Saving Seafood

Celebrate National Seafood Month by Choosing American Seafood

October 7, 2026 — October is National Seafood Month, a time to celebrate the essential role American seafood plays in feeding our nation, powering coastal economies, and preserving a heritage built around our working waterfronts. I’ve been part of the seafood sector my whole life, so to me, my family, and my colleagues at NOAA Fisheries, every month is Seafood Month! But October gives us the welcome opportunity to swell the tide of national gratitude for the hardworking fishermen and seafood farmers who feed us. Thanks to them and our science-based management system, American seafood represents the gold standard for sustainability. And while 50 years of management under the Magnuson-Stevens Act has made the United States the model for sustainable fisheries, there is still work to be done.

In my time at NOAA Fisheries, I hope I’ve made my focus clear: I want to ensure our domestic seafood sector thrives in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. By increasing opportunities in our wild-caught domestic fisheries and expanding seafood farming operations, we can get more American seafood on American plates. And NOAA has been empowered by the President’s Executive Order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness to do just that.

In recent months, we have committed to tangible agency actions to directly support the industry. We are confronting the economic headwinds facing our seafood sector by driving reforms designed to help our seafood producers. I believe we can go a long way toward meeting these goals by modernizing our regulatory framework, tackling market imbalances, and highlighting the unmatched quality and sustainability of American seafood.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

US seafood groups celebrate National Seafood Month with promotions, program launches

October 8, 2024 — The National Fisheries Institute (NFI), Seafood Nutrition Partnership (SNP), and other seafood organizations have promotions running throughout October for National Seafood Month and National Pescatarian Month.

NFI’s annual National Pescatarian Month campaign encourages consumers to eat fish and shellfish through an updated e-cookbook that includes more than 100 pescatarian-friendly recipes. The campaign also includes NFI’s Dish on Fish blog, on-air TV segments, and digital and social media activations.

“We view National Pescatarian Month as a win for our members, for the fish and seafood industry, and for consumers, and we are proud to promote it through Dish on Fish and its sponsorship of the campaign,” NFI Vice President of External Affairs and Councils Brandon Phillips said. “Some of our most important work throughout the year culminates in October, when we all work together to celebrate a healthy and tasty pescatarian diet and lifestyle.”

Through its blog and recipes, NFI aims to “show that adopting a pescatarian lifestyle – for a few weeks, a month, or even longer – can be healthy, versatile, easy, and satisfying,” NFI Registered Dietitian Rima Kleiner said.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

National Seafood Month: Why hook to table matters

October 10, 2023 — October is National Seafood Month and a perfect time to reflect on the health of our oceans and the food we eat – especially seafood. Consumers play an important role in making sure our oceans stay healthy and fresh seafood is plentiful for generations to come. And a key component of this is choosing sustainable seafood.

Sustainable seafood – fish that are caught in environmentally and socially responsible ways – are widely available and supported by chefs and consumers alike. Choosing sustainably sourced seafood helps make sure that the fragile global ecosystem remains in balance, protecting the oceans and the communities that depend on fishing. Today, 30 percent of the global seafood market is sustainable or on the path to sustainability, and consumer action is an important component of making sure this increases.

Sustainable seafood is a pillar of the Alaskan fishing economy, and in fact Alaska is the only state with sustainable fishing written directly into the state constitution. Hannah Heimbuch is a third generation commercial fisherman from Alaska who joined us to talk about sustainable seafood as well as provide insight on:

-What sustainable seafood is and why it matters for consumers and the environment.

Read the full article at Fox 10

Seafood Stories: Celebrate Seafood Month in the Pacific Islands Region

October 7, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

October is National Seafood Month. In the Pacific Islands region, our connection to seafood is deeply rooted in our diverse island cultures. Seafood continues to be a regular part of our lives, and it will remain an important part of our food-secure future.

But what does sustainable seafood look like in the Pacific? And how can we really know if what we bought—or caught—is sustainable?

Join us for an interactive webinar series that looks into these and other questions, and help us build a picture of sustainable seafood choices all month long through a crowdsourced StoryMap!

Read the full release here

MASSACHUSETTS: Grants power seafood initiative at UMass-Amherst

June 25, 2020 — There might be something fishy about October at the University of Massachusetts Amherst this fall.

Thanks to a state grant reeled in by Our Wicked Fish Inc., students at the UMass flagship campus can expect plenty of local seafood and fishing-related events during “a month-long campaign for New England-caught seafood” coinciding with National Seafood Month.

“Components of the campaign will include social media content, on-campus contests, online giveaways, meet-n-greets with fishers, and could also include events such as a film screening, fish cutting demonstrations, cooking demonstrations, and brief before-and-after online survey,” the Baker administration said in a press release announcing the award of three grants through the Division of Marine Fisheries’ Seafood Marketing Grant Program.

The partnership between Our Wicked Fish and UMass Dining was awarded $31,240 in funding, the largest of the three grants.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Serving Up Seafood: National Seafood Month

October 1, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

October is National Seafood Month, and a fitting time to celebrate that the United States is recognized as a global leader in sustainable seafood—both wild-caught and farmed. U.S. fishermen and fish farmers operate under some of the most robust and transparent environmental standards in the world.

NOAA Fisheries works to advance and export sustainable management practices internationally, establish and maintain a level the playing field for our fishermen and fish farmers, and maintain confidence in U.S. seafood products and access to the global marketplace. The recipe for sustainable seafood includes strong science, responsive management, and enforced compliance.

FishWatch is the go-to source for up-to-date information on the science, status, and management of U.S. seafood

Read the full release here

Alabama seafood: fresh from the Gulf to your dinner plate

October 31, 2017 — October is National Seafood Month, and there’s no better place than Alabama to enjoy fresh Gulf seafood. Whether you prefer red snapper, shrimp, flounder, oysters or blue crab, you can find it all here in the Heart of Dixie.

We are a state with abundant natural resources both on land and at sea. Millions of seafood consumers from our state and across the country depend on the hard working commercial fishermen and women of Alabama supply them with some of the best seafood the country has to offer.

Between 2010 and 2014, Alabama experienced a seafood revolution. In 2010, the Alabama Gulf Seafood harvest was 14 million pounds. Just four years later, in 2014, this number rose to 30 million pounds.  Over this same time period, the number of jobs related to Alabama’s commercial fishing industry increased by over 140 percent – from approximately 6,200 to over 15,000 jobs. As a result, Alabama’s seafood industry saw its economic impact more than double during these years from just over $300 million in 2010 to $660 million in 2014. When it comes to seafood, Alabama is doing it right.

Read the full opinion piece at AL.com

North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for October 13, 2017

October 13, 2017 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13th!!!

OCTOBER IS SEAFOOD MONTH!

Seafood month got a great kickoff in North Carolina with last Saturday’s Fisherman’s Village on the Morehead City waterfront, and on Sunday morning at the Blessing of the Fleet.

For a message from Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, or NMFS, click the link below.
Message from Chris Oliver about Seafood Month

FROM THE DIVISION OF MARINE FISHERIES:

Advisory committee meetings to focus on cobia management measures – Three advisory committees to the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will meet on separate dates in October to discuss issues related to the cobia fishery.

The advisory committees will be asked to provide input to the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission on management measures contained in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Draft Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Migratory Group Cobia (Georgia to New York). The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board will meet Oct. 19 to vote on this plan.

The draft plan includes size, bag and vessel limits to complement federal measures. Most notably, the draft plan includes several proposed options for state-specific recreational harvest targets that will give individual states more flexibility in developing management measures to best suit their needs.

Currently, the recreational annual catch limit for Georgia to New York is managed on a coastwide basis. This has resulted in federal closures and significant overages, disrupting fishing opportunities and jeopardizing the health of the stock.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will discuss North Carolina’s recreational cobia management measures at its Nov. 15-16 meeting at the Doubletree by Hilton Garden Inn Outer Banks in Kitty Hawk.

For more information, contact Steve Poland, cobia staff lead with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, at 252-808-8159 or Steve.Poland@ncdenr.gov.

CALENDAR

Oct 15 – 19; ASMFC Annual Meeting; Waterside Marriott; Norfolk, VA

Oct 24; 6:00pm MFC Northern Advisory Committee; Dare County Complex; Manteo, NC

Oct 25; 6:00pm MFC Southern Advisory Committee; Cardinal Drive; Wilmington, NC

Oct 26; 6:00pm MFC Finfish Advisory Committee; DMF District Office; Morehead City, NC

Nov 8; Noon; NCFA Board of Directors; Civic Center; Washington, NC

Nov 15-16; NC Marine Fisheries Commission; Kitty Hawk

Dec 4 – 8; South Atlantic Council; Doubletree; Atlantic Beach, NC

Dec 6; Noon; NCFA Board of Directors; Civic Center, Washington, NC

Dec 11 – 14; Mid Atlantic Council; Westin Annapolis; Annapolis, MD

A Cheerful Story About Environmental Conservation

October 3, 2017 — October is National Seafood Month, and I have a surprise for you. It’s a cheerful story about environmental conservation. I’m serious. Don’t roll your eyes in disbelief and click away to Facebook right now; stay with me. I know the headlines about the environment have been dire recently, particularly when it comes to seafood. But when I learned the story of West Coast groundfish, a true story about people with diverse perspectives banding together and taking action — and the action worked! — I was floored. And moved, because this could become a model of success for fisheries across the globe.

First, a deep dive

In late 1999, West Coast groundfish fishermen were seeing landings plummet drastically, from a 20-year average of about 74,000 tons annually to an estimated 27,000 tons for the year 2000. At the time, the cause of the crash was deemed “undetermined, but probably natural, causes,” but stock assessments between 1999 and 2002 determined that overfishing (fish being caught faster than they could breed) played a part in the crash. The Pacific Fishery Management Council and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) declared 10 species of West Coast groundfish overfished. The environment had suffered as well, with seafloor habitats damaged by certain types of fishing gear.

Groundfish get grounded

When a stock is deemed overfished, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires regulators to develop a plan to rebuild the stock in as short a time as possible, while balancing and incorporating the needs of the fishing community.

Historically, fisherfolk and government regulators have had contentious relationships. Complex regulations can make the hard day-to-day work of fishing even harder. And then there are the environmentalists, who frequently have contentious relationships with both parties. But in the face of the West Coast groundfish disaster, something unprecedented occurred: fishermen, regulators, and conservationists sat down and worked together to save West Coast groundfish.

It wasn’t easy, especially for the fishermen. A management plan was put into place that included individual fishing quotas (IFQs) or “catch shares,” which meant that they had to accept drastic cutbacks on the number of fish they could catch, even species that weren’t overfished because of the possibility of bycatch, or catching a non-targeted species while catching a targeted species. The management plan also included area restrictions, seasonal closures, gear restrictions, and a mandate that a federal observer be on every fishing trip to monitor bycatch.

Read the full story at HuffPost

Seafood Nutrition Partnership Celebrates National Seafood Month

September 7, 2016 — The following was released by the Seafood Nutrition Partnership:

In celebration of National Seafood Month in October, the nonprofit Seafood Nutrition Partnership (SNP) is hosting and participating in a series of community events in eight U.S. cities, and is conducting a national seafood recipe sweepstakes.

The programming is part of SNP’s three-year public health education campaign to help Americans learn how to improve their heart health through increased consumption of seafood. While the 2015-2020 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating seafood at least twice per week—translating to an average consumption of 250 mg per day of omega-3s, which is rich in essential nutrients—only 10% of Americans currently follow this recommendation.

In eight target markets with high incidences of chronic diseases (Birmingham, AL; Charleston, WV; Indianapolis, IN; Jacksonville, FL; Lexington, KY; Memphis, TN; Oklahoma City, OK; and Toledo, OH), SNP will hold live events and assist community leaders in encouraging their constituents to take the Healthy Heart Pledge as a commitment to eat more seafood and supplement their diets with omega-3 fish oil.

On October 1, SNP will participate in 250 house parties across its eight target markets. Throughout October, programming will include health fairs and summits, seafood restaurant week events, cooking demonstrations and participation in major community gatherings.

Nationally, SNP is hosting the 2016 Seafood Recipe Sweepstakes, a program demonstrating how easy and delicious it is to add nutritious fish and shellfish to everyday meals. Ten sweepstakes winners, chosen at random from all entrants, will each receive a $250 gift card. The sweepstakes runs through October 21; details are available at snpsweepstakes.com.

SNP’s nutritional message continues to resonate: Last year, its ongoing public health campaign generated a total of 250 million earned media impressions nationally and in local markets.

SNP Executive Director Linda Cornish said, “We are excited to introduce more consumer education programs to teach Americans about the critical importance of seafood nutrition in supporting heart and brain health.”

See the full release at the Seafood Nutrition Partnership