Saving Seafood

NOAA Fisheries opens public comments on state-led recreational red snapper management, renewing concerns of overfishing

February 13, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries has opened a 25-day public comment period on four new state-led pilots for managing recreational red snapper, reigniting debate over how abundant the stock is in the South Atlantic.

“As an avid fisherman, I understand the adventure and thrill of the catch,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler said in a release. “The EFPs [Exempted Fishing Permits] propose to open up more opportunities for our recreational fishermen, while supporting sustainable red snapper population levels. NOAA Fisheries is committed to improving our partnerships and collecting better recreational data to bolster science-based fisheries management.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Falling in Love with Farmed Seafood

February 13, 2026 — Is there a better Valentine’s Day date than cozying up with a warm bowl of hearty, local seafood with the ones you love? Choosing domestically produced seafood, wild and farmed, helps show your affection for working waterfronts.

We have a special place in our hearts for farm-fresh seafood. It’s hard not to fall for savory mussels, steaming salmon, and succulent seaweeds at first sight!

Here are some of the ways NOAA experts show their love for American-grown seafood.

Developing a Love of Mussels Early

Michael Murphy, Communications Director, NOAA Fisheries

“I have been feeding our two children seafood since they were toddlers. They both have generally preferred mild fish throughout their childhood such as West Coast rockfish (preferably caught by dad). Now that we live on the East Coast, I usually buy (or catch) striped bass, cod, and blue catfish. You can imagine my delight a few years ago when our oldest asked to try the mussels my wife and I were enjoying at our favorite French bistro. Our mouths dropped when she proceeded to inhale almost the entire bowl!

Since many wild-caught fish can only be purchased fresh at certain times of the year, the good news is fresh mussels are readily available throughout the year in most major supermarkets across the country. They are also really easy and quick to make! The mussels we enjoyed recently (pictured here) were from a Rhode Island farm and we prepared them using a classic French recipe. I am now smart enough to know to buy enough for the parents and our 15-year-old to enjoy. Our 11-year-old is still not on board with the rest of her mussel-loving family but we know it is only a matter of time!”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Messaging Mariners in Real Time to Reduce North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strikes

February 12, 2026 — Endangered North Atlantic right whales live in heavily trafficked waters along the U.S. East Coast. Their habitat often overlaps with shipping lanes and port and harbor entrances, which puts them at high risk for vessel strikes—a primary threat to the species. Collisions with large whales can also result in significant and costly damage to boats and injury to passengers. Now, NOAA and partners are using an existing maritime safety technology in a new way to reduce the risk of vessel strikes.

The Automatic Identification System transmits the location, speed, and other characteristics of vessels in real time for navigation safety purposes. All commercial vessels 65 feet or longer are required to carry AIS devices onboard. Together with our partners, we are building a speed limit alert network powered by AIS technology that delivers timely text messages to vessels traveling within important right whale habitats.

Most vessels 65 feet or longer are required by federal law to travel at 10 knots or less in designated locations—called Seasonal Management Areas—at certain times of the year. With this real-time messaging network, shore-based AIS transceiver stations can detect vessel speeds within Seasonal Management Areas. If a regulated vessel is traveling faster than 10 knots, it will receive an alert.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

NOAA Fisheries Seeks Input on Groundfish Rules Proposed to Reduce Entanglements

February 12, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries is inviting public comment on proposed changes in the West Coast groundfish fishery. The proposal would allow bottom-fishing gear to use only one vertical line to the surface and require the lines to be clearly marked. The actions would give fishing crews more leeway to adjust their gear to conditions and reduce the risk of lines entangling marine life.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council sought the changes to help reduce the number of whales and other marine life that get entangled in fishing gear along the West Coast. The changes would also lay groundwork for reducing regulations to give groundfish vessels more flexibility in how and when they pursue groundfish.

Marking the lines according to their fishery and owner would also help collect better data on entanglements, providing more clarity for fisheries and managers.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

NOAA leaps forward on collaborative approach for red snapper

February 11, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries announced today a major collaborative step toward boosting red snapper recreational fishing opportunities in the South Atlantic. The agency invites public comments on applications for Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs) from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The EFPs are designed to test new data collection methods and strategies for state-led management of the recreational red snapper fishery.

This 25-day public comment period marks an important step in NOAA’s review and consideration of management strategies for the recreational harvest of red snapper, which will balance sustainability and economic benefits. These actions are also expected to increase opportunities for American recreational fishermen.

Read the full article at NOAA 

Maryland congressman asks for fishery disaster funds for state oystermen

February 11, 2026 — U.S. Representative Andy Harris (R-Maryland) has asked NOAA Fisheries to declare a fishery disaster for the state’s commercial oyster fishery, which has been hard hit by cold weather and ice.

“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. “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 SeafoodSource

Three-Dimensional Acoustic Tracking Sheds Light on Beaked Whale Dive Behavior and Acoustic Detection

February 10, 2026 — A new peer-reviewed study in PLOS One sheds light on why some beaked whale species are more detectable than others using passive acoustic monitoring. Researchers examined how differences in species-specific diving and echolocation behaviors affect the ability to detect beaked whales using underwater listening devices. Beaked whales are one of the ocean’s most elusive groups of whales.

The findings are particularly important for the Gulf of America (formerly the Gulf of Mexico), a heavily industrialized region where reliable beaked whale population estimates are needed. A recent study found that beaked whale populations in the Gulf may have declined by as much as 83 percent since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This highlights the need to better understand them to conserve them effectively.

Beaked whales are notoriously difficult to study because they spend little time at the surface to be seen during traditional infrequent visual surveys (vessel and aerial). Passive acoustic monitoring offers a powerful alternative as continuous data is recorded for months at a time. However, this method requires knowledge of whale behavior to understand how to interpret the detection of whale sounds for population monitoring.

