Executive Order 14276 Archives

September 2, 2026 — Over the past year, I have met with fishermen, processors, coastal community leaders, and regional fishery management council members and staff across the country. In every harbor and at every meeting, the message has been consistent: American fishermen just want to fish, and they need their government to clear the bureaucratic barriers standing in their way.

On July 2, 2026, NOAA Fisheries sent Regional Priorities guidance, providing the regional fishery management councils a clear roadmap of actions to reduce regulatory burdens and better support the health of our industry, while maintaining our public trust duty to maintain stock and ocean ecosystem health. But our democratic council process is only part of the equation. To complement that guidance, NOAA Fisheries is applying the same standard of accountability and results to its own operations, regulatory frameworks, and scientific pipelines.

Today, I am announcing NOAA Fisheries’ priorities for agency-level actions in support of the Seafood Executive Order. It will serve as our operational roadmap for regulatory, scientific, and administrative reform. Informed by the 787 public comments submitted under the 2025 “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness” Executive Order (EO 14276), these priorities focus strictly on the policy levers directly within the agency’s authority.

This announcement outlines our immediate priorities for the agency and serves as a bridge toward a broader, interagency transformation of federal seafood policy. In the coming months, the administration will release the America First Seafood Strategy, a comprehensive, multi-agency initiative developed in close coordination with our federal partners and informed by extensive feedback from stakeholders. The strategy will firmly outline how efforts under EO 14276 have begun—and will continue—to elevate domestic seafood production to a priority in matters of national food security and strategic independence.

NOAA Fisheries will pursue the actions outlined below immediately as we look forward to that broader strategy. We are moving away from regulations that treat domestic harvesters like a problem to be managed, and toward a science-based, common-sense system that recognizes the importance of those who feed our citizens and the communities they support.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

July 2, 2026— President Donald Trump declared “National Scallops Day,” tying the designation to a NOAA Fisheries announcement that the agency has prioritized expanding access for the Atlantic sea scallop fleet on the Northern Edge of Georges Bank and advancing a long-sought permit-stacking policy.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the action would “open up the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to Scallops Fishing,” predicting “millions more pounds” of wild scallops for American consumers and more jobs in East Coast fishing ports, including New Bedford, Massachusetts; Cape May, New Jersey; and Norfolk, Virginia. This comes as part of a broader Trump Administration effort to expand domestic seafood production and reverse restrictions imposed by prior administrations.

The President’s statement came the same day NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler released a region-by-region list of regulatory priorities under Executive Order 14276, “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.” In the New England section of that announcement, NOAA listed two major scallop actions: “Implement rotational access for the Northern Edge scallop fishery” and “Implement Scallop Permit Stacking.” Administrator Piñeiro Soler described them as “regulatory actions we have prioritized.”

The April 2025 executive order directed the Commerce Department and NOAA Fisheries to work with regional fishery management councils to reduce regulatory burdens, increase domestic seafood production, improve access, stabilize markets, and enhance profitability for U.S. fishing businesses. NOAA said Thursday it received input from 787 individuals and organizations before prioritizing the actions announced by Piñeiro Soler.

“The Fisheries Survival Fund, which has represented Atlantic scallop fishermen since 1998, has been working throughout the Executive Order process to reopen the Northern Edge. We very much appreciate President Trump’s and NOAA’s directive to NMFS and the Council to reopen this historically vital fishing ground after 35 years,” stated Eric Hansen, chairman of the Fund’s board. “We will work hard to help make a productive, responsible opening become a reality. To the fleet, please be aware the area is not currently open, but we are thankful the process has begun.”

The Sustainable Scalloping Fund, a scallop industry group active in Washington and New Bedford, praised the announcement, saying the opening of the Northern Edge and the move toward permit stacking were two reforms it had sought since its inception.

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

SSF President John Lees said the decision reflected direct engagement between fishermen and the White House. The group said Lees had carried the issues to senior White House officials and advocated for them directly with the president.

“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,” Lees said. “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.”

The Northern Edge of Georges Bank has been the subject of a long-running debate within New England fisheries management. The New England Fishery Management Council previously considered a framework action that would have revised habitat management restrictions and created rotational scallop access areas in the region. Council materials described the Northern Edge as roughly including the Closed Area II Habitat Management Area and the adjacent Northern Flank of Georges Bank, and said the habitat restrictions there were intended to minimize fishing impacts on essential fish habitat for multiple species, including scallops, groundfish, herring, monkfish and skates.

Council materials also reflected concerns that opening the area could affect long-term scallop yield because dense scallop aggregations on the Northern Edge may serve as a larval source for other scallop grounds, including the Southern Flank of Georges Bank, the Great South Channel and Nantucket Lightship.

NOAA’s announcement did not provide a detailed schedule for implementation, catch projections, or final management measures for the Northern Edge or permit stacking. Piñeiro Soler said some priorities may implicate other statutory requirements and that NOAA Fisheries would work with the councils to determine how to advance them.