Saving Seafood

Leveraging Advanced Technologies to Transform our Data Enterprise

February 25, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries monitors and manages more than 460 fish stocks across U.S. ocean waters—that’s more than 4 million square miles of ocean! We work to ensure our fisheries are sustainable, which requires striking a healthy balance between positive economic impacts and long-term population health.

To ensure stocks are sustainably harvested, we make management decisions using the latest data. Fisheries managers may make decisions, such as closing or opening seasons, adjusting total catch limits, introducing quotas, or other measures. These decisions affect fishing communities, coastal economies, and the seafood available on our tables.

Accurate, reliable, and up-to-date data is essential for effective management decisions. Ocean data are a U.S. strategic asset. We are currently modernizing how we collect, manage, and use data with new technologies.

This modernization effort focuses on two main areas:

  • Improving how we gather information in the ocean
  • Enhancing how we analyze, store, and share that information

By strengthening both, we are building a faster, more efficient system that helps scientists and managers more effectively manage marine resources.

A more efficient data enterprise will help fisheries managers—like regional fishery management councils, marine fisheries commissions, international organizations, and other management bodies—make better, more informed decisions. Leveraging advanced technologies helps address challenges across regions related to data needs, infrastructure, and management.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

ALASKA: NOAA Fisheries identifies 77 potential aquaculture opportunity areas in Gulf of Alaska

February 24, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries has identified 77 locations in the Gulf of Alaska that could be suitable for aquaculture operations, following up on an order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020.

“Alaska has more coastline than the rest of the nation combined, and we should be using that resource to its full potential,” Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said in a release. “This atlas helps identify where aquaculture makes sense in our state waters. It will support creating new job opportunities, strengthen food security for Alaskans, and add to Alaska’s already tremendous seafood industry.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

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

WASHINGTON: NOAA Fisheries denies ESA petition for Washington coast spring-run Chinook salmon

February 20, 2026 — More than two and a half years after a petition was filed, NOAA Fisheries has determined that spring-run Chinook salmon on the Washington coast are not a distinct group from their fall-run counterparts and don’t warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

“NMFS has independently reviewed the best available scientific and commercial information,” NOAA Fisheries stated in a post on the Federal Register. “NMFS concludes that Chinook salmon spring-run populations on the Washington coast do not meet the definition of a species.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Final Report Available: Scallop Enhancement Project

February 21, 2026 — The following was released by the Coonamessett Farm Foundation:

The Coonamessett Farm Foundation has released the final report for its
Evaluating the Key Factors that Influence the Efficacy of Transplanting to Supplement
Recruitment project. This report was submitted to NOAA Fisheries earlier this month and was
prepared under the 2022 Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program continuing more than a
decade of collaborative, industry-based research. The report summarizes scallop transplanting
efforts and the results from an industry-funded project conducted under an Exempted Fishing
Permit in 2020 and 2021 to evaluate dispersal, growth, and mortality of transplanted sea scallops
while comparing transplanted individuals with scallops in natural beds. This research indicates
that transplanting sea scallops from high-density, growth-limited areas to more favorable
environments can produce meaningful biological and economic gains.

More information about the project and the full report is available here

Menhaden Research Gets Federal Boost

February 20, 2026 — President Donald Trump signed a federal spending package in January that includes two-point-five million dollars for menhaden research, ending a two-year wait for state funding. Businesses, scientists, and anglers support the study, saying solid data is needed before imposing limits. Some environmental advocates however, argue reductions should happen now, but regulators are holding off pending the research. We reached out to Omega Protein for comment, and they told us that “Ocean Harvesters, headquartered locally in Reedville, has a long track record of supporting rigorous, independent science to better understand Atlantic menhaden and the broader Bay ecosystem. The Company believes that any funding for menhaden projects at NOAA-Fisheries is in good hands.”

Read the full article at Middle Neck News

NOAA claims steady progress was made on US aquaculture in 2025

February 18, 2026 — Following directives from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, NOAA’s Aquaculture Program said it made steady progress in 2025 on exploring new aquaculture projects in the U.S., inching closer to helping the country close its farmed seafood import gap.

“Currently, the U.S. imports USD 15 billion [EUR 12.7 billion] worth of farmed seafood. That’s billion with a ‘b.’ It is by far more than we produce here at home, which is less than USD 2 billion [EUR 1.7 billion], and that has the eyes of a lot of people across the government, not just people who focus on aquaculture,” NOAA Office of Aquaculture Director Danielle Blacklock said on 17 February during the 2026 Aquaculture America conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

States could net control of red snapper season

February 17, 2026 — The Trump administration is taking steps toward shifting regulatory authority over red snapper in Atlantic Ocean federal waters to states, a move that some state leaders have argued is necessary to sustain their sportfishing economies.

NOAA Fisheries announced Wednesday it would open a 25-day comment period on “exempted fishing permits” for Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

The permits would allow the states to “test new data collection methods and strategies for state-led management of the recreational red snapper fishery,” the agency said.

Read the full article at E&E News

Debate grows over NOAA plan to expand snapper access

February 13, 2026 — Today, NOAA Fisheries announced that they are accepting public comments on applications for Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs) from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

These permits propose to extend recreational fishing seasons for vulnerable red snapper in the South Atlantic. Overfishing drove the red snapper population to just 11 percent of its historical abundance; in response, seasons were reduced as part of a rebuilding plan set to last through 2044.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

FAO study estimates 20 percent of seafood is subject to fraud

February 13, 2026 — A Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report estimates that up to 20 percent of seafood may be subject to fraud, but other studies estimate that number could be as high as 30 percent.

The report, “Food fraud in the fisheries and aquaculture sector,” surmises that one-fifth of the global fisheries and aquaculture sector is subject to some type of fraud – far higher than the levels of fraud believed to take place in other food categories.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource