Saving Seafood

NEFMC Responds to Reduced Federal Capacity, Sets 2026 Priorities without Revisiting Northern Edge

December 16, 2025 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) held its December meeting and took actions on the 2026 Priorities.

REDUCTION IN REGIONAL MANAGEMENT CAPACITY

The Council heard an update on recent reductions to federal science and management resources, including a total loss of 545 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) positions, including 50 staff positions within the Northeast Region alone. These reductions have not only delayed management actions, but directly affected stock assessments, surveys, and data streams.

In 2025, several planned stock assessments were replaced with “data updates,” which are “summaries of new data that have become available since the last management track assessment. Specifically, they update (1) total U.S. catch (landings and discards) by commercial and recreational sector, as appropriate, and (2) aggregated NEFSC survey indices.” Data updates are expected for many stocks in 2026 as well, see the full NRCC schedule here. The Council is responding to these reductions through the Omnibus Management Flexibility Action and the Risk Policy work (see below).

Oceana appeals court ruling over Gulf of Alaska environment

December 15, 2025 — Oceana served notice on Monday, Dec. 8, of its intent to appeal a federal district court dismissal of its lawsuit contending that federal fishery managers failed to protect corals, sponges, and other seafloor habitats in the Gulf of Alaska.

The notice of appeal was filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The international advocacy entity for ocean conservation, represented by Earthjustice, charged in its lawsuit filed in August of 2024 in the U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, that the National Marine Fisheries Service and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council have consistently failed to minimize adverse effects to essential fish habitats from bottom trawling.  Bottom trawling involves huge, weighted nets as long as a mile in length being dragged up to 15 miles along the seafloor, damaging and often destroying everything in their path.

Read the full article at The Cordova Times

Chinook Salmon denied consideration to be labeled endangered species

December 9, 2025 –For the second time in seven years the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have determined that Chinook Salmon do not meet the requirements to warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act.

A petition set forth by the Center for Biological Diversity claims that the spring-run Chinook Salmon is threatened, and endangered.

“It’s bad news for anyone who loves salmon, or depends on salmon including the orcas, including tribes, salmon fishers both recreational and commercial, and the public interest suffers,” said Jeff Miller, a Senior Conservation Advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Read the full article at KVAL

The Wild Fish Conservancy’s never-ending lawsuits

December 3, 2025 — The environmental group that sued the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in 2020 in an effort to shut down the Southeast Alaska troll fishery for salmon took home a $1.6 million reimbursement for its costs, despite finally losing its case.

According to the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) website, its sole mission is “the protection and recovery of the Northwest’s wild fish.” Sounds like a great idea, and it would seem that the WFC’s mission and that of commercial fishermen ought to align.

But in 2020, the organization sued the NMFS and sought to close the Southeast Alaska fishery, claiming that it was necessary to protect chinook salmon and the Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW). The years-long case swung back and forth. In 2023, a U.S. District Court ruled in the WFC’s favor, threatening the 2024 season, but a stay imposed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed fishermen to work. On August 16, 2024, the court reversed the district court’s decision because it went too far.

But because the WFC won the earlier case, it sought compensation of $2.3 million for attorney fees and other related costs. The Judge gave them close to $1.7 million. “This appears to be their business model, how they make their money,” says Jeff Farvour, who trolls for salmon from his 40-foot boat, the Apollo. 

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NMFS steps up efforts to curb whale entanglements

November 6, 2025 — The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has begun efforts to prevent often deadly entanglements of Pacific humpback whales in fishing nets.

NMFS announced on Oct. 31 the establishment of its West Coast Take Reduction Team to address the incidental mortality and serious injury of California, Oregon, Washington, plus the Central America/Southern Mexico and mainland Mexico stocks of humpback whales in the Washington, Oregon, and California sablefish pot fishery.

The team is tasked with developing consensus recommendations to reduce incidental mortality and serious injury in this fishery to levels approaching zero mortality and serious injury for each stock within five years of implementation of the plan.

The team’s first meeting is scheduled for Nov. 20, to be held virtually.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NFI, NOAA settle lawsuit over MMPA import restrictions; agency stays import ban of swimming crab

November 3, 2025 — The National Fisheries Institute and several seafood companies have settled their lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) over its recent determinations on Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requirements.

NFI sued NMFS in early October over the agency’s decision to find most blue crab fisheries in major countries did not meet MMPA equivalency standards, a requirement for any country looking to export seafood products to the U.S. NMFS found 240 foreign fisheries did not comply with the regulations, which meant as of 1 January, 2026 products from those fisheries would be banned from entering the U.S. market.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US Wind asks federal court to deny Trump’s pending permit approval reversal

September 5, 2025 — Offshore wind developer US Wind has filed a cross claim against the Trump Administration in an ongoing legal battle over US Wind’s proposed project off the shores of Delmarva, according to court documents obtained by WBOC.

Filed on Sept. 3, US Wind’s cross claim against the federal government alleges the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Marine Fisheries Service are illegally seeking to vacate the Biden Administration’s previously approved permits that greenlit the US Wind offshore project.

As WBOC first reported, the Trump administration notified the US District Court in Delaware of its intention to withdraw federal approval of the permits on Aug. 22. Both the federal government and US Wind are listed as defendants in an ongoing lawsuit brought against them by Ocean City leaders, residents, businesses, and numerous other parties in an attempt to stop the offshore project. Because of their intent to reverse approval, the Trump Administration argues the lawsuit is about to be rendered moot.

Read the full article at WBOC

ALASKA: New rule could clear path to harm Cook Inlet’s endangered whales

August 19, 2025 — A new rule proposed to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) would allow companies working on the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in the Cook Inlet to “take” marine mammals.

The rule was proposed on July 29 by 8 Star Alaska, LLC, a subsidiary of Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC).

The proposed rule falls under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMAP) and would allow the company, over the next 5 years, to harass, hunt, capture or kill mammals by carving out acceptable ways of taking.

Currently, the taking of mammals is prohibited, unless a rule is proposed and directed in a specified area while engaged in a specific activity.

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

ALASKA: Indigenous leaders, scientists, and policy makers call for bold actions to address Yukon River salmon crisis

August 5, 2025 — Tribes should be allowed to harvest the same number of Yukon River chinook salmon that trawlers scoop up in the Bering Sea as bycatch, and an independent review is needed to better manage the salmon crisis on Alaska’s longest river. These are just two of the recommendations outlined in a recent policy brief that looks at near-term strategies for addressing the crisis on the Yukon.

Doug DeMaster, a retired biologist who spent nearly two decades with the top federal fisheries agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), co-authored the brief published in the journal Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (AAAR).

“What we tried to do in this brief is put together a document that identifies what’s needed, what’s wanted, and tries to do it in a way that’s easily amenable to Congress, and politicians, and both state and federal agencies,” DeMaster said.

The two-page document was assembled by a mix of tribal leaders, scientists, and policy makers. It boils down potential factors driving crashes for both chinook and chum salmon on the Yukon River. Among them: bycatch and ecosystem changes in the Bering Sea driven by the pollock fishery, warmer water temperatures, competition with hatchery salmon, the Area M intercept fishery, and increasing rates of parasitic infection in Yukon River chinook.

Read the full article at KYUK

Whale entanglement reports declined slightly in 2023, NMFS reports

July 29, 2025 — Entanglement in fishing gear or marine debris ensnared 64 large whales in U.S. waters during 2023, below the average annual number of cases in recent years but not yet a clear trend, the National Marine Fisheries Service reported.

The National Report on Large Whale Entanglements Confirmed in the United States in 2023 notes the 64 confirmed large whale entanglement cases nationally was less than 67 confirmed large whale entanglement cases in 2022.

“It is also below the average annual number of confirmed entanglements over the previous 16 years (which was 71.8),” according to a July 28 summary from the agency. “We will continue to analyze data from 2023 to understand whether this dip is temporary or part of a longer-term downward trend.”

Along with ship strikes, entanglements are a threat to individual whales and threatened or endangered species, such as the North Atlantic right whale with a population now estimated at only around 370 animals.

Reducing that danger to meet NMFS’ mandates  under the Marine Mammal Protection Act drives management actions on the East, Gulf and West coasts, including changes to fishing seasons, gear restrictions and efforts to develop and test so-called ropeless gear in fisheries.

According to a NMFS  breakdown of 2023 confirmed entanglement cases, 61 cases or 95 percent involved live animals, and three were whales found dead and floating when initially reported. The 2023 cases were lower than the average annual number of 71.8 confirmed entanglements from 2007–2022.

Four species of large whales were documented with 2023 entanglements in U.S. waters: humpback whales,  gray whales, minke whale and North Atlantic right whales.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman