December 11, 2025 — A puzzling stranding drew NOAA Fisheries experts to Panama City Beach, Fla. On Nov. 21, an 11.4-foot female shortfin mako washed ashore in the early morning hours.
According to NOAA, strandings of “large pelagic species like the mako shark are relatively rare for this area,” prompting an immediate response from the Southeast Fisheries Science Center to secure the shark and conduct a full necropsy- an animal autopsy.
December 11, 2025 — In early September, NOAA Fisheries released lists of countries that complied with Marine Mammal Protection Act rules comparable to those that domestic fishermen are held to, and those that did not. Beginning on January 1, 2026, countries that did not make the cut will not be allowed to export some or all of their fisheries’ products to the U.S.
While the ban will affect many products, the big item of contention is crab, and on October 10, the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) announced that it, along with many crab processors, is suing NOAA to prevent the agency from stopping imports, particularly crab imports. The NFI and others claim that if they cannot get pasteurized crab from some of the countries on NOAA Fisheries’ List 2: Nations denied comparability findings for some fisheries or List 3: Nations denied comparability findings for all fisheries, then U.S. restaurants and markets will run out of crab cakes.
According to Tara Foreman, manager of her family’s crab picking business, Captain Neill’s Seafood, in Columbia, North Carolina, the market for fresh crab landed by U.S. fishermen won’t be affected if crab from places like the Philippines and Sri Lanka are blocked. “It’s Venezuela that will affect us,” says Foreman. “Because they’re so close, they export fresh crab to our market, and they’re going to be hitting it hard in the next couple of months. They just reopened their season and started fishing again, and they will try to get as much crab into the US as they can before these rules go into effect on January 1st.”
Foreman notes that as a result of Venezuelan crab pouring in, prices to U.S. fishermen will likely go down before they go up. But she notes that her markets are nervous and calling to confirm that they will be able to get crab. “They want to make sure of their supply,” she says. Foreman notes that Venezuela did not apply to NOAA for a comparability finding.
December 8, 2025 — U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced legislation that would allow fishery disaster funding to be awarded to commercial fisheries hurt by foreign subsidies, predatory pricing, and illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s fishery resource disasters assistance program provides financial assistance to commercial fishers and related businesses that experience sudden, unexpected losses. NOAA Fisheries has awarded fishery disaster determinations for hurricanes, harmful algal blooms, oil spills, and other man-made or natural events that cause harm to commercial fisheries.
December 8, 2025 — A new study addresses one of the largest mass mortality events in recent marine history—the abrupt collapse of the snow crab population in the eastern Bering Sea. The research team was led by NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center fishery biologist Erin Fedewa. They set out to identify potential factors driving the increased mortality, population collapse, and recovery potential of Bering Sea snow crab.
Erin and her team measured snow crab energy reserves during and after the 2018–2019 marine heatwave and population collapse. This approach is the first of its kind for Bering Sea crab stocks. Findings show that warmer conditions and high population density led to energetic limitations—likely causing the snow crab population collapse.
A New, Rapid Energetic Condition Metric for Fisheries Management
Poor energetic condition is a state in which crabs have low energy reserves. This can increase starvation and mortality risk, emphasizing the importance of monitoring the energetic condition of individuals in marine populations. Techniques used to monitor energy reserves in fish often rely on data collected rapidly during annual scientific surveys, such as the weight-at-size of individual fish.
However, snow crabs have exoskeletons; they molt as juveniles, which uses a lot of their energy stores. They require more sensitive techniques to detect energy reserves beyond simple length-weight measurements. These techniques are often time-intensive and costly. Scientists have not routinely monitored energetic condition in Bering Sea crab populations to date.
December 5, 2025 — Most Pacific Coast salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act have increased in abundance over the past 25 years, arresting earlier declines. These findings were published in new research by NOAA Fisheries scientists who have studied the species.
The scientists examined trends in 28 population groups, called distinct population segments, within five species of salmon and steelhead listed from 1989 to 2007. These groups represent specific geographic areas and genetic characteristics, and are the smallest units that can be listed under the Act. The scientists found that a majority of the population groups protected as threatened or endangered increased in abundance. None disappeared into extinction. Protected population groups also increased faster than unprotected populations of the same species.
“At the time of the salmon listings, there was a path toward recovery and a path toward extinction,” said Michael Ford, lead author of the new research published in Fish and Fisheries. Ford recently retired as a research scientist at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center. “So far, we have avoided extinction and even succeeded in moving many populations in the right direction, but most are still far from complete recovery.”
December 5, 2025 — Atlantic bluefin tuna are prized by both recreational and commercial fishermen. In 2022 alone, U.S. commercial fishermen generated an estimated $12.4 million in revenue from harvesting bluefin tuna. However, they are also among the most challenging species to study, as they migrate long distances and live in the open ocean for much of the year.
NOAA Fisheries recently embarked on a cooperative research project to understand Atlantic bluefin tuna reproduction (also known as spawning) in the Slope Sea. Scientists infrequently sample this area of the ocean between the Gulf Stream and the continental shelf of the Northeast United States. It may contain a crucial missing piece for understanding the overall population structure of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic.
