Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Alaska seafood harvesting jobs are up for the first time since 2019

November 6, 2026 — Last year, Alaska saw the biggest increase in seafood harvesting jobs in more than a decade, according to a recent report from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Seafood harvesters include permit holders and boat crews. Their numbers increased by 4% over the previous year, averaging over 200 more jobs per month than in 2024.

That growth follows a five-year decline, with harvesting job numbers hitting an all-time low in 2024 since data collection began more than two decades ago.

Economist Joshua Warren authored the report for Alaska Economic Trends, the labor department’s magazines. He said that five-year decline was in large part due to the pandemic.

“Other industries saw some level of return once COVID measures stopped, but those trends just seemed to continue for seafood harvesting,” Warren said.

On top of that, Warren said some fisheries closed — like red king crab and snow crab in the Bering Sea — and others saw reduced catch limits. But last year there weren’t any new closures.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

 

Maine, Virginia fishermen unite against further menhaden quota cuts

November 6, 2026 — Commercial fishermen from Maine and Virginia are calling on fisheries managers to maintain the Atlantic menhaden quota for 2027, arguing that additional reductions could threaten fishing families and coastal communities that depend on the species.

In a new video produced by the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA), Maine fishermen Dustin Delano and Jim Wotton join Ben Landry, a spokesperson for Virginia’s menhaden reduction fishery, to discuss the industry’s economic importance and the potential consequences of further restrictions.

 

The video, highlighted in a Nov. 5 release from the American Small Pelagics Network, comes as the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) prepares to consider coastwide menhaden quotas for 2027 through 2029.

“We’re all commercial fishermen,” said Wotton, a fisherman from Friendship, Maine. “I think we need to stick together. We need to work together.”

The ASMFC reduced the coastwide Atlantic menhaden total allowable catch by 20 percent for 2026. According to the commission’s latest stock assessment, Atlantic menhaden are not overfished, and overfishing is not occurring.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA seeks input on scallop permit stacking proposal

November 5, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries is considering changes to the Atlantic sea scallop fishery that would allow fishermen to combine two limited access permits on a single vessel, potentially reducing operating costs for businesses with multiple boats.

The proposal, under consideration by the Secretary of Commerce, would allow two limited access scallop permits in the same category, under common ownership or control, to be stacked on one vessel. That vessel could then fish the allocations associated with both permits, reducing expenses tied to maintaining multiple vessels with limited days-at-sea allocations.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Harvest Fuel Relief Program to help farmers & fishermen

November 5, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a Harvest Fuel Relief Program on Oct. 19. The announcement, which came just ahead of the midterm elections, pledged $8 billion in one-time payments to American farmers and fishermen to provide relief for market disruptions and increased operating costs.

Alaska’s commercial fishermen could be eligible to share in the money. John Yeager of Wrangell had this to say.

With high fuel prices and insurance costs and bait costs, you leave the dock in the hole quite often, and that’s not a good feeling. It’s hard to maintain a business plan because you’re constantly adjusting for all these different increases in expenses.

The USDA has not said when it will start accepting applications or when the money would start going out.

Read the full article at KSTK

US commercial seafood landings revenue dropped 3.6 percent in 2024

November 4, 2026 — U.S. commercial fishers landed 3.5 million metric tons of seafood in 2024, valued at USD 4.9 billion (EUR 4.4 billion), according to NOAA Fisheries’ latest edition of its Fisheries of the United States report.

That represents a 3.6 percent decline from 2023 revenue, with commercial fishers landing 9.2 percent less in terms of weight. At the same time, commercial fishers received a slightly higher average ex-vessel price for those landings, earning USD 0.64 (EUR 0.57) per pound in 2024 – 6.7 percent more than the year before.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US commercial fisheries landed 7.7 billion pounds in 2024

November 3, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries released three of its flagship reports on U.S. fisheries, showing commercial fishermen landed 7.7 billion pounds of seafood worth $4.9 billion in 2024, while the number of stocks subject to overfishing fell to an all-time low in 2025.

The agency released its 2025 Status of Stocks report alongside the 2024 Fisheries of the United States and 2024 Fisheries Economics of the United States reports, providing a broad look at the biological and economic health of U.S. fisheries.

