scientists, commercial fishermen, and conservationists aims to reduce whale entanglements in California’s Dungeness crab fishery while supporting the state’s fishing industry, a press release issued Thursday noted.

The Dungeness Crab and Whale Conservation Collaborative, announced by The Marine Mammal Center, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and The Nature Conservancy, is backed by a three-year grant from the Clean Break Fund.

The initiative will combine data from vessel surveys, drones, shore-based observations, underwater acoustic gliders, and satellite-based whale detections to improve understanding of whale movements and behavior.

Read the full article at NBC Bay Area

Collaboration with Fishing Industry Contributes to Successful Longfin Squid Assessment

October 26, 2026 — Longfin squid is an economically important species that is challenging to study. Mostly caught from Rhode Island to New Jersey, it supports a commercial fishery worth approximately $32.5 million in 2024. It is often found on restaurant menus as calamari.

Longfin squid live less than a year, grow rapidly, and the number of young entering the population is highly variable. Their populations are influenced by dynamic ocean conditions, leading to shifts in abundance and distribution that are challenging to understand or predict. Longfin squid migrate with the seasons, generally moving south and offshore in the late fall and returning north and inshore during the spring. Scientific surveys capture seasonal snapshots of the population but they cannot provide specifics about the squid caught in the fishery.

Successful Research Track Peer Review

In August 2026, an independent panel of scientists completed the peer review for the Longfin Inshore Squid Research Track Assessment. The panel approved two new assessment models—both of which met all required Terms of Reference and were deemed suitable for management advice. These models mark a significant technical advancement over past index-based approaches. They are better able to capture the rapid growth, seasonal changes in abundance, and unique biology of this short-lived species.

This major accomplishment for a historically data-poor species was possible because of strong collaboration between scientists and commercial fishing industry partners. Having a better foundational understanding of longfin squid life history, as well as two distinct and credible models, gives managers greater flexibility and confidence in using the best available science. The review marks an important milestone in the multi-year effort to improve our understanding of longfin squid and develop better tools to assess the stock. The findings will be implemented during the upcoming Longfin Squid Management Track Assessment this fall.

We combined analytical expertise of scientists with on-the-water knowledge of fishermen who encounter this species throughout the year, making great strides together toward better understanding this economically important and enigmatic species.

“The foundation of trust and collaboration between the science and fishing communities was critical to the scientific progress made during the longfin squid assessment. From sharing ecological observations to collecting data to providing input on model assumptions and outputs, industry partners played a critical role in all phases of the assessment,” shared Dr. Anna Mercer, chief of the center’s Northeast Cooperative Research branch.

The goals of the collaboration are:

  • Better science for sustainable management
  • Better information to support decisions about how much seafood can make its way from the ocean to our tables

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

ALASKA: Alaska state fishing loan program’s fixed interest rate set to expire in June 2027

October 26, 2026 — The Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development held a meeting 16 September 2026 to discuss the commercial fishing loan program, deciding that the current low fixed-interest loans for commercial fishermen at 5.25 percent will expire 30 June 2027.

The commercial fishing loan program was developed 15 May 2024 through House Bill 273 by the Alaska Legislature, in response to economic challenges faced in the state’s seafood industry, according to the department’s website. The bill falls under the larger Commercial Fishing Revolving Loan Fund (CFRLF) but was amended to set all new rates at the same 5.25 percent fixed rate, set for the life of the approved loan.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

National Seafood Association Statement on the America First Seafood Strategy

October 26, 2026 — The following was released by the National Seafood Association:

The National Seafood Association applauds the Trump Administration for recognizing the essential role seafood plays in America’s economic health and public health. A robust commercial seafood sector and an emphasis on affordable, healthy, protein-focused nutrition work together to benefit Americans.

We see great promise in a holistic plan that prioritizes rebuilding infrastructure, eliminating regulatory barriers, and encouraging investment in the commercial seafood sector.

As global sourcing plays an indispensable role in feeding American families and keeping seafood processing and distribution workers in this country employed, the strategy’s emphasis on these priorities is spot on.  We look forward to working with the Administration on its effort to  promote America’s iconic catch and drive consumption of the healthiest animal protein on the planet.  

Lisa Wallenda Picard
President & CEO

TRCP Misrepresented Key Menhaden Facts on the Tom Rowland Podcast

October 23, 2026 — The following was released by the American Small Pelagics Network:

Jaclyn Lunaas and Chris Macaluso of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership gave listeners a materially misleading account of menhaden science and management across both the Atlantic and Gulf fisheries. This ranges from Atlantic menhaden and Chesapeake Bay issues to Gulf menhaden in the Gulf of Mexico, along with claims involving striped bass, osprey, red drum, spotted seatrout, king mackerel, tarpon and other species. Host Tom Rowland largely accepted their claims rather than testing them against readily available fisheries data and the published record of the relevant management agencies. The result was a discussion in which advocacy was repeatedly presented as settled science.

Lunaas said scientists had been overestimating coastwide biomass by about 40% and implied the catch limit had therefore been “way too high.” But the ASMFC says the revision primarily reflected a new estimate of natural mortality that rescaled the historical population; it was not a 40% population collapse. Total biomass “has actually slightly increased since 2021,” and Atlantic menhaden remain not overfished, with overfishing not occurring .

Lunaas and Macaluso also misrepresented the claim that ASMFC scientists “recommended a 50% cut” in the coastwide menhaden harvest. The ASMFC’s Menhaden Technical Committee and ERP Work Group analysis shows that the Board asked scientists to model a range of catch scenarios and calculate the risk of exceeding the Ecological Reference Point (ERP) target and threshold. A reduction of roughly 50% or more was one modeled scenario, not a singular scientific recommendation. The target is a conservative objective below the threshold that defines overfishing. The Board adopted a 20% reduction for 2026 , projected to have a 0% chance of exceeding the ERP overfishing threshold in 2026 . Calling a 50% reduction simply “what the science said” misstates both the process and the result.

The episode’s “running out of food” premise also omitted a central ASMFC finding: the ERP framework already incorporates predator needs, and even ending all Atlantic menhaden fishing would not, by itself, rebuild striped bass to their biomass target . Sustainable recreational and commercial striped bass fishing mortality remains necessary. Maryland’s newest data further undercut the simple food-shortage narrative: the 2026 juvenile striped bass survey recorded an eighth consecutive year of below-average striped bass reproduction while finding young Atlantic menhaden in abundance and Atlantic silversides at their highest level in more than a decade. Menhaden indices for 2023-2026 were 3.78, 3.66, 2.54 and 2.49; every one exceeded every annual index from 1992 through 2022, and the four-year average was the highest since 1988-1991.

The osprey discussion blurred observation and causation. The 2026 peer-reviewed osprey study found serious reproductive deficits and food stress in higher-salinity areas and identified reduced menhaden availability as a primary driver there, but it did not establish that commercial menhaden harvest caused that reduced availability. USGS is continuing research on the relationship among menhaden availability, osprey reproduction, commercial harvest and environmental conditions. Food stress is not proof of fishery causation.

Macaluso likewise emphasized approximately 140-160 million non-target fish, roughly 30,000 red drum and about 250,000 spotted seatrout without the proportional context. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries reported total bycatch of about 3.6% of catch by weight in the 2024 study. Over 2015-2024, menhaden fishery dead bycatch accounted for 9.9% of red drum fishery removals by weight and 2.7% of spotted seatrout removals, with directed fisheries accounting for the overwhelming majority. Raw totals without those denominators give a distorted picture of the study.

Macaluso also claimed that rebuilding Gulf king mackerel requires leaving 40% more menhaden in the water, while Rowland asserted that tarpon migrating from South Florida to Louisiana “have to have” menhaden. The peer-reviewed Gulf ecosystem model does not support that 40% prescription: its king-mackerel ERP target was 0.964 of 2016 menhaden fishing mortality, and NOAA currently lists the Gulf king mackerel stock as not overfished and not subject to overfishing. The model includes tarpon among many predators of juvenile menhaden, but it does not establish Rowland’s claim that tarpon migrate to Louisiana because food is insufficient off Key West. Newer Gulf diet research likewise found nearshore predators to be generalists using a diverse prey base, with no single menhaden-dependent predator.

Macaluso also called the slower pace of catching the Virginia quota “a pretty clear indication there’s something wrong with that population.” That is not a stock assessment. The ASMFC says its coastwide model cannot determine menhaden stock status within Chesapeake Bay or provide quantitative advice on separate Bay and ocean harvest levels. Those are precisely the questions additional research is intended to answer. Management should establish the problem, connect it to the fishery and show that a proposed restriction would improve the outcome before imposing additional costs on working families.

Rowland should have challenged these claims: whether the 40% revision was an actual population decline; whether 50% was a recommendation or one modeled scenario; what the ASMFC’s striped-bass model says; whether the osprey research established harvest causation; and what Macaluso’s Gulf bycatch figures mean in proportion. He did not. Lunaas and Macaluso are free to advocate for lower quotas, different allocations and additional restrictions, but nobody has the right to mislead the public about what the science says.

Nobody has a more direct stake in healthy Chesapeake Bay, Gulf and Atlantic fisheries than the people whose livelihoods depend on them. UFCW Local 400 has put the fishermen themselves on record ; the NAACP Virginia State Conference has urged Virginia’s governor to protect working families while state-funded science is completed; and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has warned that these decisions affect African American workers, union families and rural communities. Their future depends on healthy fisheries just as surely as their jobs do. The debate should rest on the complete scientific record, not selective claims presented as settled fact.

