Saving Seafood

Seafood Tips from the People Bringing You America’s Seafood (Part 1)

November 21, 2025 — Across the country, fishermen, farmers, chefs, and educators are working to keep fishing heritage alive while inspiring new generations to value the bounties of our coastal waters. Here, experts from the Atlantic coast share their stories and tips for making seafood a bigger part of your life—no matter where you live. And stay tuned: we’ll be sharing Part Two featuring insights from Pacific coast experts.

Captain Brady Lybarger, Scallop Shack Farms

New Jersey

Scallop Shack Farms began as South Jersey’s original seafood pop-up. Captain Brady Lybarger, an experienced second-generation commercial fisherman, and his wife Amanda started selling scallops from the back of their truck during the pandemic.

Today, the thriving family-run market in Cape May, New Jersey offers scallops, seasonal catches, and gourmet goods, all sourced directly from American fishermen. Brady runs the shop with his wife, her father and sister-in-law, and even nieces, welcoming seafood lovers in to buy and connect. At Scallop Shack Farms, seafood goes from boat—often Brady’s own F/V Salted—to home chefs within hours of landing. Customers don’t just buy seafood there—they learn the story behind it, meet the people who caught it, and become part of a growing family of supporters.

Brady knows firsthand the challenges facing the fishing industry, with declining fisheries, rising costs, and fewer young workers entering the trade. That’s why he carves out time to serve on New England Fishery Management Council advisory panels on tilefish and scallops, ensuring fishermen’s knowledge informs management decisions.

Captain Brady’s Seafood Tips

  • Start fresh: A fresh, well-handled product makes all the difference. Scallop Shack Farms takes pride in bleeding and brining fish and delivering them within 24 hours when possible.
  • Keep it simple: For scallops, the secret is to pat them completely dry, then sear in a hot pan for 1.5-2 minutes per side. Add just salt, pepper, oil, and butter—no need to over-season a good product.
  • Ask questions: Don’t hesitate to talk with your fishmonger or fisherman—they’re happy to share how the seafood was caught and the best ways to prepare it.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

NEW YORK: Hochul Urged to Ban Horseshoe Crab Fishing

November 17, 2025 — Conservationists are pressing Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York to approve a ban on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs in state waters after she vetoed the same measure a year ago.

Supporters of the bill, which was passed by large majorities in both houses of the State Legislature last year and again in June, say New York must protect the ancient creatures, whose populations are declining in some places because of overfishing, loss of habitat and climate change, which floods beaches and warms oceans.

Reducing pressures on the crabs would help their ecological role, which includes providing food for migrating shore birds such as the red knot, a dwindling species that the federal government classified as threatened more than a decade ago.

The commercial fishing industry argues that a ban would wipe out livelihoods, damage local fisheries and ignore policies that have led the industry to reduce the number of crabs it uses for bait.

Read the full article at The New York Times

Stakeholders nearing update on Chesapeake Bay Agreement with multiple goals for fisheries

November 6, 2025 — Federal and state stakeholders are getting close on an update to the Chesapeake Bay Agreement – a voluntary accord that sets goals for conservation and clean water – laying out desired outcomes for some of the region’s fisheries.

First established in 1983, signatories to the agreement include the governments of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, New York, and the District of Columbia, along with the Chesapeake Bay Commission and federal agencies.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NEW YORK: Dredging operations underway at Lake Montauk Harbor

November 5, 2025 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New York District has begun dredging operations at Lake Montauk Harbor in East Hampton, N.Y., with work expected to continue through January 2026.

The federally maintained navigation channel is being dredged to restore safe passage for commercial fishing vessels, while sand from the project will be used to rebuild eroded beaches west of the harbor’s western jetty.

“Equipment and the dredge have arrived, and work will begin soon to restore safe navigation in the harbor and maintain access for Montauk’s fishing fleet,” the Town of East Hampton said in a social media post.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW YORK: Peconic Bay 2025 scallop harvest remains poor

November 4, 2025 — The 2025 scallop season got off to a rough start in Peconic Bay on Monday, and the prospect of a bountiful haul is not looking good for the fifth straight year.

Charlie Manwaring, owner of the popular Southold Fish Market, said he has about 30 to 40 bushels right now and expects a few more later this week, but doesn’t expect a good year.

“The season sucks. Period. There’s not a lot. It is what it is,” Mr. Manwaring told The Suffolk Times. “We will have some scallops tomorrow. For a couple days, we’re probably going to have some scallops for sale, but it’s probably going to be hit or miss.”

Bay scallops can be harvested from the first Monday in November to March 31. According to the state regulations, they must be 2-1/4 inch length from mid-hinge to mid-bill and display an annual growth ring.

Read the full article at The Suffolk Times

NY fishermen say horseshoe crab management is working

October 14, 2025 — Some ideas sound noble in theory but collapse under the weight of the facts. That’s the case with New York State Assembly Bill 4997 and Senate Bill 4289, legislation that would ban the harvest and sale of horseshoe crabs by New York’s licensed commercial fishermen

Proponents call it “protection.” In reality, it’s an unnecessary ban that would wipe out livelihoods, damage sustainable local fisheries, and ignore the very science-based efforts that state and federal regulators have built together.

Gov. Kathy Hochul understood that last year when she vetoed the same bill. At a time when some were pushing hard for an outright ban, she stood instead with science, with regulators, and with the men and women who make their living on the water. For that, New York’s fishing families are deeply grateful, and hopeful that she will again make the tough but right decision.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW YORK: No ship? New York offshore wind project faces yet another hurdle

October 13, 2025 —  The first wind farm slated to plug into New York City’s grid has already endured one political catastrophe this year. Now, a logistical crisis looms on the horizon.

Equinor’s Empire Wind is a 810-megawatt project being built about 20 miles off the shore of Long Island, promising enough energy to power 500,000 homes once completed in 2027. The Trump administration halted construction in April, but allowed it to resume in May. The latest challenge came on Thursday with the unexpected cancellation of a contract for the massive new wind-turbine installation vessel that Equinor had been planning to use on the project next year.

Two shipbuilding companies broke out into a public skirmish — one unexpectedly cancelling a contract and the other threatening legal action — over the construction of the specialized ship. The fate of the vessel, which is already more than 98% complete and floating in Singapore’s waters, is now uncertain.

The cancelled $475 million agreement leaves Equinor scrambling to figure out how to maintain progress and bring Empire Wind online on schedule.

Read the full article at Canary Media

Rising vessel traffic fuels humpback mortalities in New York waters

October 3, 2025 –Escalating vessel flow in New York waters has coincided with an alarming spike in humpback whale mortalities, underscoring a mounting hazard.

The waterways surrounding New York City are extraordinarily crowded. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) is the largest container port on the East Coast and the third largest in the United States, accounting for 13.5% of the country’s market share. In 2024, it handled nearly 9 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a sharp climb from under 5.8 million a decade earlier. Just a few months ago, in May, the joint-venture port district was the nation’s most occupied cargo gateway.

A 2024 study headed by Lesley Thorne, the dean of research at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, pointed to post-pandemic shifts in trade routes favoring the East to the West Coast and new transits along coastal routes adjacent to PANYNJ as the driving factors behind this surge.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

Studies find “troubling decline” of horseshoe crabs in Long Island Sound

September 18, 2025 — Researchers at Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.A.-based The Maritime Aquarium claim new studies show a “troubling decline” in the horseshoe crab population within Long Island Sound.

“Horseshoe crabs are a cornerstone of estuarine ecosystems, and their decline is alarming in its own right but also has cascading consequences for other animals and ecological processes,” Maritime Aquarium Vice President of Conservation Sarah Crosby said in a release.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource