Saving Seafood

Meet the Autonomous Underwater Robot Expanding Our Ability to Survey the Seafloor

August 31, 2026 — For the past 3 years, our Habitat Camera (HabCam) Survey has had self-propelled underwater helpers. From June 30 to July 6 of this year, two Tethys-class long-range autonomous underwater vehicles, or LRAUVs, surveyed more than 200 nautical miles of pre-programmed track lines in the Mid-Atlantic. Together, they captured more than 68,000 images of the seafloor, collecting critical data used in fisheries stock assessments.

LRAUVs provide an alternative way to survey areas of the ocean where traditional research vessels cannot go because of offshore development. The data they collect complements our vessel-based HabCam Survey, which collects millions of seafloor images each year to understand Atlantic sea scallop populations.

Technology Strengthens the Sea Scallop Assessment

Our scientists identified sea scallops, fish, crabs, snake eels, squid, skates, and more in the seafloor images taken by LRAUVs this year. They will present these data, along with HabCam Survey data, to the New England Fishery Management Council at the end of August. The Council’s Scallop Plan Development Team will incorporate the data into the Atlantic sea scallop assessment. Ultimately, the data help generate more accurate estimates of sea scallop abundance and distribution to inform management decisions.

Advanced Technology Specialist Cameron Fairclough notes that this technology expands where and when we can collect data. “This autonomous underwater vehicle can image the seafloor and you can control it from your phone while it’s out in the middle of the ocean,” he explained.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Northeast Region Coordinating Council Seeks Peer Reviewers for Future Management Track Stock Assessments

August 17, 2026 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

Northeast Region Coordinating Council Seeks Peer Reviewers for Future Management Track Stock Assessments

The Northeast Region Coordinating Council (NRCC) is seeking applications from qualified independent subject-matter experts to serve as peer reviewers for fishery stock assessments in the Greater Atlantic region including New England and Mid-Atlantic offshore waters.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and maintained by the NRCC.

PURPOSE: Peer reviews are a critical component of the stock assessment process, ensuring the highest standards of scientific rigor and integrity. Peer reviewers prep for and attend multi-day meetings in Woods Hole, MA, typically in June and September. The work also includes co-authoring a Peer Review Panel report.

TO APPLY: Please view the Call for Applications. A curriculum vitae, cover letter, and references can be sent to cokeefe@nefmc.org or mailed to:

Dr. Cate O’Keefe
New England Fishery Management Council
50 Water Street, Mill 2
Newburyport, MA 01950

For more information, please refer to the NRCC’s Description of Stock Assessment Process and NEFSC’s Management Track Stock Stock Assessments website, which includes the Management Track Generic Terms of Reference. If you have questions or need further information, please contact Cate O’Keefe: cokeefe@nefmc.org.

NEFMC given Trump priorities on scallop fishery, but rollout process remains murky

August 5, 2026 — U.S. President Donald Trump recently sent a deregulatory wish list to the country’s regional fishery management councils, and the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) now has to grapple with how to address his proposed changes to the scallop fishery.

In early July, White House Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro held a press conference touting the move by Trump and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as a means of “unlocking the fertile fisheries of America.” Included in that list of requests, the Trump administration is asking the NEFMC to open the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to rotational scallop fishing for the first time in 30 years and to implement permit stacking on commercial scallop fishing boats.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Long-awaited Framework takes effect for Northeast groundfish fleet

August 4, 2026 — After months of uncertainty that left New England groundfishermen planning around regulations that had yet to take effect, NOAA Fisheries has cleared the second major regulatory hurdle for the 2026 fishing year.

The agency published an interim final rule Aug. 4 implementing Framework Adjustment 72 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, making updated catch limits, revised sector allocations and other management measures effective immediately while accepting public comments through Sept. 3.

The action follows NOAA’s June implementation of Amendment 25, which restructured Atlantic cod management into four biologically distinct stocks. Together, the two rulemakings complete the regulatory changes that many fishermen and sector managers had been waiting on since before the start of the May 1 fishing year.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Sets Management Measures for Northeast Multispecies

August 4, 2026 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is approving Framework 72 developed by the New England Fishery Management Council that sets or adjusts catch limits for Northeast multispecies (groundfish) stocks for the 2026 fishing year (May 1, 2026 – April 30, 2027), including the three stocks managed jointly with Canada. Framework 72 revises catch limits of 12 groundfish stocks based upon the results of stock assessments conducted in 2025 and are intended to help prevent overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks. It revises status determination criteria for Georges Bank yellowtail and modifies the process for the Regional Administrator to set recreational management measures for Atlantic cod and haddock stocks that do not have a recreational allocation.

We are accepting public comment on this interim final rule as published in the Federal Register and submit your comments through the online portal. The comment period is open through September 3, 2026.

Questions?
Industry: Contact Liz Sullivan, Regional Office, 978-282-8493

Media: Contact GARFO Public Affairs

NOAA Report Finds Gulf of Maine Warming Slowed for Now, but Ecosystem Remains Unstable

July 28, 2026 — Maine’s fishing ports are doing well for now, but climate change is destabilizing the Gulf of Maine, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s latest “State of the Ecosystem” report for New England waters. Federal scientists presented the report to the New England Fishery Management Council in April, and published it online last week.

They found that some Maine fishing ports are growing busier, likely driven by the high price of lobster. Stonington, Harpswell and Friendship all see more activity now than they did roughly 20 years ago.

And 2025, like 2024, offered slightly cooler water temperatures after more than a decade of rapid and record-breaking warming in the Gulf of Maine. But the scientists predict that temperatures will warm again this fall, and will continue to rise long-term as the burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

To weather these ongoing changes, fishermen and their communities need to diversify their businesses, experts say.

“Things don’t look particularly stable either in terms of the fishery or the ecosystem,” said Joseph Caracappa, a research biologist at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center who edited the report. “We’re seeing big changes that are sweeping across the ecology of the system and fisheries. Even socially, culturally — how communities are structured, where people are fishing, who’s actually doing the fishing.”

This annual report includes contributions from more than 100 scientists across the Northeast. NOAA has had to make do with fewer resources as the federal government’s priorities have changed under the second Trump administration, but otherwise the report has been prepared and published as usual, Caracappa said. And in fact, this latest report debuted a new section dedicated to forecasting ocean conditions in the year ahead.

Read the full article at U.S. News

New report finds temporary relief for warming Gulf of Maine

July 27, 2026 — Cooler weather in the past 2 years offered some relief to the rapidly warming Gulf of Maine, but it’s not expected to stay that way.

That’s according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) latest “State of the Ecosystem” report on New England’s waters, which was released online last week, and previously presented to the New England Fishery Management Council in April.

While the report found slightly cooler water temperatures in 2024 and 2025, the warming trend is expected to come back this fall and continue to rise long term due to climate change. Scientists attribute the trend to the Gulf Stream, which brings warm water up from the Gulf Mexico, appearing to be getting stronger than in years past.

Read the full story at WGAN

NOAA report finds Gulf of Maine warming slowed for now, but ecosystem remains unstable

July 24, 2026 — Although the climate is changing, scientists say fishermen can find a path forward.

Maine’s fishing ports are doing well for now, but climate change is destabilizing the Gulf of Maine, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s latest “State of the Ecosystem” report for New England waters. Federal scientists presented the report to the New England Fishery Management Council in April, and published it online last week.

They found that some Maine fishing ports are growing busier, likely driven by the high price of lobster. Stonington, Harpswell and Friendship all see more activity now than they did roughly 20 years ago.

And 2025, like 2024, offered slightly cooler water temperatures after more than a decade of rapid and record-breaking warming in the Gulf of Maine. But the scientists predict that  temperatures will warm again this fall, and will continue to rise long-term as the burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

To weather these ongoing changes, fishermen and their communities need to diversify their businesses, experts say.

“Things don’t look particularly stable either in terms of the fishery or the ecosystem,” said Joseph Caracappa, a research biologist at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center who edited the report. “We’re seeing big changes that are sweeping across the ecology of the system and fisheries. Even socially, culturally — how communities are structured, where people are fishing, who’s actually doing the fishing.”

This annual report includes contributions from more than 100 scientists across the Northeast. NOAA has had to make do with fewer resources as the federal government’s priorities have changed under the second Trump administration, but otherwise the report has been prepared and published as usual, Caracappa said. And in fact, this latest report debuted a new section dedicated to forecasting ocean conditions in the year ahead.

Read the full article at The Maine Monitor

Trump administration touts National Scallops Day designation, Georges Bank territory opening

July 13, 2026 – – The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is touting its designation of National Scallops Day, the opening of the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to scallop fishing, and permit stacking as a means of boosting the fishery.

The administration recently sent a deregulatory wish list to regional fishery management councils, which included a range of different recommendations like modernizing fleet capacity in the area managed by the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council and shifting the management of red snapper away from the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Thirty years after closure, Northern Edge scallop grounds could reopen

July 10, 2026 — President Donald Trump’s proposal to reopen the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to scallop fishing is generating optimism throughout New England’s scallop industry, though fishermen and scientists say reopening one of the East Coast’s most productive fishing grounds will likely take time and require approval through the federal management process. The Northern Edge has been closed to scalloping since 1994 to protect Atlantic cod habitat.

The Trump administration announced it plans to reopen the area on a rotational basis and allow “stacking” of scallop permits, which would enable vessels to harvest multiple permits on a single trip. However, Maine Public reported that the New England Fishery Management Council would first need to approve the change before the fishery could reopen.

“From an industry perspective, access to the Northern Edge would be a blessing,” Eric Hansen, owner of two New Bedford scallop vessels and a council member, told Maine Public. “The loss of resource and revenue for the scallop industry for the last 30 years has been huge.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman