Saving Seafood

House passes bill extending right whale regulatory pause

September 2, 2026 — The U.S. House of Representatives has passed H.R. 9436, legislation that would extend the current pause on new North Atlantic right whale regulations affecting the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries through 2035.

The Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act of 2026 passed the House on Sept. 1 by a 219-196 vote. The bill would extend the existing regulatory pause from its current expiration at the end of 2028 to Dec. 31, 2035.

The legislation has drawn support from Northeast commercial fishing organizations, which argue additional time is needed for ongoing research and technology development to inform future whale regulations. Conservation groups, meanwhile, say the extension would delay measures they believe are necessary to reduce the risk of serious injury and mortality to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA), which urged lawmakers to pass the measure ahead of the House vote, welcomed its passage.

“The New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association strongly supports passage of H.R. 9436,” Jason Joyce, NEFSA’s director of advocacy, said in a statement provided to National Fisherman.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

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

OREGON: Oregon approves electronic monitoring system for Dungeness crab vessels

August 18, 2026 — During an 14 August board meeting, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) unanimously voted to pass electronic vessel monitoring requirements for the state’s Dungeness crab operations, aiming to reduce the risk of whale entanglement.

ODFW said in a release that each commercial crab vessel in the state’s Dungeness fishery must now install an electronic vessel monitoring system by 1 February 2027. Original legislation required the installation two months earlier, but upon listening to public feedback, the commission pushed back the deadline to next year.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Feds to weigh possible new fishing rules and restrictions to protect Mid-Atlantic whales

August 17, 2026 — Federal fisheries officials are beginning a process that could eventually lead to new fishing restrictions along the East Coast designed to protect native whale species.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced Aug 14 that it intends to conduct an environmental review of potential changes to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan. The plan is intended to reduce deaths and serious injuries of North Atlantic right whales, humpback whales, and fin whales caused by entanglements in commercial trap/pot and gillnet fishing gear along the East Coast.

NMFS stresses that Friday’s publication merely begins a public comment process and is not a proposed federal rule.

Read the full article at WBOC

Guam fishers say shark deterrents fail as disaster aid remains out of reach

August 17, 2026 — Federal fisheries officials heard a familiar complaint from Guam fishers this month: Sharks are stealing their catch, the fixes on the market don’t work, and the island still has no clear path to federal disaster money when storms wipe out their gear.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and the Pacific Islands Fisheries Group hosted a community meeting last week at the Guam Museum Art Cafe, part of a series of gatherings the groups have held across the region to collect input on federal fisheries policy. The Council’s Guam Advisory Panel followed with its own meeting Aug. 8 at the Council office in Hagåtña, taking up commercial fishing rules inside the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument and 2026 strategic planning.

Last week’s gathering was one of close to 40 meetings the fisheries group has held across the Pacific over the past year and a half, part of an ongoing effort to document fisher concerns for the Council and its federal partners. Those observations feed into the Council’s annual Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation reports, which Jesse Rosario, the Council’s representative in Guam told The Guam Daily Post help shape recommendations on adapting fishery management to a changing climate. The Council is also building an online and mobile app that will let fishers report shifts in fish abundance, currents and weather directly, with a launch targeted for later this year.

Shark depredation, when sharks strip fish off the line before a catch reaches the boat, ranks among the most pressing issues raised by Guam’s small-boat fishers. According to Rosario, the Council held an international workshop on the problem in February that paired fishers with technology developers and scientists working on deterrent devices.

One Guam fisher put a magnetic deterrent that cost him nearly $70 to the test over two days on the water and came away unconvinced. He described attaching the device near the hook, expecting it to disrupt a shark’s electrical receptors before it reached the bait.

Read the full article at The Guam Daily Post

OREGON: ODFW Commission revises Dungeness crab fishery rules to address whale entanglements

August 17, 2026 — On Friday, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission revised rules to strengthen the department’s efforts to reducing whale entanglements in Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishery.

The revised rules include electronic vessel monitoring, including the installation of devices that provide a vessel’s location and other data. This requirement will take effect in February 2027.

The Commission also established additional criteria and guidelines for approving experimental fishing gear permits, allowing the exploration of alternative gear for the crab fishery that needs to be tested off the Oregon coast.

Read the full article at OPB

NORTH CAROLINA: Coastal habitat plan, commercial fishing licenses lead Marine Fisheries Commission meeting in Raleigh

August 14, 2026 — Possible new protections for submerged grass beds and other fish habitat in the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds will move closer to public debate if the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission sends a draft Coastal Habitat Protection Plan amendment out for review next week.

The commission meets Aug. 19-20 in Raleigh and is scheduled to vote on releasing the proposed 2026 amendment for public and advisory committee review. The vote would not adopt the plan or impose new fishing restrictions.

The draft recommends beginning a separate rulemaking process in 2027 to develop a broader framework for protecting habitats under the commission’s authority.

That process could consider how fishing gear and other activities affect submerged aquatic vegetation and deep-water oyster recovery areas, along with rules governing the harvest and transplanting of vegetation for restoration projects.

Any regulations developed through that process would require additional commission action and public review.

North Carolina’s coastal waters have historically supported nearly 200,000 acres of submerged aquatic vegetation, commonly called SAV.

Read the full article at the Island Free Press

MAINE: Scientists have begun to re-deploy ocean monitoring equipment yanked from Pacific Northwest waters by the Trump administration in September.

August 3, 2026 — Every lobsterman expects to lose gear.

Strong tides, boat traffic, and tangled lines make losing lobster traps an unavoidable part of fishing Maine’s rugged coastline. But when those traps settle on the seafloor, they can impact marine life for years, creating problems for both the environment and the state’s most valuable fishery.

That’s why Buzz Scott has made it his mission to bring them back.

Scott has spent nearly two decades as a commercial fisherman off the Maine coast. While he still operates a lobster boat, much of his time is now dedicated to recovering abandoned traps as executive director of the nonprofit OceansWide.

Read the full article at News Center Maine

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Comments on Ropeless Fishing

July 20, 2026 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is seeking information from fishery participants and others with specialized knowledge on the potential voluntary use of ropeless fishing gear, which includes on-demand fishing gear and other fixed gear that does not use persistent buoy lines.

Responses to this request for information may inform the potential future voluntary use, development, and management of ropeless fishing in the Greater Atlantic Region. NOAA Fisheries is seeking feedback from various stakeholders, primarily fixed-gear and mobile-gear fishermen, and intends to summarize the responses to this request for information and share that summary publicly.

The comment period is open through October 14, 2026. Submit your comments through the e-rulemaking portal. NOAA will accept anonymous and non-anonymous comments.

For more information, read the request for information as published in the Federal Register.

From making a living to saving lives: spent fishing nets are snaring Russian drones in Ukraine

July 16, 2026 — Local fishing nets, once bound for recycling, are now saving lives in Ukraine. The spent nets are being repurposed to protect soldiers from Russian drone attacks.

In the early morning hours of Feb. 24, 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a “special military operation.” Now, nearly four-and-a-half years later, the war rages on. And it’s a new kind of warfare, where small armed drones supplement expensive missiles.

A new kind of warfare requires new defense strategies. And, it turns out, fishing nets are an effective tool against exploding drones.

Eric Klose, founder of the Boston-based impact-first investment group Ground Squirrel Ventures learned this on a visit to Ukraine last year. While there, he met with some humanitarian groups, and he posed a question:

“If I could fix one thing, what would you want it to be?”

The answer was simple, and surprising – nets.

Nets cover hundreds of miles of roadways near the front line. They are draped over trees to protect gathering places. They cover trenches, and bombed-out windows and doors.
Big trawling nets, seine nets, and even thin-filament gill nets play a role.

Klose said soldiers cut gill nets into strips and keep them in their packs to use for emergency cover. They seal up openings like bombed-out windows and doors on the front lines.

Read the full article at Maine Public