July 31, 2025 — The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and Friends of the Earth plan to sue NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Coast Guard over vessel strikes on whales and sea turtles off the coast of California.
According to CBD, neither NOAA Fisheries nor the Coast Guard have properly analyzed how California shipping lane designations could contribute to vessel strikes on whales or sea turtles.
July 30, 2025 — An endangered species has returned to its Northern California river habitat for the first time in almost a century, wildlife officials said.
Winter-run chinook salmon — one of nine species considered to be most at risk of extinction by NOAA — have been listed under the Endangered Species Act since 1994. But new concerns for the species came to light after California’s historic statewide drought between 2012 and 2016, when the fish all but vanished from the McCloud River, which flows through Siskiyou and Shasta counties.
The construction of Shasta Dam above the 77-mile-long waterway had already been causing problems for the species since the late 1930s, cutting them off from the mountain streams kept cool by melting snow where they like to spawn. But when the dam lost its own cold water pool during the drought, increasing water temperatures and reduced oxygen rates led to the deaths of 95 to 98% of eggs and recently hatched salmon incubating in their nests, according to NOAA.
So it came as a surprise when, earlier this month, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed reports of adult Chinook salmon in the river near Ash Camp. Officials saw one female exhibiting spawning behavior and “guarding her nest,” while multiple smaller males were observed nearby, competing to spawn themselves, the agency wrote of the July 15 sighting.
July 28, 2025 — Fishing gear is a hazard to whales. When they get caught in fishing lines, it’s called “entanglement” and it puts them at risk for injury and death.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) keeps track of the incidents, and its latest report, released this month, shows data from 2023. That’s when 64 large whales were found entangled in fishing gear in U.S. waters.
That confirmed number was down from the previous year, when there were 67 incidents.
July 24, 2025 — A newly released study by Oregon State University and NOAA Fisheries researchers shows that marine heat waves in increasing frequency are having an impact on the growth and maturation of black rockfish in Oregon and Washington.
“We do know that the occurrence of marine heatwaves is more often and more intense,” said Claire Rosemond, now a fisheries biologist at NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Newport, Ore. “There are some monitored ocean indicators that can help us understand if the coming year would be warmer or cooler, but it is harder to predict how hot or how cold.”
Results of her dissertation while at OSU with fisheries biologist Melissa Head, also of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, and Scott Heppell, a professor at OSU ‘s Department of Fisheries Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, were published on June 3 in the journal Ecological Applications.
The study investigated the impact of intense and less intense marine heatwaves on black rockfish reproduction and growth along the Pacific Coast between 2014 and 2021.
They found that while black rockfish exhibited elevated growth during intense marine heatwaves, their maturation was delayed. In fact, during intense marine heatwaves, maturation was postponed, reproductive success was lower by one third, and parasite prevalence in ovaries was nominally high.
Younger females were large at age during intense marine heatwaves, and throughout the last decade, growth rate coefficients were higher than what is typically expected for slower-growing fishes like rockfishes.
July 22, 2025 — Atlantic Salmon have been on the brink of extinction for more than two decades, but through conservation efforts researchers in Maine are working to improve the species growth while also building the next generation of marine scientists.
From fish stocking to lab work, students are diving into efforts to help conserve the endangered Atlantic salmon along the Gulf of Maine this summer though a program offered by Maine Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries.
“We take genetic samples and scale samples and all kinds of stuff, so we can continue to have data on them into the future,” said Maine Sea Grant Intern Wade Hill.
July 22, 2025 — The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations has laid out its fisheries and seafood priorities for fiscal year 2026, reporting out several provisions to guide NOAA Fisheries’ activities over the next year.
The U.S. Congress is now deep into its annual budget process, with Senate and house committees and subcommittees working through the Trump administration’s budget requests and drafting the appropriations bills needed to fund the federal government. While lawmakers don’t always successfully pass the full suite of appropriations bills, instead turning to continuing resolutions to avoid a government shutdown, the appropriations process offers lawmakers the most direct opportunity to craft policy for federal agencies.
