October 30, 2026 — When the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) were established in 1970, it was recommended that they become part of their own oceans department or the Department of the Interior. But the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, which preceded NOAA, focused on marine resources as economic assets, so the Nixon Administration put the new agencies in the Department of Commerce, and that’s where they have remained for the last 56 years.
But many people in the industry have noticed the limitations of looking at fish strictly as economic assets, and they will be talking about it on the Fish is Food: Opening Doors for Seafood in Federal Programs Panel at the 2026 Pacific Marine Expo. “For years seafood has been treated as a commodity rather than part of the food system,” says Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA). “With Mike Illenberg leading the USDA’s [United States Department of Agriculture] new office of seafood, we have someone who knows the industry and can help fishermen access the programs we need.”