June 3, 2026 — One down, 146 more to go.
June 1 marked the start of the red snapper fishing season, and anglers came from near and far to take advantage of the kickoff.
Back in April, the NOAA Fisheries announced the red snapper season for vessels with a federal for-hire reef fish permit, which is the majority of the Destin charter fleet, would be 147 days. The season, which is 19 days longer than last year, started June 1 and closes at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 26.
June 3, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries is accepting public comments on a proposal to switch over more commercial fishers in the Gulf of Mexico – currently referred to as the Gulf of America by the administration of President Donald Trump – and South Atlantic Ocean from traditional, paper logbooks to electronic logbooks.
If approved, the change would apply to all federally permitted commercial fishers harvesting Gulf reef fish, Gulf or Atlantic coastal migratory pelagic species, Atlantic dolphin and wahoo, and species in the South Atlantic snapper-grouper complex.
June 2, 2026 — The new Coastal Northeast U.S. satellite imagery supports bloom tracking in the Gulf of Maine and coastal waters off New York and New Jersey. These products provide satellite-based information to help partners better understand potential bloom conditions across a broad coastal region.
NCCOS is also adding a separate demonstration high-resolution Great Lakes satellite imagery to include Maumee Bay, OH, Apostle Islands, WI, and Saint Louis River, MN. These products use Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument imagery, which provides higher spatial resolution (20m) than existing Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument products (300m). The higher-resolution imagery can support monitoring in smaller or more complex water bodies where finer-scale satellite observations may be useful.
May 28, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries is beginning a cooperative research initiative, partnering with the Northeast fishing industry to learn more about Atlantic mackerel population dynamics. The initiative will receive $2.3 million in the current fiscal year.
The project will engage more than 50 fishing vessels to collect and analyze data to improve our understanding of the Atlantic mackerel stock. Fishing vessels will be involved in:
This research initiative builds upon the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s 20-year model of success with cooperative research. This research includes working with the fishing industry to identify research needs, collect data, and support sustainable management of resource species.
May 28, 2026 — Federal fisheries officials are once again heading to commercial fishing ports from Maine to North Carolina as part of NOAA Fisheries’ ongoing effort to better understand the economic and social realities facing working fishermen and crew members across the East Coast.
The 2026 Commercial Fishing Crew Survey, conducted through the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, launched this spring and will continue through the fall at ports throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic.
The voluntary and anonymous survey focuses on commercial fishing vessel crew members and hired captains, gathering information on demographics, working conditions, fishing practices, job satisfaction, economic concerns and views on fisheries management. According to NOAA, the survey can be completed in person, online, by phone or through the mail and typically takes about 10 minutes.
May 26, 2026 — A new policy brief released by a coalition of human rights and environmental civil society organizations concludes that most seafood imported into the United States lacks basic catch documentation and traceability.
The brief draws on a technical report by Simeone Consulting LLC in Littleton, N.H., which outlines critical reforms needed to keep seafood connected with illegal, unreported, and unregulated from entering U.S. markets.
Only a small percentage of all seafood imported into the U.S. is covered under current import regulations, and even for those 13 species groups, there are many loopholes, said John Simeone, author of the report, in an interview on May 19.
Most people think that a report released by NOAA Fisheries in November 2024 to improve the U.S. Seafood Import Monitoring Program is very good, but this plan is missing how those goals would be achieved, he said.
May 26, 2026 — Three U.S. conservation groups have challenged NOAA Fisheries’ approval of seafood imports from eight nations, arguing that they have not implemented protections for marine mammals that are comparable to those in force in the U.S.
“The United States can save the lives of countless whales and dolphins getting caught in fishing gear around the world, but only if it enforces the law,” Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) International Program Director Sarah Uhlemann said in a release. “This litigation should result in a seafood import ban for the eight nations, and the governments will have to crack down on deadly bycatch to get back into the lucrative U.S. seafood market.”
May 22, 2026 — Forecasters with NOAA’s National Weather Service are predicting a below-normal hurricane season for the Atlantic basin this year. NOAA’s outlook for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs June 1 to November 30, predicts a 35% chance of a near-normal season, a 10% chance of an above-normal season, and a 55% chance of a below-normal season.
The agency is forecasting a total of 8-14 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Of those, 3-6 are forecast to become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 1-3 major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5 with winds of 111 mph or higher). NOAA has a 70% confidence in these ranges. An average season has 14 named storms with seven hurricanes, including three major hurricanes.
“With the most advanced forecast modeling and hurricane tracking technologies, NOAA and the National Weather Service are prepared to deliver real-time storm forecasts and warnings,” said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “Our experts are integrating cutting-edge tools to ensure communities in the path of storms receive the earliest, most accurate information possible.”
“NOAA’s rapid integration of advanced technology, including AI-based weather models, drones, and next-generation satellite data will deliver actionable science to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of the American people,” said NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs, Ph.D. “These new capabilities, combined with the unmatched expertise of our National Weather Service forecasters, will produce the most accurate forecasts possible to protect communities in harm’s way.”
May 22, 2026 — A jump from 11 North Atlantic right whale births in 2024-25 season to 23 for this season might sound like a nice little bump.
But when the entire population of the North Atlantic right whale can fit in the main stage at Wilmington’s Thalian Hall, you know overall numbers are still incredibly low.
Still, researchers and environmentalists say this season’s calving numbers for the highly endangered marine mammal are a positive sign − especially after some subpar years since the start of the 2010s.
The 2025-26 season represented the highest number of births since 2009, and the fourth highest on record.
May 22, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries is preparing to launch its annual eastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey, with scientists set to begin collecting near real-time temperature data in June as part of one of the longest-running fishery datasets in the region.
Conducted each year by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, the survey is mandated under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to track the distribution and abundance of fish, crab and other bottom-dwelling species. The data is used to inform stock assessments and ecosystem status reports for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.
Water temperature remains a key focus of the survey. According to NOAA, “temperature is one of many factors that influences species’ ranges and population sizes,” with warming conditions already linked to shifts in where species are found. Scientists record both bottom and surface temperatures at each station, allowing them to compare environmental conditions with the presence, or absence, of fish and crab.