Saving Seafood

MSC annual report highlights record year for seafood certification program

August 29, 2026 — A record number of fisheries re-certified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard in the past year, according to the organization’s latest annual report.

The MSC is closing in on 30 years in existence, having formed in 1997 as a nonprofit organization before launching the MSC Fisheries Standard in 1998. Since that time, the organization has continued growing; according to its annual report, it recently reached 789 fisheries engaged in the program, an increase of 7 percent year over year, with 600 certified to the MSC Fishery Standard and a record 115 re-certifications in the past year.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA opens $4.6M for bycatch reduction projects

August 28, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries is making approximately $4.6 million available for projects aimed at reducing bycatch through improved fishing practices and innovative gear technology.

The agency announced its 2026 funding opportunity through the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program, inviting non-federal researchers to submit proposals for collaborative projects that address bycatch challenges facing U.S. fisheries.

A major emphasis of this year’s funding opportunity is industry involvement. NOAA Fisheries said it is looking for proposals that include proactive and meaningful engagement with the fishing industry in identifying, designing, or implementing projects.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MAINE: Maine’s Department of Marine Resources reopens menhaden harvest on August 31

August 28, 2026 — Maine’s Department of Marine Resources announced that commercial menhaden (pogy) harvesting will reopen at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, August 31, using quota transfers from other Atlantic states.

On August 20, the DMR had announced that it was discontinuing commercial pogy harvesting under the Episodic Event Set Aside effective at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, August 21.

Working through the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission with other Atlantic states, the DMR is arranging quota transfers, which will allow the fishery to reopen on August 31.

Read the full article at The Weekly Packet

NOAA Fisheries moves to extend moratorium on new Gulf shrimp permits

August 27, 2026 — With the current moratorium set to expire later this year, NOAA Fisheries has moved to extend a ban on new federal shrimp permits for the Gulf of Mexico by another 10 years.

While the Gulf of Mexico federal shrimp fishery supported more than 4,000 commercial shrimping vessels, rising fuel prices and competition from cheaper imported shrimp drove many of those vessel owners to call it quits. Still, regulators believed that there were too many shrimp vessels operating to be profitable, so in 2006, NOAA Fisheries issued a 10-year moratorium on new commercial shrimp vessel permits. In 2008, the government issued just 1,933 vessel permits.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Record-breaking pink run surges into Sitka

August 26, 2026 — Sitka purse seiners broke the area’s single-day pink salmon harvest record twice this month, as a strong late run and increased fishing effort turned around what had initially looked like a difficult season.

According to an Aug. 20 report from Raven Radio, seiners in District 13 harvested 1.23 million pink salmon on Aug. 6, surpassing the previous single-day record of roughly 950,000 fish set in 2017.

Four days later, the fleet broke the record again, harvesting 1.28 million pink salmon on Aug. 10.

“We’ve just been seeing really strong harvests of pink salmon and really strong escapements, which was kind of unusual for an even year, and fairly unusual, given what’s been going on with pink salmon in the rest of the Gulf of Alaska,” Alaska Department of Fish and Game Sitka area management biologist Aaron Dupuis told KCAW. “So it’s pretty special to have a good pink run in the Sitka area this year.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

FLORIDA: Florida accepting public feedback on Big Bend oyster management

August 26, 2026 — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is seeking public comments on how it should manage oyster harvesting in the Big Bend region of the state.

Once a successful commercial fishery, the Big Bend lost roughly 66 percent of its oyster reefs between 1982 and 2011. The region also faced additional pressure following the collapse of the oyster population in Apalachicola Bay in 2013, with annual Big Bend harvests peaking in 2017 with 60,000 bags sold. Landings have significantly decreased since, with the total bags sold not surpassing 10,000 bags in either of the last two years. There were only 32 commercial harvesters in 2025.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Businesses, NGOs pushing for IATTC to adopt management procedures for tropical tuna

August 21, 2026 — Businesses and environmental NGOs are both working to push the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) into adopting its first-ever management procedures for tuna at its next meeting, which starts on 24 August.

Groups have been pushing the regional fishery management organization (RFMO) to adopt management procedures for multiple species it governs. Management procedures, also called harvest strategies, are a means of setting predetermined triggers on how a species is managed so that an RFMO has a clear roadmap for how to adjust fishing effort based on what surveys and scientific analysis of a stock indicate.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Debate over menhaden fishery continues as it gains national media attention

August 20, 2026 — An ongoing debate over the future of the U.S. Atlantic menhaden fishery has gained national media attention, with the industry pushing back against NGOs and activists.

The Washington Post recently published an opinion piece by Mark Robichaux – a former Wall Street Journal reporter – that reviewed recent back-and-forth over the nation’s menhaden fishery and its claimed impacts on the wider environment, which includes accusations it is responsible for a decline in osprey populations and that it is diminishing an important forage species, resulting in declines in predators like striped bass.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Fish fights take center stage in Alaska Senate race

August 20, 2026 — The plight of the state’s fisheries, some of the most productive in the world, has become a flashpoint in Alaska’s Senate race and arisen as a potential weakness for two-term incumbent Dan Sullivan.

Sullivan faces a tough reelection bid against former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who has centered her campaign around “Fish, Family, Freedom.” She’s trying to harness anger at out-of-state commercial fishing to win her way back to Congress.

Alaska hosts some of the largest commercial pollock fisheries in the world as well as major salmon populations — buttressing a seafood industry that supports more than 15,000 Alaskan jobs with around $5 billion in value. Many Alaska Natives harvest fish from the state’s mighty rivers and rely on the catch during winter.

Read the full article at E&E News