Sources

• Tom Rowland Podcast, Episode 1032 – show notes and transcript

• ASMFC – Atlantic Menhaden FAQs

• ASMFC – 2025 Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Update

• ASMFC – Atlantic Menhaden species page

• ASMFC – Technical Committee and ERP Work Group Report on Stock Projections to Inform 2026-2028 TAC Levels

• ASMFC – Atlantic Menhaden Board Proceedings, October 2025

• ASMFC – Atlantic Menhaden FAQ, Question 13 on striped bass rebuilding

• Maryland DNR – 2026 Juvenile Striped Bass Survey Results

• Maryland DNR – Juvenile Striped Bass Survey methods and data

• Maryland DNR – Atlantic Menhaden Baywide Juvenile Index dataset

• Watts et al. – Widespread reproductive deficits in Chesapeake Bay ospreys (2026)

• USGS – Osprey Population and Availability of Menhaden in Chesapeake Bay

• Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries – Menhaden Bycatch Study Results

• LGL Ecological Research Associates – Louisiana Menhaden Purse-Seine Bycatch Final Report

• Berenshtein et al. – Gulf menhaden ecosystem model and ecological reference points

• NOAA Fisheries – King Mackerel stock status

• Chee, Leaf & Dillon – Northern Gulf predator diet and trophic dynamics study

• UFCW Local 400 – Members Spotlight the Real Faces of the Menhaden Fishery in New Video

• UFCW Local 400 – Ocean Harvesters Members Ratify Strong New Agreement

• Southern Christian Leadership Conference – Letter to Governor Wes Moore concerning the menhaden fishery

 

About the American Small Pelagics Network
The American Small Pelagics Network represents fishermen, processors, suppliers, and coastal communities connected to fisheries such as menhaden, mackerel, herring, squid, and butterfish. ASPN supports sustainable fisheries management that supports critical fish species, while maintaining economic opportunities for fishermen and fishing communities.

Press Contact
Stove Boat Communications
(202) 595-1212
contact@smallpelagics.com

Saildrone Wins Coast Guard Contract Extension to Monitor New England Fisheries

October 23, 2026 — Saildrone has announced that the US Coast Guard awarded the company an $8.5 million extension of its contract to continue providing maritime domain awareness around domestic fisheries off the coast of New England through spring 2027.

The extension builds on Saildrone Voyager unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) already operating in the Northeast United States. From June through August, the fleet sailed more than 19,000 nautical miles and generated thousands of contact detections while monitoring fishing grounds across the region.

Read the full article at ECO Magazine

Commerce Department allocates $15.8M in fishery disaster funding to Fla., Calif., and Makah Tribe

October 23, 2026 — Today, NOAA announced the allocation of $15.8 million in fishery resource disaster funding, appropriated by Congress in the American Relief Act, 2025. The funding will address multiple fishery resource disasters that occurred in Florida, California, and for the Makah Tribe in Washington state between 2019 and 2024.

“The U.S. seafood industry plays a critical role in our coastal economy,” said NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs, Ph.D. “Our fishermen depend on each catch to sustain their livelihoods, yet fishery disasters can have devastating impacts on the businesses and communities that rely on these resources. NOAA is committed to supporting and uplifting our coastal businesses and communities through such challenges so they can continue to thrive.”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

ALASKA: Seafood industry works to encourage Alaska fishermen to vote

October 22, 2026 — A coalition of Alaska commercial seafood industry organizations is giving fishermen and processors tools to boost voter turnout in the governor’s race.

The nonpartisan Dock the Vote task force is educating fishermen on absentee and early voting, and encouraging each Alaska resident worker to cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 general election.
The task force launched ahead of the Aug. 18 primary. Some 60 Alaska fisheries organizations dedicated financial or logistical support to the fisherman-led get-out-the-vote effort, Julie Decker, of Wrangell, said in a recent call with the Sentinel.
“It was a giant cooperation among the seafood industry, which is frankly a hard thing to do,” said Decker, a longtime fisherman who’s now director of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

MAINE: Maine farmers and fishermen can get federal assistance to offset high fuel prices

October 22, 2026 — Maine farmers and fishermen can now get federal assistance to offset rising diesel prices.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Tuesday that farmers and fishermen are eligible for assistance under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s $8 billion “Harvest Fuel Relief” program.

Under that new program, farmers and fishermen can get a one-time payment to offset those higher production costs. Rates will be announced in November.

“The rising cost of fuel and other inputs has placed significant financial strain on hardworking farmers, fishermen, lobstermen, and their families. After speaking with both the White House and Secretary Rollins, I am pleased to have been assured that Maine fishermen and lobstermen will benefit from the Administration’s new agricultural relief package,” Collins said in a statement. “I will continue advocating for Maine’s fishermen, lobstermen, and specialty crop growers, who are integral to our state’s heritage, economy, and way of life, to ensure they receive the support they need to overcome these challenges.”

Read the full article at Bangor Daily News