Saving Seafood

Senate Control May Come Down to Fishing Concerns in Alaska

October 26, 2026 — While some midterms voters elsewhere are focused on familiar key issues, from immigration to inflation, Alaskans are debating salmon runs, bycatch limits, and the future of the state’s fishing industry, issues that could help determine whether Democrat Mary Peltola unseats Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan to flip the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

Democrats have relatively few realistic opportunities to flip Republican-held Senate seats in 2026, making Alaska one of the most closely-watched contests in the country, alongside others including Maine, Texas, and Michigan, which could decide which party controls the chamber for the rest of President Donald Trump’s second term. Alaska has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2008.

Alaska’s unique voter make-up, along with its ranked-choice voting system, means the statewide leadership is not just based on partisan politics.

Read the full article at Newsweek

1,267 workers, community members push back on menhaden cuts

October 26, 2026 — The pushback against additional restrictions on Chesapeake Bay’s menhaden fishery is growing ahead of a key November vote, with more than 1,200 industry employees and community members urging fisheries managers to reject further cuts.

A total of 1,267 people submitted letters during the public comment period asking the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Menhaden Management Board to reject further reductions to the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap and mandatory seasonal allocations. The comments come as new juvenile menhaden survey data and concerns about the economic consequences of additional restrictions add to an already contentious management fight.

The signers included 386 industry employees and 881 community members. Three letters representing menhaden workers, residents of Virginia’s Northern Neck and people outside the region opposed options in Draft Addendum II that could cut the Bay Cap by as much as 50%, link it to the annual coastwide total allowable catch or divide the cap into seasonal quota periods.

The Atlantic Menhaden Management Board is expected to consider final action on Draft Addendum II during the ASMFC Annual Meeting in November.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Collaboration with Fishing Industry Contributes to Successful Longfin Squid Assessment

October 26, 2026 — Longfin squid is an economically important species that is challenging to study. Mostly caught from Rhode Island to New Jersey, it supports a commercial fishery worth approximately $32.5 million in 2024. It is often found on restaurant menus as calamari.

Longfin squid live less than a year, grow rapidly, and the number of young entering the population is highly variable. Their populations are influenced by dynamic ocean conditions, leading to shifts in abundance and distribution that are challenging to understand or predict. Longfin squid migrate with the seasons, generally moving south and offshore in the late fall and returning north and inshore during the spring. Scientific surveys capture seasonal snapshots of the population but they cannot provide specifics about the squid caught in the fishery.

Successful Research Track Peer Review

In August 2026, an independent panel of scientists completed the peer review for the Longfin Inshore Squid Research Track Assessment. The panel approved two new assessment models—both of which met all required Terms of Reference and were deemed suitable for management advice. These models mark a significant technical advancement over past index-based approaches. They are better able to capture the rapid growth, seasonal changes in abundance, and unique biology of this short-lived species.

This major accomplishment for a historically data-poor species was possible because of strong collaboration between scientists and commercial fishing industry partners. Having a better foundational understanding of longfin squid life history, as well as two distinct and credible models, gives managers greater flexibility and confidence in using the best available science. The review marks an important milestone in the multi-year effort to improve our understanding of longfin squid and develop better tools to assess the stock. The findings will be implemented during the upcoming Longfin Squid Management Track Assessment this fall.

We combined analytical expertise of scientists with on-the-water knowledge of fishermen who encounter this species throughout the year, making great strides together toward better understanding this economically important and enigmatic species.

“The foundation of trust and collaboration between the science and fishing communities was critical to the scientific progress made during the longfin squid assessment. From sharing ecological observations to collecting data to providing input on model assumptions and outputs, industry partners played a critical role in all phases of the assessment,” shared Dr. Anna Mercer, chief of the center’s Northeast Cooperative Research branch.

The goals of the collaboration are:

  • Better science for sustainable management
  • Better information to support decisions about how much seafood can make its way from the ocean to our tables

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

TRCP Misrepresented Key Menhaden Facts on the Tom Rowland Podcast

October 23, 2026 — The following was released by the American Small Pelagics Network:

Jaclyn Lunaas and Chris Macaluso of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership gave listeners a materially misleading account of menhaden science and management across both the Atlantic and Gulf fisheries. This ranges from Atlantic menhaden and Chesapeake Bay issues to Gulf menhaden in the Gulf of Mexico, along with claims involving striped bass, osprey, red drum, spotted seatrout, king mackerel, tarpon and other species. Host Tom Rowland largely accepted their claims rather than testing them against readily available fisheries data and the published record of the relevant management agencies. The result was a discussion in which advocacy was repeatedly presented as settled science.

Lunaas said scientists had been overestimating coastwide biomass by about 40% and implied the catch limit had therefore been “way too high.” But the ASMFC says the revision primarily reflected a new estimate of natural mortality that rescaled the historical population; it was not a 40% population collapse. Total biomass “has actually slightly increased since 2021,” and Atlantic menhaden remain not overfished, with overfishing not occurring .

Lunaas and Macaluso also misrepresented the claim that ASMFC scientists “recommended a 50% cut” in the coastwide menhaden harvest. The ASMFC’s Menhaden Technical Committee and ERP Work Group analysis shows that the Board asked scientists to model a range of catch scenarios and calculate the risk of exceeding the Ecological Reference Point (ERP) target and threshold. A reduction of roughly 50% or more was one modeled scenario, not a singular scientific recommendation. The target is a conservative objective below the threshold that defines overfishing. The Board adopted a 20% reduction for 2026 , projected to have a 0% chance of exceeding the ERP overfishing threshold in 2026 . Calling a 50% reduction simply “what the science said” misstates both the process and the result.

The episode’s “running out of food” premise also omitted a central ASMFC finding: the ERP framework already incorporates predator needs, and even ending all Atlantic menhaden fishing would not, by itself, rebuild striped bass to their biomass target . Sustainable recreational and commercial striped bass fishing mortality remains necessary. Maryland’s newest data further undercut the simple food-shortage narrative: the 2026 juvenile striped bass survey recorded an eighth consecutive year of below-average striped bass reproduction while finding young Atlantic menhaden in abundance and Atlantic silversides at their highest level in more than a decade. Menhaden indices for 2023-2026 were 3.78, 3.66, 2.54 and 2.49; every one exceeded every annual index from 1992 through 2022, and the four-year average was the highest since 1988-1991.

The osprey discussion blurred observation and causation. The 2026 peer-reviewed osprey study found serious reproductive deficits and food stress in higher-salinity areas and identified reduced menhaden availability as a primary driver there, but it did not establish that commercial menhaden harvest caused that reduced availability. USGS is continuing research on the relationship among menhaden availability, osprey reproduction, commercial harvest and environmental conditions. Food stress is not proof of fishery causation.

Macaluso likewise emphasized approximately 140-160 million non-target fish, roughly 30,000 red drum and about 250,000 spotted seatrout without the proportional context. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries reported total bycatch of about 3.6% of catch by weight in the 2024 study. Over 2015-2024, menhaden fishery dead bycatch accounted for 9.9% of red drum fishery removals by weight and 2.7% of spotted seatrout removals, with directed fisheries accounting for the overwhelming majority. Raw totals without those denominators give a distorted picture of the study.

Macaluso also claimed that rebuilding Gulf king mackerel requires leaving 40% more menhaden in the water, while Rowland asserted that tarpon migrating from South Florida to Louisiana “have to have” menhaden. The peer-reviewed Gulf ecosystem model does not support that 40% prescription: its king-mackerel ERP target was 0.964 of 2016 menhaden fishing mortality, and NOAA currently lists the Gulf king mackerel stock as not overfished and not subject to overfishing. The model includes tarpon among many predators of juvenile menhaden, but it does not establish Rowland’s claim that tarpon migrate to Louisiana because food is insufficient off Key West. Newer Gulf diet research likewise found nearshore predators to be generalists using a diverse prey base, with no single menhaden-dependent predator.

Macaluso also called the slower pace of catching the Virginia quota “a pretty clear indication there’s something wrong with that population.” That is not a stock assessment. The ASMFC says its coastwide model cannot determine menhaden stock status within Chesapeake Bay or provide quantitative advice on separate Bay and ocean harvest levels. Those are precisely the questions additional research is intended to answer. Management should establish the problem, connect it to the fishery and show that a proposed restriction would improve the outcome before imposing additional costs on working families.

Rowland should have challenged these claims: whether the 40% revision was an actual population decline; whether 50% was a recommendation or one modeled scenario; what the ASMFC’s striped-bass model says; whether the osprey research established harvest causation; and what Macaluso’s Gulf bycatch figures mean in proportion. He did not. Lunaas and Macaluso are free to advocate for lower quotas, different allocations and additional restrictions, but nobody has the right to mislead the public about what the science says.

Nobody has a more direct stake in healthy Chesapeake Bay, Gulf and Atlantic fisheries than the people whose livelihoods depend on them. UFCW Local 400 has put the fishermen themselves on record ; the NAACP Virginia State Conference has urged Virginia’s governor to protect working families while state-funded science is completed; and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has warned that these decisions affect African American workers, union families and rural communities. Their future depends on healthy fisheries just as surely as their jobs do. The debate should rest on the complete scientific record, not selective claims presented as settled fact.

Sources

• Tom Rowland Podcast, Episode 1032 – show notes and transcript

• ASMFC – Atlantic Menhaden FAQs

• ASMFC – 2025 Atlantic Menhaden Stock Assessment Update

• ASMFC – Atlantic Menhaden species page

• ASMFC – Technical Committee and ERP Work Group Report on Stock Projections to Inform 2026-2028 TAC Levels

• ASMFC – Atlantic Menhaden Board Proceedings, October 2025

• ASMFC – Atlantic Menhaden FAQ, Question 13 on striped bass rebuilding

• Maryland DNR – 2026 Juvenile Striped Bass Survey Results

• Maryland DNR – Juvenile Striped Bass Survey methods and data

• Maryland DNR – Atlantic Menhaden Baywide Juvenile Index dataset

• Watts et al. – Widespread reproductive deficits in Chesapeake Bay ospreys (2026)

• USGS – Osprey Population and Availability of Menhaden in Chesapeake Bay

• Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries – Menhaden Bycatch Study Results

• LGL Ecological Research Associates – Louisiana Menhaden Purse-Seine Bycatch Final Report

• Berenshtein et al. – Gulf menhaden ecosystem model and ecological reference points

• NOAA Fisheries – King Mackerel stock status

• Chee, Leaf & Dillon – Northern Gulf predator diet and trophic dynamics study

• UFCW Local 400 – Members Spotlight the Real Faces of the Menhaden Fishery in New Video

• UFCW Local 400 – Ocean Harvesters Members Ratify Strong New Agreement

• Southern Christian Leadership Conference – Letter to Governor Wes Moore concerning the menhaden fishery

 

About the American Small Pelagics Network
The American Small Pelagics Network represents fishermen, processors, suppliers, and coastal communities connected to fisheries such as menhaden, mackerel, herring, squid, and butterfish. ASPN supports sustainable fisheries management that supports critical fish species, while maintaining economic opportunities for fishermen and fishing communities.

Press Contact
Stove Boat Communications
(202) 595-1212
contact@smallpelagics.com

Worry and encouragment: What two new reports say about the future of Atlantic Striped Bass

October 22, 2026 — There is cause for encouragment and reason for concern from the latest Chesapeake Bay Young-of-the-Year Atlantic Striped Bass surveys.

The annual surveys are done by the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

The news from Maryland was discouraging. For the eighth straight year, striped bass recruitment in Maryland waters was below average. The news from Virginia was better; the numbers show an average spawn and rebounding numbers. The Chesapeake numbers are so important because experts say 70% to 90% of all Atlantic Striped Bass on the east coast are spawned in the Chesapeake.

Striped bass are an iconic species with a multi-billion dollar economic impact on every state from Maine to South Carolina.

Read the full article at WKRG

Rise of hybrid crabs raises questions for Bering Sea management

October 22, 2026 — A surge in hybrid crabs in the Bering Sea is raising new questions about how federal regulators count crab populations and set harvest limits, according to new Kodiak-based research.

The study, “A Bering Sea marine heatwave triggers unprecedented crab hybridization, challenging fisheries management,” was authored by Erin Fedewa, Emily Ryznar, Connor Cleary and Mike Litzow at NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center Kodiak Lab, and published Monday in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Read the full article at the Kodiak Daily Mirror

1,267 Workers and Community Members Urge Menhaden Board to Reject New Chesapeake Bay Restrictions

October 21, 2026 — The following was released by Ocean Harvesters:

A total of 1,267 menhaden industry employees and community members submitted letters during the public comment period asking the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Menhaden Management Board to reject further cuts to the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap and mandatory seasonal allocations.

The signers included 386 industry employees and 881 community members. They signed three letters representing menhaden workers, residents of Virginia’s Northern Neck, and people outside the region who recognize the fishery’s broader economic importance.

The three letters described a fishery whose economic reach extends well beyond the vessels and processing plant. The fishery supports workers and local businesses, contributes to the coastwide bait sector and supplies products used by other industries.

All three letters opposed the options in Draft Addendum II that would cut the Bay Cap by as much as 50%, tie it to the annual coastwide total allowable catch or divide it into seasonal quota periods.

The letters made six central points:

 1. The proposal has not demonstrated the need for new restrictions

Draft Addendum II does not establish a demonstrated Bay-specific biological problem, show that the existing Bay Cap has failed, connect the reduction fishery to a Bay-specific biological problem or demonstrate that the proposed restrictions would produce a biological benefit. The addendum’s own statement of the problem acknowledges that there are not enough scientific data to fully describe menhaden abundance and distribution throughout the Bay or determine the influence of fishing pressure.

2. The Bay Cap was precautionary, not a scientifically calculated biological limit

The Bay Cap began in 2006 while managers pursued research into possible localized depletion. It was later reduced from 109,020 metric tons to 87,216 metric tons in Amendment 2 and then to 51,000 metric tons in Amendment 3. Amendment 2 states that the cap was not based on a scientifically quantified harvest threshold, fishery health index or population-level study.

3. The funded Bay-specific research should be completed first

Virginia has committed $2 million over two years for research needed to inform a scientifically defensible and ecologically meaningful Chesapeake Bay harvest cap. The federal government has committed another $2.5 million, while industry-supported projects are developing a research roadmap and testing tagging technology. The letters urged the Board to allow that work to produce the needed evidence before imposing another major restriction.

4. The evidence does not establish that the reduction fishery caused the reported problems

The 2026 Chesapeake Bay osprey study reported reproductive deficits and signs of food stress in higher-salinity areas, but it does not establish that commercial menhaden harvest caused the reduced prey availability or reproductive problems. The study states that there is no fishery-independent monitoring of adult menhaden in the Bay and that the data needed to evaluate the relationship between harvest and adult menhaden abundance are not available.

The ASMFC’s Maryland pound-net analysis likewise showed different catch-rate patterns in 2023 and 2024 and identified limits on what can be inferred from those data. Those results do not establish that the reduction fishery caused the changes.

5. Seasonal allocations could disrupt fishing, processing and jobs

Employees warned that seasonal allocations could leave vessels and the processing plant idle during productive summer weeks and push more work into less dependable fall conditions. The addendum’s economic analysisacknowledges potential harm if seasonal restrictions limit periods of high catch efficiency or interrupt steady processing.

Employees also explained why access to the Bay matters. Rough offshore weather can prevent crews from seeing the schools they locate by sight or catching enough fish to keep the plant operating. Fishing in the Bay is safer, uses less diesel and gets crews home sooner.

The ASMFC’s Committee on Economics and Social Sciences has also warned that the industry must maintain a minimum operating volume and that falling below it could potentially result in a complete facility shutdown. That would affect fishermen, processing and manufacturing employees, union families, suppliers, local businesses and the surrounding Northern Neck community. UFCW Local 400 describes a heavily unionized, multigenerational workforce that includes one of Northumberland County’s largest minority workforces.

6. The economic consequences would extend beyond the Northern Nec

The letters from outside the region emphasized that the industry supports businesses, workers and customers across Virginia and in other states. The fishery supplies bait used by commercial and recreational fishermen, while the reduction fishery produces fish meal, fish oil and fish solubles. NOAA Fisheriessays these products are used in aquaculture and that refined menhaden oil is used in nutritional supplements for people.

Together, the 1,267 signers asked the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board to reject further Bay Cap cuts and mandatory seasonal allocations. They urged the Board to complete the funded research, establish the problem and show that a proposed restriction will improve the outcome before putting additional jobs and communities at risk.

The Board is expected to consider final action on Draft Addendum II at the ASMFC Annual Meeting in November 2026

About Ocean Harvesters

Ocean Harvesters owns and operates a fleet of more than 30 fishing vessels in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of America. The company’s purse-seine fishing operation is exclusively engaged in the harvest of menhaden, a small, nutrient-dense fish used to produce fish meal, fish oil, and fish solubles. Both its Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden fisheries are certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. Committed to responsible fishing operations, Ocean Harvesters is proud to be heir to a fishing legacy that extends nearly 150 years.

European Commission unveils Vision 2040 for fisheries and aquaculture

October 21, 2026 — The European Commission has released Vision 2040 – a 15-year strategy for the E.U. fisheries and aquaculture sector that sets out plans to improve competitiveness, strengthen food security, and safeguard the natural resources on which the industry depends.

Vision 2040, presented on 20 October, is built around strengthening both the supply of and demand for E.U.-produced aquatic food and spans the bloc’s entire aquatic food value chain, seeking to provide businesses with greater predictability for investment and growth.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

King salmon runs are crashing. In Kodiak, a pioneering conservation project aims to save one

October 21, 2026 — The mountains had turned orange and yellow above Kodiak’s Pillar Creek hatchery as James ‘Hawk’ Turman waited at the hatchery gate on a September day.

“It smells a little bit right now, because you got a bunch of pink salmon out there dying in the river,” he said as he unlocked the gate. “I’m waiting for a bunch of rain to just wash them all down.”

Turman manages the Pillar Creek hatchery. Most of the time, it’s home to the Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association’s sockeye and silver salmon operations. But something new is happening here. The aquaculture association is trying to rehabilitate a crashing king salmon run from the Karluk River, on the southwest side of the island.

Eggs collected from those wild salmon are now incubating at the hatchery. And although many support the project, some scientists worry it could do more harm than good.

Alaska’s king salmon runs are in trouble

The Karluk run is one of only two native king salmon runs on Kodiak Island, and it has deep cultural and historical significance for the Alutiiq people. But the run is in major trouble. Last year, only 93 kings returned to the Karluk River. The year before, it was just 76.

Across Alaska, king salmon populations have been returning in record low numbers. Turman said the Karluk project, which according to the aquaculture association is the first of its kind in the state, might be the start of something bigger.

“Our efforts are being used as kind of a test case for other stocks of concern around the state,” he said. “Someone had to finally kick the can off the bridge, and why not us?”

Read the full article at KMXT

Oregon yelloweye rockfish fishery to reopen after 25-year closure

October 20, 2026 — Oregon commercial fishermen will be able to land and sell yelloweye rockfish next year for the first time in 25 years, marking a major milestone in the recovery of a species once declared overfished.

According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, yelloweye rockfish was declared overfished in 2002, leading to the closure of commercial fishing for the species. A recent assessment found the population has since rebuilt enough to allow limited commercial harvest beginning in 2027.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fishery manager Troy Buell discussed the reopening with fishermen during a meeting in Port Orford.

“There was a time I didn’t think I’d ever see another yelloweye rockfish at the dock legally,” Buell told fishermen. “Now, it’s rebuilt.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman