September 8, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries quietly issued several fishery disaster determinations in July, opening the door for federal funding to be allocated for those fisheries.
U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) welcomed the determinations for fisheries in his state, which include California’s red sea urchin fishery and the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s Klamath River fall Chinook salmon fishery.
July 10, 2026 — The catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster led to the splitting of the federal Marine Minerals Administration into two separate agencies – one focused on offshore leasing and production, and another on safety.
Now Democratic leaders in Congress are sounding the alarm over the Trump administration’s move to reunite the agencies’ functions under one roof.
The April 2010 well blowout and fire killed 11 platform workers, discharged an estimated 4.9 billion barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and was only declared sealed five months later in September 2010.
Economic and environmental damages from the disaster led a year later to the creation of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to handle offshore energy management, alongside the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).
In a July 8 letter to the Government Accountability Office, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., of the House Natural Resources Committee called for investigating the Department of the Interior’s proposal to recreate a unified Marine Minerals Administration.
July 9, 2026 — Top Democrats on Wednesday called on Congress’ watchdog to investigate the Trump administration’s decision to merge two existing bureaus within the Interior Department to oversee offshore oil and gas, wind and mining.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and House Natural Resources ranking member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate whether a consolidation could undermine beefed up oversight created after the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil disaster in 2010.
The letter — also signed by California Democrats Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Luz Rivas — zeroes in on the administration’s decision in April to consolidate the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to create a new Marine Minerals Administration.
March 4, 2026 — Democrats on the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee are questioning the appointment of New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association Chief Strategist Dustin Delano as NOAA’s “Fisherman in Residence,” a newly created position held by someone who also works for a regional commercial fishing advocacy group.
“We are concerned that this singular position cannot speak for the diverse fishing communities and fishing sectors across our country and are concerned with NOAA’s lack of transparency regarding the appointment of this position and the role,” U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) and U.S. Representative Maxine Dexter (D-Oregon) said in a joint letter. “For the sake of the 2.1 million jobs that rely on healthy, sustainably managed fisheries, we seek full transparency regarding the role of ‘Fisherman in Residence.’”
June 5, 2025 — Once again, the U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers have introduced legislation to reauthorize and update the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).
The MSA was last revised in 2006, and being the primary legislation governing U.S. fisheries, it is critical to ensure that federal law reflects today’s fisheries challenges across the country.
Representatives Jared Huffman (D-CA), James Moylan (R-Guam), and Ed Case (D-HI) reintroduced the Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act. The bill will implement the necessary changes to the MSA. To include as many viewpoints as possible, Huffman and Case held eight listening sessions across seven management regions during their fisheries listening tour. They heard from 80 different experts and stakeholders, in addition to public comments from dozens of individuals.
Similar efforts have been made in 2022 and 2020 to reauthorize the MSA, but they fell short.
“The Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act makes significant advancements to our U.S. fisheries management system and will contribute to the economic betterment, cultural enrichment, and health benefit of people and communities nationwide. This bipartisan bill will improve catch data and stock assessments, which are the bedrock of our successful science-based fisheries management, while also giving working waterfronts and fishing communities the infrastructure improvements and funding support they need to meet the challenges of the future,” stated Robert C. Vandermark, executive director of the Maine Fish Conservation Network. “The Marine Fish Conservation Network thanks Representatives Huffman, Moylan, and Case for their work to further the health and productivity of our oceans and fisheries that sustain our economy, nutritional wellbeing, and way of life.”
April 21, 2025 — This week, the Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted recommendations for ocean salmon fishing along the West Coast; for an unprecedented third year in a row, the council has recommended closing commercial fishing off the California coast and allowing only limited commercial fishing in Oregon and Washington.
Commercial fishermen and fishing organizations largely affirmed the need to suspend salmon fishing, but noted that three years without a season has been devastating to fishermen and coastal communities that rely on salmon fishing.
Commercial salmon fisherman and Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District Commissioner Aaron Newman said that he had been optimistic after seeing indications that “a lot of healthy jacks” were coming out of the Sacramento region as the Pacific Fishery Management Council planned its recommendation to the National Marine Fisheries Service. But said that analysis of recent trendlines, which take into account the very grim indicator of the past two years, might have scuttled the opportunity for a season.
“Nobody wants to fish on a failing fishery,” Newman said, “but it really looked like it was rebounding.”
“Coastal towns, river communities and thousands of salmon fishery employees depend on the salmon season to generate income and stay afloat — and now, for the third year in a row, they’ve been dealt another devastating impact with an unprecedented closure of the 2025 salmon season,” read a statement issued by U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Raphael). “The last two years of closures have devastated California’s coastal economies — and facing a third consecutive closure marks an unprecedented low point.”
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations Executive Director Lisa Damrosch lamented a lack of a safety net.
“We don’t have access to the same resources that other food producers have,” she said, noting that commercial fishermen don’t have access to programs like those provided by the USDA. “We have had disasters declared in the past; 2023 and 2024 were both declared disasters, but that’s a very long and onerous process. There still have been no pay-outs to the fishermen from 2023 … There are other programs for agriculture such as subsidies if there is a bad season or subsidies for low prices or low-interest loans or grants; we don’t have any of that to help our fishermen, food producers, when there’s a disaster or an issue.”
December 18, 2024 — U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California) has introduced new legislation to redirect revenue from offshore energy projects to the priority needs of Tribes and coastal communities, such as fisheries research.
Huffman’s Resilience, Equity, and Sustainability Through Offshore Renewable Energy (RESTORE) Act would establish a new revenue-sharing mechanism for offshore renewable energy development, reinvesting the money tthe government earns from its lease into habitat conservation, climate resilience, and economic development.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
November 6, 2024 — Two pieces of legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California) and U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) would strengthen conservation efforts around migratory birds and help protect them from commercial fishing operations.
“Bucks and Montgomery Counties are home to hundreds of diverse species of birds and ecosystems,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “Many of these migratory birds are facing threats of extinction, and we must engage in initiatives to enhance standards for the conservation of these vital species. I am proud to join this bipartisan legislation to protect vulnerable species and improve habitat conditions.”
June 28, 2024 — A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives has re-introduced a bill in the latest bid to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).
U.S. representatives Jared Huffman (D-California), who is the ranking member of the U.S. Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries, along with Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), and U.S. Delegate James Moylan (R-Guam), reintroduced the “Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act” in a bid to renew the MSA – the law governing fisheries management at a federal level. The law was enacted in 1976 and was last reauthorized in 2006.
Read the full article at SeafoodSource
March 12, 2024 –A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives has sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden urging him and the administration to take increased action against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The letter, sent by House Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries Subcommittee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-California) and House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Arizona), was signed by 26 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. It calls for the Biden administration to use new authorities granted it by the National Defense Authorization Act. and the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act.