Saving Seafood

Advocacy Helps Small Fishing Businesses Secure a Win from Changes to Squid Rules

June 29, 2026 — The following was released by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy:

The U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy (Advocacy) applauds the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) final rule to amend the definition of “shellfish” to include cephalopods, providing small fishing businesses simplicity and clarity.

Previous FWS regulations defined shellfish as “an aquatic invertebrate having a shell.” However, cephalopods, including squid, cuttlefish, and octopus, have internal shells, reduced shells, or no shells at all. This has caused confusion over whether cephalopods qualify as shellfish for purposes of federal import/export, declaration, inspection, and enforcement regulations. As a result, small fishing businesses have lost business opportunities and been subject to unnecessary reporting fees.

“I am encouraged to see that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took into account the concerns of our small fishing businesses by finalizing this rule,” said Everett M. Woodel, Jr., Acting Chief Counsel for Advocacy. “I am hopeful that the updated definition will provide small fishing businesses with the much-needed clarity they need to succeed.”

Advocacy worked with many fishing businesses to help bring attention to the real-world impacts of the confusion caused by the old definition of “shellfish.” One of those businesses, Lund’s Fisheries, explained how the updated FWS definition will help their business.

“On behalf of Lund’s Fisheries, we would like to thank the Trump administration for a solution to a burdensome requirement that will save us time, money and administrative difficulties,” said Wayne Reichle, President of Lund’s Fisheries Inc. in Cape May, New Jersey. “This is a perfect example of numerous federal agencies working in cooperation with the U.S. commercial fishing industry to make our seafood competitive on a global scale and creating thriving business here at home.”

Advocacy submitted a comment letter in support of the FWS’s broadening of the definition of “shellfish” to include cephalopods on April 6, 2026. Advocacy estimates that fixing this regulatory issue could save impacted small businesses at least $2.8 million. The final rule will take effect on July 23, 2026.

The definition of squid is one of the many fishing-related regulations Advocacy has heard about from U.S. small businesses. In March, Advocacy added onboard observer requirements and the designation of marine sanctuaries and national monuments to its “Small Businesses’ Most Wanted Reform” list. In a related development, SBA and Advocacy applauded President Donald J. Trump on June 12 for restoring nearly half a million square miles of U.S. commercial fishing access in three Pacific marine national monuments.

PRESS RELEASE

SBA No. 26-19 ADV

FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES, CONTACT:

Samantha Aschieris, Director of Communications

EMAIL:

samantha.aschieris@sba.gov

Scientists turn underwater gardeners to save precious marine plant

February 3, 2022 — Whoever said there’s nothing more boring than watching grass grow wasn’t thinking about seagrass. Often confused with seaweeds and rarely receiving the attention they deserve, there’s nothing boring about seagrasses. In fact, they are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world.

Next time you are swimming and enjoying the sea’s cool embrace look down and try to spot the slender blades of seagrass, a remarkable marine plant that plays a vital role in the coastal environment but is now under threat.

Forming dense underwater meadows, seagrasses are vital to maintain fisheries, absorb carbon and protect coastlines from erosion—but their future is threatened by , pollution and other impacts of human activities, scientists say.

The plants grow in shallow coastal waters in all regions except the Antarctic. They act as nurseries or feeding grounds for hundreds of species of seafood, including sea bream, octopus, cuttlefish and Alaska pollock—one of the most fished species in the world.

Read the full story at Phys.org

Figuring Out When and Why Squids Lost Their Shells

March 7, 2017 — Shaped like a torpedo and about as swift, squids are jet-propelled underwater predators. Together with their nimble brethren, the octopus and cuttlefish, they make for an agile invertebrate armada.

But that was not always the case. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the ancestors of the tentacled trio were slow, heavily armored creatures, like the coil-shelled ammonites and the cone-shelled belemnites.

Alastair Tanner, a doctoral student at University of Bristol in England, wanted to better understand why those cephalopods lost their shells. But though both ammonites and the belemnites have left behind rich fossil records, their shell-less descendants have not.

So Mr. Tanner conducted a genetic analysis of 26 present day cephalopods, including the vampire squid, the golden cuttlefish and the southern blue-ringed octopus.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Squid Are Thriving While Fish Decline

May 24, 2016 — The squids are all right — as are their cephalopod cousins the cuttlefish and octopus.

In the same waters where fish have faced serious declines, the tentacled trio is thriving, according to a study published Monday.

“Cephalopods have increased in the world’s oceans over the last six decades,” Zoë Doubleday, a marine ecologist from the University of Adelaide in Australia, and lead author of the study, said in an email. “Our results suggest that something is going on in the marine environment on a large scale, which is advantageous to cephalopods.”

Read the full story at the New York Times