Saving Seafood

MARYLAND: Maryland oyster season collapse prompts calls for federal disaster aid

February 9, 2026 — Maryland officials are asking for federal help amid what they describe as one of the worst oyster seasons in state history, a collapse they say threatens both watermen and a cornerstone of the Chesapeake Bay economy.

U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., this week asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to declare an economic fishery disaster under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Such a designation can unlock emergency federal assistance for fisheries harmed by natural or market conditions.

“Severe weather this year, combined with shrinking market access and increased competition, left many crews effectively tied to the dock, with watermen able to fish for just one or two days all season,” Harris said in a statement. He said immediate relief is needed to offset financial losses.

Eastern Shore lawmakers echoed the comments from Harris, saying a combination of factors — prolonged freezing weather, weak demand and growing competition from out-of-state oysters — devastated the winter harvest. State Sen. Johnny Mautz, R-Middle Shore, said the normal Thanksgiving-to-Christmas peak selling period largely vanished.

“That is prime time oyster sales. This year, it just did not exist,” Mautz said. “There has not been a demand to buy Maryland oysters.”

Read the full article at the Baltimore Sun

Commission again sets Pacific halibut harvest at rock-bottom levels amid U.S.-Canada tensions

February 6, 2026 — The International Pacific Halibut Commission set the 2026 harvest at a historic low during an annual meeting that drew a Trump Administration political appointee to lead tense U.S. negotiations with Canada over shares of a shrunken fishery.

The four-day late-January gathering in Bellevue, Washington came during a time of tumultuous relations between the two nations.

President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and blustering talk of making Canada part of the United States have spurred widespread anger among Canadians. January has been particularly volatile, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, at an economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, attacked “coercion” by great powers, while Trump, in a subsequent speech, asserted that “Canada lives because of the United States.”

At the Bellevue halibut meeting, Drew Lawler, a political appointee to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, served as the non-voting head of the U.S.delegation.

In private talks sandwiched between public parts of the meeting, the U.S. delegation threatened economic sanctions, and successfully pressured Canadians to trim the British Columbia share of the halibut harvest, according to sources with knowledge of these discussions.

The commission is charged by a more than century-old treaty with conserving Pacific halibut. There are three voting representatives from the United States, and three from Canada.

Read the full article at the Petersburg Pilot

Rep. Andy Harris seeks ‘fishery disaster’ to aid Maryland watermen

February 6, 2026 — Rep. Andy Harris, R-1st-Maryland, has sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration requesting that the agency declare an economic fishery disaster to provide immediate assistance to Maryland oystermen following this year’s devastating season. The request was made under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which authorizes federal emergency relief for fisheries affected by natural or economic disasters.

Harris sent the letter in response to outreach from members of Maryland’s Eastern Shore delegation requesting federal assistance as local watermen face mounting economic strain driven by severe weather, reduced market access, and increased competition.

“Severe weather this year, combined with shrinking market access and increased competition, left many crews effectively tied to the dock, with watermen able to fish for just one or two days all season,” said Harris. “These pressures threaten both livelihoods and a major sector of the Eastern Shore economy. For that reason, I am urging NOAA to approve a federal disaster declaration because immediate disaster relief is necessary to help watermen recover from the financial losses caused by this season.”

Read the full article at Salisbury Daily Times

US lawmakers introduce legislation to better map whale habitats, reduce vessel strikes

February 5, 2026 — A group of U.S. lawmakers has reintroduced legislation designed to improve the federal government’s ability to map whale habitats and help reduce vessel strikes.

The Whale Conservation Habitat Analysis, Research, and Technical Strategies (CHARTS) Act directs NOAA to improve its mapping of whale habitats while also developing predictive maps that estimate how whale populations might change their habits in response to environmental conditions. The legislation would require the agency to create high-resolution maps showing where whales are now and where they may be in the future. Critically, the maps must be usable for commercial and recreational mariners to help them avoid collisions.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

The race to respond to right whales, via buoys

February 4, 2026 — At 4 p.m. on Jan. 20, new squiggles emerged on Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Senior Scientist Mark Baumgartner’s computer screen. Two years since it was deployed, Savannah’s acoustic buoy finally made its first detection: two contact calls from a North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW).

The calls sound like a questioning “huhhh?” or “hmmm?” pitched low to high, about two seconds each and seconds apart, intended to signal one’s identity to another NARW. While Baumgartner didn’t hear it, the calls were visualized by two small upticks on a frequency graph.

“We were very happy to see it,” said Baumgartner.

Soon after the detection, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created a voluntary slow zone in the Southeast U.S., alerting ships to slow to 10 knots or less within 15 or so nautical miles of the buoy, bobbing on the surface about 30 miles southeast of Tybee. Ten knots should give enough time for NARW females and their calves to scurry out of the way, said Baumgartner.

Read the full article at Savannah Morning News

NOAA observer identified among victims of missing Gloucester fishing vessel

February 2, 2026 — The close-knit community of Gloucester came together Sunday, mourning the crew of the fishing vessel Lily Jean lost at sea in a tragic accident Friday, as shaken visitors piled flowers at the city’s iconic Fisherman’s Memorial and families huddled inside a stone church.

By the late afternoon, hundreds attended a memorial mass for those aboard the Lily Jean at St. Ann’s Church. At the beginning of the mass, the families of the vessel’s seven crew members lit candles in front of framed pictures of their lost loved ones.

“When we hurt, when we grieve, when we are in pain, we come together,” Rev. James Achadinha said during the somber service.

The full identities of the Lily Jean’s crew have not been shared officially. Coast Guard officials said over the weekend they estimated releasing the information Monday following family notifications.

But one of the crew has been identified by her family as 22-year-old federal fisheries observer Jada Samitt.

Samitt was on the Lily Jean about 25 miles off the coast of Cape Ann when the ship sank on Friday. The Coast Guard found debris and one body in the water. The Coast Guard looked for survivors for 24-hours before calling off the search Saturday during frigid winter conditions with seven-to-ten foot waves and 30-knot-winds.

Samitt had been on board as an observer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries.

Read the full article at The Boston Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Coast Guard identifies all 7 crew members of fishing boat that sank of Gloucester coast

February 2, 2026 — The Coast Guard has officially identified all seven crew members who were aboard a fishing boat when it sank off the coast of Gloucester on Friday.

The seven crew members were:

  • Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo, captain
  • Paul Beal Sr., crew
  • Paul Beal Jr., crew
  • John Rousanidis, crew
  • Freeman Short, crew
  • Sean Therrien, crew
  • Jada Samitt, NOAA fisheries observer and crew
As of Sunday afternoon, family and friends of nearly all of the crew members had come forward to identify them.

Sanctions threats loom as IPHC sets historic low 2026 halibut harvest

January 30, 2026 — The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) set the 2026 Pacific halibut harvest at a historic low last week, following tense U.S.-Canada negotiations that included threats of economic sanctions against Canadian halibut exports.

The Northern Journal reported that the four-day annual IPHC meeting in Bellevue, Washington, came amid strained relations between the two countries under the Trump administration, whose tariff policies and rhetoric toward Canada have fueled political friction.

Serving as the non-voting head of the U.S. delegation was Drew Lawler, a political appointee to NOAA. During private negotiations, U.S. representatives threatened tariffs or other trade restrictions unless Canada agreed to reduce British Columbia’s share of the halibut catch.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Critically endangered right whale found dead off NC coast

January 30, 2026 — A critically endangered North Atlantic right whale that a team of responders attempted to disentangle from fishing gear nearly two months ago was found dead earlier this week off the North Carolina coast.

The 4-year-old male, identified as “Division,” died from injuries caused by being entangled.

An aerial survey team on Tuesday spotted what was left of Division’s carcass floating about 25 miles offshore of Avon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

On Dec. 4, 2025, responders from NOAA Fisheries, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took to the sea to join forces with a Georgia-based aerial survey team from Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute in an effort to document Division’s entanglement and monitor his behavior.

At that time, Division was off Georgia’s coast near St. Simons Island.

Read the full article at CoastalReview.org