July 22, 2025 — NOAA has placed new environmental restrictions on more than 58,000 acres of ocean bottom in the western Pacific to further protect endangered coral reefs whose habitats have been degraded by a warming climate and ocean acidification.
Critical habitat designations for five coral species will encompass parts of four marine national monuments and one marine sanctuary, according to NOAA. The areas include atolls off American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marinara Islands, northwestern Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Remote Islands Area.
“The final designations support the recovery of these reef-building coral by protecting the areas containing the habitat characteristics the corals need to reproduce, spread, settle, and mature,” NOAA said of the habitat designations, which come 11 years after the corals received Endangered Species Act protection.
July 22, 2025 — Healthy coral reefs are vital to the survival of thousands of marine species and provide $6.3 billion in local sales and 71,000 jobs annually (PDF, 29 pages). But rising ocean temperatures are pushing these ecosystems to the brink. That’s why NOAA is investing in cutting-edge technology to create more heat-resilient corals.
In the wake of Florida’s severe 2023 coral bleaching event, NOAA and its partners are launching new strategies to restore reefs and prepare them for a hotter future. At the heart of this effort is NOAA’s Mission: Iconic Reefs. It’s an ambitious long-term initiative to boost coral cover from just 2 percent to 25 percent across seven key sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
In 2023, the Office of Habitat Conservation awarded $16 million to the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science for a project applying emerging science and technology to coral breeding and restoration. The goal: to grow and outplant corals better equipped to withstand future bleaching. Key approaches include:
This work is funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is also supporting similar efforts by other Mission: Iconic Reefs partners. Mote Marine Laboratory and the Coral Restoration Foundation are:
Many other partners and individuals support the Mission: Iconic Reefs program.
Before the 2023 bleaching event, Mission: Iconic Reefs prioritized the outplanting of branching corals like elkhorn and staghorn at reefs in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. But a 2024 assessment on outplanted corals revealed that fewer than 22 percent of staghorn corals survived the bleaching, and less than 5 percent of the elkhorn remained alive.
In the face of this devastating impact, NOAA and its partners—alongside coral restoration groups from around the world—came together to chart a new path forward.
“I’ve never seen so many dedicated people rise to the occasion and say, ‘We have to try harder,’” says Maddie Cholnoky, Mission: Iconic Reefs implementation manager. “These incredible organizations are sharing knowledge, science, and lessons learned. It’s inspired us to take those insights and help create adaptive tools for our partners and for the mission.”
In February, NOAA staff joined partners from the Coral Restoration Foundation, Mote Marine Laboratory, and Reef Renewal USA to mark the fifth anniversary of the initiative. They celebrated by outplanting new corals propagated from survivors of the 2023 bleaching event.
“We’ve done a fantastic job across so many organizations of preserving genetic diversity, which will be important in future outplanting efforts,” says Dr. Katey Lesneski, Mission: Iconic Reefs’s research and monitoring coordinator. “We have a lot of confidence that the corals will continue to do well even in future warming conditions.”
July 18, 2025 — A federal court has upheld the government’s ability to require commercial fishing boat owners to pay for monitors aboard their vessels, a year after the Supreme Court took up the case and broadly curbed federal agencies’ authority.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island ruled Tuesday that a NOAA Fisheries rule was lawful under the primary U.S. fisheries law, the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).
Senior Judge William Smith said the court must exercise its independent judgment on whether an agency acted within its authority.
July 18, 2025 — A bill aimed at protecting local fishermen from illegally caught fish being sold in the U.S., passed the Senate with the support of both senators from Alabama.
The Illegal Red Snapper and Tuna Enforcement Act, co-sponsored by Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), instructs the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to create a standard method of identifying the country of origin for red snapper and some species of tuna that is imported into the United States.