Acoustic Detection is Species-Specific

The study shows that detectability varies among beaked whale species, as does their dive and echolocation behavior. Goose-beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris), for example, were detectable for longer periods than Blainville’s (Mesoplodon densirostris) or Gervais’ (Mesoplodon europaeus) beaked whales. Goose-beaked whales performed deeper foraging dives, often close to the seafloor, and produced clicks with higher source levels. These behavioral differences significantly increase the likelihood of detecting goose-beaked whales compared to the other two species.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

MASSACHUSETTS: New bill takes aim at climate-driven quota challenges

February 9, 2026 — Legislation introduced by a trio of U.S. senators would require NOAA Fisheries to more formally account for climate-driven shifts in fish stocks when setting commercial fishing quotas.

The bill, titled the Supporting Health Interstate Fisheries in Transition (SHIFT) Act, is sponsored by Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, and Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts. The legislation would direct the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to investigate when fish stock has shifted from one regional fishery management council’s jurisdiction into another’s and coordinate management between councils going forward, according to an article published by SeafoodSource.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Pacific Cod Gene Expression Analysis Reveals how Changing Oceans Impact Larvae

February 9, 2026 — A new study used gene expression analysis to explore how temperature and ocean acidification affect Pacific cod larvae. Scientists discovered that larvae are equipped with genes that allow them to survive cool and acidified conditions. However, warming may cause mortality by depleting energy and triggering inflammatory responses. These mechanisms are possible links between changes in ocean conditions and the recruitment of young fish in the Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod population.

Decrease in Pacific Cod Population

Pacific cod is a highly valued commercial fishery, and cod also play a key role in the ecosystem as both predator and prey. However, cod populations in Alaska have declined in recent years. Decreased population size is likely linked to recent marine heat waves, and early life stages seem to be the most impacted. Scientists predict that marine heatwaves may be more common in the future and that ocean acidification will intensify, particularly at high latitudes.

Experiments have shown that Pacific cod are sensitive to temperature during their early life stages. Temperature influences how their eggs develop, how their bodies use energy, and how they grow and survive as larvae. We don’t know as much about the impacts of ocean acidification.

In a 2024 study at the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center, scientists raised Pacific cod from embryos to larvae at multiple temperatures (3°C, 6°C, 10°C). To examine the potential interaction between temperature and ocean acidification, they also raised them in water that replicated current ocean conditions and in more acidified conditions. This mimicked conditions projected for the end of this century. The study found that larval mortality was very high in warm water but the effect of acidification was more complex.

The effects of temperature and acidified conditions depended on the fish’s development stage. Scientists need to better understand how changing ocean conditions can affect important species like Pacific cod, and whether these species can adapt to these changes.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Trump Restores Commercial Fishing Access to Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument

“By reopening the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts to commercial fishing, fairness, transparency, and science-based governance has been restored to the affected fisheries.” — Bob Vanasse, Executive Director of Saving Seafood

February 6, 2026 — WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — Statement from Bob Vanasse, Executive Director of Saving Seafood, on President Trump’s Action to Restore Commercial Fishing Access to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument:

This afternoon, President Trump revoked President Biden’s Proclamation 10287 and removed the restrictions on commercial fishing within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

This decision reflects a clear understanding of a simple truth: commercial fishing in the United States is already governed by the most comprehensive, science-based, and publicly accountable regulatory system in the world. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, fishing activities in federal waters must meet strict sustainability standards, undergo rigorous scientific review, and follow a transparent process that includes stakeholder input and council oversight. Restoring access to the monument area under this framework reaffirms—not undermines—our commitment to conservation.

In stark contrast, President Obama’s 2016 designation of the monument excluded commercial fishermen from a region they had sustainably fished for generations. It was imposed unilaterally through executive order—without public hearings, without a cost-benefit analysis, and without input from those whose livelihoods were affected. It was a top-down decision that ignored the proven success of the fishery management system already in place. And in a striking display of hypocrisy, while working fishermen were forced out, the uber-wealthy with yachts large enough for spearfishing adventures 130 miles offshore were not banned.

President Trump restored the rights of fishermen once before in 2020. This followed both Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt agreeing to meet with fishing groups in Boston, in meetings I had the honor to chair.

Unfortunately, President Biden repeated the undemocratic actions of President Obama in 2021, reimposing the ban on commercial fishing with no meaningful engagement. Our industry reached out to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in good faith—we wrote letters, made phone calls, and requested meetings. We received no response.

All eight regional fishery management councils formally opposed the Biden administration’s reimposition of the ban. President Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland actively disregarded the voices of the very councils and communities entrusted with managing our marine resources. Their closed-door approach and lack of transparency sent a message: facts and stakeholders were not welcome in their decision-making process. This is not how democratic governance or environmental policy should be conducted. But it is not surprising, as there is a history of monument creation via secretive alliance between certain environmentalists and sympathetic Administration staff, as described in this 2015 E&E News story.

We fully expect the usual environmental advocacy groups to respond as they did in 2020, with misleading rhetoric and predictions of catastrophic overfishing. So let’s be absolutely clear: any fishing that resumes in the monument will remain subject to the full force of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, a law these same groups routinely hail as a global benchmark for sustainable fishery management.

Their objection is not about protecting the ocean—it is about controlling American commercial fishermen and pushing a broader, extremist agenda that seeks to deny citizens the ability to responsibly use our resources, regardless of science or sustainability.

The truth is that America’s commercial fishermen are among the world’s most responsible ocean stewards. Their work is tightly regulated, environmentally conscious, and vital to the economies and food security of coastal communities. When managed through the regional fishery management councils and NOAA Fisheries, commercial fishing supports biodiversity and conservation while feeding the nation.