According to NOAA Fisheries, U.S. commercial fisheries supported 1 million jobs in 2024 and generated $175 billion in sales, $44 billion in income and $70 billion in value-added impacts nationwide. Combined, the commercial fishing, seafood and recreational fishing industries generated $321 billion in sales and supported 1.7 million jobs.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Releases Three Flagship Reports: 2025 Status of Stocks, 2024 Fisheries of the United States, and 2024 Fisheries Economics of the United States

October 30, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries is pleased to share three of our flagship reports: Status of Stocks 2025 Annual Report to Congress on the Status of U.S. Fisheries, 2024 Fisheries of the United States, and 2024 Fisheries Economics of the United States. Each of these reports is a crucial part of how we track and monitor the state of United States marine fisheries.

2025 Status of Stocks

The 2025 Status of Stocks is an annual report to Congress on the status of U.S. fisheries. We track 522 stocks or stock complexes to determine their status:

  • Overfished: population size is too small
  • Subject to overfishing: harvest rate is too high
  • Rebuilt: target level supports maximum sustainable yield

In fiscal year 2025, NOAA Fisheries conducted 173 stock assessments and had two first-time stock status determinations as the result of improved or new scientific endeavors.

The 2025 Status of Stocks report shows positive trends: The number of stocks on the overfishing list decreased to an all-time low and another stock was added to the rebuilt list. That brings the number of rebuilt stocks to 52 since 2000. The number of stocks on the overfishing list dropped from 23 to 15 stocks. Of the 372 stocks with a known overfishing status, 96 percent are not subject to overfishing. The number of stocks on the overfished list remained the same at 42 stocks. Of the 265 stocks with a known overfished status, 84 percent are not overfished.

Notably, Atlantic blue marlin was removed from the overfishing list for the first time since 1998 and Quillback rockfish (California) was added to the rebuilt list in 2025.

Managing fisheries sustainably is an adaptive process that relies on sound science, innovative management approaches, effective enforcement, meaningful partnerships, and robust public participation. Partnerships with the regional fishery management councils, state and international partners, and interstate fisheries commissions are also key to the success of ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

How El Niño could threaten your favorite seafood for years to come

October 29, 2026 — Squid are shifting to cooler water, young salmon are struggling to find food sources, and concern is growing for Oregon’s $100 million Dungeness crab harvest as a powerful El Niño weather pattern heats up coastal ocean temperatures from California to the Pacific Northwest. Scientists expect the phenomenon to last for several months, leaving fishermen such as Phil Fogle scrambling.

Fogle, who owns two squid fishing boats based in the port of Anacortes, in Washington state, normally would keep fishing until foul weather sets in — his boats operate from Eureka, California, to Kodiak, Alaska. Instead, Fogle tied up his boats last week and furloughed his seven employees. The squid that normally inhabit coastal water have fled offshore for colder, deeper water that are harder to reach for smaller boats.

“Those little buggers are really affected by water temperature,” Fogle said about the squid. “It has been devastating to us.”

He said he’s losing about $50,000 a month.

Fogle said he’s waiting for the El Niño conditions to pass and hoping to get on the water again early next year.

This year’s El Niño, the strongest on record, has led temperatures off the Pacific Northwest coast to jump 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit above the average from 1991 to 2020, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. El Niño’s warmth has arrived on top of an existing marine heat wave in the Gulf of Alaska, according to Steven Bograd, senior climatologist at NOAA.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

War in the Middle East continuing to disrupt Iran’s fisheries sector, with estimated millions in losses

October 29, 2026 — According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), ongoing war in the Middle East has heavily disrupted Iran’s fisheries sector, especially in two of the nation’s top commercial fishing provinces.

OCHA estimated that direct and indirect losses to the fisheries sectors in the provinces of Hormozgan and Bushehr have totaled around USD 105.9 million (EUR 94.4 million). This comes as more than 60 percent of the fishing fleet in the two provinces remains inactive, directly impacting the income of an estimated 37,000 fishers and causing other adverse impacts on the livelihoods of an estimated 300,000 people.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

New MSC finance model suggests certification, sustainability can unlock fishery value

October 27, 2026 — The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has launched a prototype fishery financial model that it said could support financing for the sustainable seafood sector.

According to the MSC, the new model gives banks and financiers more insight into risk and resilience within the seafood sector. It also said that the new model suggests well-managed, MSC-certified fisheries support a more resilient long-term economic model and that those fisheries are twice as valuable as an otherwise identical fishery that is not as well managed.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource