Saving Seafood

NEW YORK: A familiar name earns one of the Mid-Atlantic’s top honors

April 17, 2026 — The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council has named longtime industry representative and former Council member Peter Hughes as the recipient of the 2025 Ricks E. Savage Award, recognizing his decades of contributions to fisheries management and conservation in the region.

The award was established in 2006 to recognize individuals who have added value to the Council process and management goals through significant scientific, legislative, enforcement, or management activities. The Council’s meeting last week in New York City was when Hughes accepted the award.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW YORK: Looking to Ease Fuel Tax Burden on Fishing Industry

April 9, 2026 — With the soaring cost of diesel fuel amid the American-Israeli war against Iran affecting multiple industries, including commercial fishing, Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni has introduced legislation that would provide fuel tax exemptions for operators of commercial fishing vessels.

In the days prior to the war that began on Feb. 28, the average retail price for diesel in the East Coast region was around $3.81 per gallon. The price has steadily risen since then: As of Tuesday, the average price was around $6 per gallon, higher than the national average.

Unlike farmers, under current state law commercial fishermen must pay sales tax upfront when buying fuel and supplies. To get that money back, they must file a refund claim with the Department of Taxation and Finances, which can take months to process, while farmers and commercial horse-boarding operators can seek immediate and additional relief by applying for a state tax exemption certificate. Mr. Schiavoni’s proposed legislation would bestow the same benefit on the commercial fishing industry by allowing fishermen to use a tax exemption certificate at the point of purchase.

Read the full article at The East Hampton Star

New York lawmaker pushes upfront fuel tax break for fishing fleet

April 8, 2026 — A New York lawmaker is pushing to ease the burden of rising fuel costs on commercial fishermen, introducing legislation that would allow fishing vessel operators to access fuel tax exemptions upfront rather than waiting months for reimbursement.

According to Spectrum Local News, New York State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni introduced the bill on April 6, citing increasing diesel prices tied to the war in Iran and the growing financial strain on the state’s commercial fleet. The proposal aims to bring commercial fishermen in line with the agricultural sector, which already benefits from more immediate fuel tax relief.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NEW YORK: New York governor seeks federal aid for state’s oyster industry

April 7, 2026 — New York Governor Kathy Hochul has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to confirm that a disaster has hit the state’s oyster industry, enabling oystermen to access emergency loans and financial support.

Like their counterparts working in Chesapeake Bay, New York oystermen have been beset by extreme cold weather and icy conditions that have kept them from working for much of the season.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump administration’s $1B deal to stop offshore wind shows an evolution in its anti-wind strategy

March 25, 2026 — The Trump administration’s $1 billion payout to a French energy company to walk away from U.S. offshore wind development is a novel tactic against the industry that supporters see as creative — but opponents see as foolish and extreme.

The Interior Department announced Monday that TotalEnergies agreed to what is essentially a refund of its leases for projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York, and will invest the money in a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Texas and other fossil fuel projects instead. The department hailed it as an “innovative agreement” with the French energy giant so that the “American people will no longer pay for ideological subsidies that benefited only the unreliable and costly offshore wind industry.”

The tactical shift comes after federal courts have thwarted President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind through executive action.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the payment “sets a dangerous precedent and is a shortsighted misuse of taxpayer dollars.”

Robin Shaffer, president of the anti-offshore wind group Protect Our Coast New Jersey, applauded what he called “out of the box” thinking. Shaffer said after losing in the courts, the administration needed a way to take back leases that never should have been issued because of the harm offshore wind development causes to the marine environment.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

Trump administration to pay French company $1B to walk away from US offshore wind leases

March 24, 2026 — The Trump administration will pay $1 billion to a French company to walk away from two U.S. offshore wind leases as the administration ramps up its campaign against offshore wind and other renewable energy.

TotalEnergies has agreed to what’s essentially a refund of its leases for projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York, and will invest the money in fossil fuel projects instead, the Department of Interior announced Monday.

President Donald Trump’s administration has tried to halt offshore wind construction, but federal judges repeatedly overturned those orders.

The Interior Department hailed the “innovative agreement” with the French energy giant and said, “the American people will no longer pay for ideological subsidies that benefited only the unreliable and costly offshore wind industry.″

Environmental groups denounced the deal as an alternate way to block wind projects, with one group calling it a “billion-dollar bribe” to kill clean energy.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

Feds deny ESA protections for crabs with blood used by humans

February 20, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries has denied Endangered Species Act protections for the Atlantic horseshoe crab, a lumbering species whose unique blood is highly valued by the biomedical industry.

Faced with two petitions that urged designating the species as either threatened or endangered, the federal agency instead concluded no ESA listing was warranted.

“There has been improvement in the population status and trends of regional populations from New Hampshire to Florida-Atlantic, with the exception of New York,” NOAA Fisheries announced this week, adding that “the petitions rely on obsolete and incorrect information to infer the current status and trends of the species.”

Read the full article at E&E News

National monument off New England coast reopens to commercial fishing

February 9, 2026 — President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Friday lifting commercial fishing restrictions in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, reopening waters off the coast of New England and drawing mixed reactions from Mainers.

The monument, located off the coast of New York, spans nearly 5,000 square miles of deep-sea canyons, volcanic mountains, and coral reefs. It was first protected under President Barack Obama, reopened to fishing during Trump’s first term, and later re-protected by President Joe Biden.

Read the full article at News Center Maine 

Yet another judge rejects Trump effort to block offshore wind, saying NY project can resume

February 3, 2026 — A federal judge on Monday ruled that an offshore wind project aimed at powering 600,000 New York homes can resume construction, the fifth such project put back on track after the Trump administration halted them in December.

In clearing the way for Sunrise Wind to proceed, Judge Royce Lamberth found that the government had not shown that offshore wind is such an imminent national security risk that it must halt in the United States.

President Donald Trump has said his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built, and often talks about his hatred of wind power. His administration froze five big offshore wind projects on the East Coast days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Developers and states sued to block the order. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers has repeatedly said during the legal battle over the pause that Trump has been clear that “wind energy is the scam of the century” and the pause is meant to protect the national security of the American people.

Read the full article at The Associated Press

Judge Hands Trump a Fifth Loss in His Effort to Halt Offshore Wind Projects

February 3, 2026 — A federal judge on Monday struck down the Interior Department’s order to halt work on a multibillion-dollar wind farm off the coast of New York State, the fifth time the courts have ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to throttle the country’s offshore wind industry. The administration is now 0-5 in its effort to stop wind farms under construction along the East Coast.

Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction that would allow the developer of the New York project, known as Sunrise Wind, to restart construction while the broader legal battle unfolds.

In December, the Interior Department ordered all work to halt on Sunrise Wind and four other wind farms off the East Coast. To justify the sweeping move, officials cited a classified report by the Defense Department that they said found the projects to be a national security threat.

But Judge Lamberth, who was nominated to the bench by President Ronald Reagan, said he was unpersuaded by the government’s claims about national security after reviewing the classified report under seal. He said the actions of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had caused “irreparable harm” to the developer of Sunrise Wind.

Read the full article at The New York Times