July 17, 2026 — Fishing is one of the oldest commercial activities in New England, and experts with the University of Maine are working to ensure its future remains sustainable.
For the 14th year in a row, Maine harvested over half-a-billion dollars in seafood, around $619 million in 2025 to be exact according to Damian Brady, a professor at UMaine’s School of Marine Sciences.
“We have about 7% of the coastline of the United States, and we produce 25% of the value in seafood,” said Brady.
July 17, 2026 — A growing effort to restore federal funding for a Columbia River salmon hatchery program is drawing support from Congress as concerns mount over the potential impacts on commercial fishing communities in Oregon and Washington.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., announced July 15 that she has asked the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to explain its decision to end funding for the Select Area Fisheries Enhancement (SAFE) program, arguing the move threatens both salmon recovery efforts and the fishing communities that depend on the fishery.
July 17, 2026 — The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has announced opening dates for the 2026 commercial flounder season in internal coastal and joint fishing waters.
Opening dates for pound net management areas are as follows:
Tuesday, Sept. 15 in waters north of Pamlico Sound. Wednesday, Sept. 30 in Pamlico Sound and its tributaries. Wednesday, Sept. 30 in waters from Core Sound to the South Carolina line. Trip limits will not apply to pound net management areas. The opening date for commercial fishers who use mobile gears, which are all gears other than pound nets, is Wednesday, Sept. 30.
July 17, 2026 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Herring Management Board members from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts met via webinar on July 17 to discuss the start date for the 2026 Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine) fishery. The Board members previously set the start date for July 19 at 6:00 p.m. as part of days out measures discussed in April 2026 (press release here). The additional meeting was scheduled after some industry members reported a significant increase in bait from the menhaden fishery and imported bait from the Canadian weir fishery on the market. As a result, there are some concerns about the possibility of a surplus of bait at the dock, lack of storage capacity for herring, a crash of the bait market, and general waste if the fishery were to open on July 19. However, not all members of industry expressed those concerns and noted that there are markets for bait. In addition, those industry members expressed that changing the start date at the last minute would cause hardships because crews were already lined up and vessels are prepared to begin fishing on July 19.
Given the lack of consensus among industry and only two days until the original start date, the Board maintained the July 19 start date with landing days starting at 6:00 p.m. this Sunday, July 19.
The effort control measures set in April 2026 are unchanged.
Days Out of the Fishery
Weekly Landing Limit
At-Sea Transfer and Carrier Restrictions
The following applies to harvester vessels with an Atlantic herring Category A permit and carrier vessels landing herring caught in Area 1A to a Maine, New Hampshire, or Massachusetts port.
Harvesters are prohibited from landing more than 2,000 pounds of Atlantic herring per trip from Area 1A until July 19, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Landings will be closely monitored and the fishery will be adjusted to zero landing days when the Season 1 quota of 1,748 metric tons is projected to be reached.
For more information, please contact Emilie Franke, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at efranke@asmfoc.org or 703.842.0740.
The press release can also be found at https://asmfc.org/news/press-releases/atlantic-herring-area-1a-start-date-remains-july-19-2026-at-600-p-m/
July 17, 2026 — The Trump administration has taken another step toward launching a U.S. offshore critical minerals industry, with the newly created Marine Minerals Administration (MMA) releasing a proposed leasing notice that could lead to the first federal deep-sea mineral lease sale in U.S. waters.
The proposal covers federal waters off American Samoa and marks one of the first major regulatory actions by the MMA since the Trump administration announced plans in April to merge the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) into a single offshore regulator.
The proposed lease sale is part of the administration’s broader effort to secure domestic supplies of critical minerals—including nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese—that are widely used in batteries, defense systems and advanced manufacturing while reducing dependence on Chinese-controlled supply chains.
“Critical minerals have become a strategic asset in global competition, and China’s dominance in the supply of many of these materials creates unacceptable risks for America’s energy, defense and manufacturing sectors,” Acting MMA Director Matt Giacona said.
July 17, 2026 — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has opted to go against some top nominations for U.S. fishery management councils.
In a 26 June announcement Lutnick announced he selected Forrest Bowers, the second choice for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, instead the Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s top choice and current Alaska Department of Fish & Game Board Chair Märit Carlson-Van Dort. For the Pacific Fishery Management Council, Lutnick selected second-choice Chad See, director of the Freezer Longline Coalition, over the Washington Governor Bob Ferguson’s first pic of Jamie Goen, the executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers trade group.
July 17, 2026 — U.S. representatives on the House Committee on Natural Resources voted to advance a bill reauthorizing NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office on 15 July.
“The House just took a key step toward investment in the science, restoration, and education that’s essential to the Chesapeake Bay’s recovery,” Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Senior Policy Director Keisha Sedlacek said in a statement. “We’re grateful to House leaders for advancing the WATERS Act and look forward to action in the Senate on the companion bill.”
July 16, 2026 — Members of Congress routinely post news releases on legislation they introduce and cosponsor, including for Alaska’s delegation, a plethora of seafood legislation impacting the seafood industry.
Once in a while, one of these bills becomes law. The odds are 1-3 percent.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, who are both running for his current Senate seat, have issued news releases stating their priorities for federal regulations related to the nation’s federal fisheries. Many of their campaigns are focused on convincing Alaskans engaged in the fisheries industry that they can do the most to protect and improve benefits for Alaskans working in that industry.
Purchases of Russian seafood were blocked from federal school lunch programs by an amendment introduced by Sullivan, which passed the Senate in November 2023. That amendment closed a loophole that had allowed Russian seafood processed in China to bypass the National School Lunch Program “Buy American” requirements.
In 2022, the Alaska Salmon Task Force Act, sponsored by Sullivan, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Rep. Don Young, Alaska’s all Republican delegation, was established as a federal task force. On July 12, 2024, the task force submitted its final science report on the complex biological, environmental and socioeconomic factors impacting Alaska salmon to the Secretary of Commerce, the Alaska Legislature and relevant congressional committees.
On June 25, Sullivan introduced the Bycatch Reduction Act, an updated version of bycatch legislation introduced by the Alaska congressional delegation in January of 2026, which remains in the introduced stage in the Senate and the House.
July 16, 2026 — From the docks at the Port of Galilee in Narragansett, fishermen are selling lobster, but they’re also selling Jonah crab, a crustacean that’s been making itself at home near offshore wind turbines.
Historically, Jonah crabs that were caught in lobster traps were thrown back out to sea, but things started to change in the early 2010s when fishermen started targeting the species. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration attributes the shift to a decline in lobsters in Southern New England waters.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission estimated there were roughly 50 million lobsters in this area in 1998. Fast forward to 2022, and the population dropped to less than 10 million.
“Environmental conditions in the American lobster’s range are changing at some of the fastest rates in the world,” the Commission wrote on its website. “The 2025 Assessment indicates the [Southern New England] stock is significantly depleted and overfishing is not occurring.”
July 16, 2026 — Washington Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is questioning the Bonneville Power Administration after the agency decided to stop funding a Columbia River hatchery program.
On July 7, the congresswoman sent a letter to BPA Administrator Travis Kavulla, requesting more information about the decision to stop funding the Select Area Fisheries Enhancement (SAFE) program after supporting the program for over 30 years.
Since the program began in 1993, the SAFE program has created commercial and sport fishing opportunities in off-stem areas of the Columbia River, the congresswoman’s office explained.
“This is a decision with real consequences,” Representative Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement. “For decades, hatcheries have made sure there is a healthy population of salmon in the river. This isn’t abstract to people here – commercial and sport fishing is part of our heritage and our way of life. Supporting hatcheries is critical to sustaining the communities whose livelihoods depend on them.”