Saving Seafood

Tuna meltdown

September 18, 2025 — For Marty Scanlon, president of the Blue Water Fishermen’s Association (BWFA), tuna fishing is a passion as much as a business. Since 1991, he has been running his 43-foot vessel, the Provider II, out of Long Island. But the business is getting rough.

By the time he gets into the Willie Etheridge Seafood dock in Wanchese, N.C., in August 2025, just ahead of Hurricane Erin, he and his crew are at their limit. A problem with the longline reel has forced them to haul back fifteen miles of gear by hand, and not for a lot of fish.

 “It took us two days to get the gear back,” says Scanlon, pointing to a pile of monofilament in a big fish box. “And it only took us a half an hour to unload.”

According to Scanlon, the number of East Coast U.S. tuna fishermen has dropped precipitously from 438 to 68 over the course of his career. The remaining fishermen have faced numerous challenges, among them cheap imports and uncertain and ambiguous regulations.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Hurricane Erin churns up dangerous waves and closes beaches along US East Coast

August 19, 2025 — Hurricane Erin churned slowly toward the eastern U.S. on Tuesday, stirring up treacherous waves that already have led to dozens of water rescues and shut down beaches along the coast in the midst of summer’s last hurrah.

While forecasters remain confident the center of the monster storm will remain far offshore, the outer edges are likely to bring damaging tropical-force winds, large swells and life-threatening rip currents into Friday.

Warnings about rip currents have been posted from Florida to the New England coast, and the biggest swells along the East Coast are expected over the coming two days. Rough ocean conditions already have been seen along the coast — at least 60 swimmers were rescued from rip currents Monday at Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington, North Carolina.

New York City closed its beaches to swimming on Wednesday and Thursday, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered three state beaches on Long Island to prohibit swimming through Thursday. Several New Jersey beaches also will be off-limits.

Read the full article at the Associated Press