Historically, this species has been managed as having two primary stocks:
Dr. Molly Lutcavage’s lab at the Large Pelagics Research Center in Gloucester, Massachusetts is conducting research on reproduction and electronic tagging. The lab is affiliated with UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science & Technology. Their research suggested that spawning might be occurring in other areas of the western Atlantic as well, and by younger, smaller fish. Lutcavage’s lab predicted that smaller fish would spawn closer to feeding grounds. Biological evidence from NOAA Fisheries larval fish sampling in the Slope Sea supported this hypothesis. Recent genetic research shows the stocks are interconnected. However, there was little data available on the reproductive condition of adult bluefin tuna, including smaller adults, in the Slope Sea to corroborate these studies—until now.
December 4, 2025 — Efforts to stop Pacific sea lions from feasting on endangered salmon and steelhead have largely failed despite millions of taxpayer dollars spent on those efforts, lawmakers were told Wednesday.
In a hearing on the efficacy of the Endangered Salmon Predation Prevention Act adopted in 2018, witnesses told members of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries that wildlife managers have been unable to check a sustained population boom of the salmon-devouring pinnipeds — marine mammals with both front and rear flippers — that began in the 1990s.
“These animals are remarkably resilient, and they do know where their food source is,” Sam Rauch, deputy assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, told the subcommittee. “It is very difficult to encourage them to leave with anything less than force,” which usually means trap and kill.
December 4, 2025 — The right whale calving season begins in mid-November and runs through mid-April. Researchers have identified one calf so far this calving season.
Every single female North Atlantic right whale and calf are vital to this endangered species’ recovery. Since 2017, the whales have been experiencing an Unusual Mortality Event, which has resulted in more than 20 percent of the population being sick, injured, or killed. The primary causes of the Unusual Mortality Event are entanglements in fishing gear and collisions with boats and ships. In the last decade, there have been more North Atlantic right whale deaths than births.
Reproductive females are producing fewer calves each year, which impacts the ability of the species to recover. Female right whales become sexually mature at about age 10. They give birth to a single calf after a pregnancy lasting over a year. Three to four years is considered a normal or healthy interval between right whale births. But now, on average, they are having calves every 7 to 10 years. Biologists believe the additional stress from entanglements, vessel strike injuries, and changes in prey availability due to climate change all likely contribute to right whales calving less often.
With the current number of females and the necessary resting time between births, 20 newborns in a calving season would be considered a relatively productive year. However, given the estimated rate of human-caused mortality and serious injury, we need approximately 50 or more calves per year for many years to stop the decline and allow for recovery. The only solution is to significantly reduce human-caused mortality and injuries, as well as stressors on reproduction.
December 3, 2025 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries is announcing that the public comment period on Regulatory Reform, Seafood Industry Challenges, and Innovative Approaches in response to the Executive Order Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness is reopened from December 1, 2025 to December 15, 2025. Comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. EDT (7:59 p.m. AKT) on December 15, 2025.
Specifically, we are looking for input on the following issues:
Regulations that govern fishing activities that may be suspended, revised, or rescinded
Challenges specific fisheries are facing, suggestions for innovative improvements, and examples of existing federal fishery regulations that could be modified to enhance U.S. fishing businesses
Ways to improve fisheries management and science:
How can less expensive and more reliable technologies and cooperative research be used to support fisheries assessments?
How can NOAA Fisheries improve and modernize how it collects and uses data so federal fishery regulations better reflect what’s happening on the water right now?
What types of data, tools, or information do U.S. fishing businesses need most to deal with changing economic and/or environmental conditions and keep fishing? How can NOAA Fisheries best support the development and use of these resources?
How to expand exempted fishing permit programs to promote fishing opportunities nationwide
Public comments will be used to help identify specific actions we can take as we launch a bold, coordinated effort to revitalize the U.S. seafood sector. The effort underscores our commitment to addressing the recent decline in fisheries landings and revenue, boosting sustainable aquaculture, reducing the seafood trade deficit, and strengthening supply chain resilience.
Additionally, NOAA Fisheries will host a public listening session to receive public comments on Monday, December 8, from noon–1:00 p.m. AKT. Online registration is now available.
More information about the opportunity for public comment is available on the Federal Register and the NOAA Fisheries website.
December 2, 2025 — Many thousands of fall-run Chinook salmon migrated beneath the Golden Gate Bridge into the upper Sacramento River to spawn this fall. About 100 of the adult fish carried small tags that signaled their location as they went.
A monitoring network tracked the fish, showing their progress online in real time as part of a joint project by scientists at NOAA Fisheries and UC Santa Cruz. They followed adult salmon through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta into Central Valley Rivers and their tributaries. The scientists want to know what affects salmon survival and how many fish reach their spawning grounds.
“Are the salmon burning too much energy, and what factors affect this?” asked Miles Daniels, who leads the project for NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center. The center operates a research laboratory adjacent to UC Santa Cruz, focusing on salmon. Adult salmon need cold water; they may stop if they hit water that is too warm. Since they do not eat on the way back upriver, delays could deplete the energy they need to complete their migration and spawn.
The research is funded by California’s State Water Board to learn more about how water temperatures influence the salmon that support valuable commercial and recreational fisheries. Officials are interested in whether water can be managed to benefit fish while still supplying Central Valley farms with irrigation water. Irrigation is vital to the production of billions of dollars worth of produce and other agricultural products every year.
Fall Chinook salmon are among today’s most abundant California salmon and have long formed the backbone of West Coast salmon fisheries. However, low numbers of returning salmon have closed California ocean waters to most recreational and all commercial salmon fishing for the last 3 years.