Saving Seafood

The Gulf Stream is speeding up. Scientists say that’s a big deal

September 15, 2026 — For years, the story about Atlantic Ocean currents has been one of slowdown, which will cause irreversible change. A new NOAA study complicates it.

Researchers at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and the University of Miami analyzed 31 years of continuous satellite measurements and found the Gulf Stream weakened for a decade and then sped up for about a decade.

Where this happened

The Gulf Stream is a warm ocean current that originates around the Gulf and Caribbean and pushes warm water to the North Atlantic and Europe. But the behavior of the Gulf Stream was not uniform.

Shenfu Dong, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, mentioned that the shift was “far more dynamic than a simple slowdown narrative.”

Long story short, one of the segments of the Gulf Stream, the current upstream leg that moves between Florida and the Bahamas, stayed consistent. But when the stream separates from the coast and runs free in the open Atlantic, that is where the speed-up occurs.

Read the full article at The Weather Channel

Nine Species of Deep-Sea Sponges Discovered in Alaska

September 11, 2026 — Scientists have discovered nine new species of sponges in the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands. The specimens were collected during the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s long-standing annual bottom trawl surveys, which monitor the condition of groundfish and shellfish stocks in Alaskan waters. For these sponge studies, researchers analyzed samples gathered during surveys dating back to 2012.

The new species were described across two recent scientific publications: four in one paper and five in the other. These discoveries raise the total number of known sponge species in Alaska to 232. The findings add to a growing body of knowledge about the richness of marine life in Alaskan waters. They also highlight the Aleutian Islands as a global hotspot for sponge biodiversity.

The studies also mapped sponge genetic codes, which contributes to a marine genetic library. This continues to build a robust catalog that enhances NOAA’s ability to detect species and estimate population abundances using non-invasive environmental DNA sampling.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

NOAA sends Saildrones on mission to track El Niño

September 9, 2026 — A quartet of uncrewed surface vehicles are navigating 1,500 miles to the center of a historic El Niño gathering strength in the eastern Pacific, on a four-month mission to collect data on the warm-water impulse altering global weather patterns.

Two orange Saildrone Explorer 23′ USVs sailed Aug. 21 from Honolulu, carrying meteorological and oceanographic sensors and rendezvousing  with two other Saildrones on a 6,000-mile round-trip mission for NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) according to a summary from the agency.

“A monumental El Niño is knocking at the door,” said Michael McPhaden, former PMEL senior scientist now working with NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies (CICOES). “We’re going to take a closer look.”

The USVs will steer courses through the Tropical Pacific Observing System, a multi-national array of data-collecting moored surface buoys that provide continuous, real-time hourly tracking of surface winds, air temperature, humidity, and upper-ocean temperature down to 1,640’. Argo floats collect ocean profiles down to 1.24 miles every 10 days.

Distributed throughout the array are drifting buoys measuring sea surface temperature and currents. Overhead, satellites track the drifters and capture surface observations across wide areas.

Read the full article at Workboat 

Gulf shrimp advocate urges federal caution in aquaculture expansion

September 9, 2026 — An organization representing shrimp harvesters and other related small businesses in eight Southern states last week cautioned the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to choose its next round of potential large-scale offshore commercial aquaculture sites carefully.

Published July 30, NOAA’s latest request for information seeks guidance from the public and industry stakeholders on selecting the most suitable locations for what the federal agency calls Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOAs). NOAA has already undertaken this process in Alaska, California and the Gulf of Mexico, which the Trump administration prefers to call the Gulf of America. The deadline for public comment is Sept. 14.

The Florida-based Southern Shrimp Alliance said in a news release Sept. 3 that NOAA’s process must be mindful of what already exists in the Gulf.

The SSA noted identifying AOAs is the “first critical step in a multi-year process” of downstream planning and environmental review, in this case for NOAA’s South Atlantic fisheries. It added feedback it previously gave had helped prevent two important shrimping areas in the Gulf from being designated as AOAs.

Read the full article at CHRON

Ocean Indicators We’re Tracking for El Niño’s Arrival on the West Coast

September 5, 2026 — Has El Niño reached the West Coast?

You might think it has. After all, the ocean off Southern and Central California is unusually warm. But that is from a recent marine heatwave predates the current El Niño. Much of the Pacific Coast is experiencing relatively normal conditions while still awaiting the impacts of what could be a very strong El Niño.

In June, NOAA’s National Weather Service declared that El Niño had developed. That finding, however, is based on ocean temperatures from the tropical Pacific Ocean, near the Equator, which warm ahead of El Niño’s impact on the Americas.

While eastern tropical Pacific temperatures have already risen more than 2°C (about 3.6°F) above normal, El Niño-related warming along the West Coast typically lags that increase by a few months. NOAA Fisheries scientists are tracking West Coast conditions as part of our Integrated Ecosystem Assessment. Here are some of the changes in ocean conditions and marine life that typically signal the arrival of El Niño’s influence along the West Coast.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

eDNA could play a bigger role in stock assessments

September 5, 2026 — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is backing legislation that would expand the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) in federal fish stock assessments, potentially giving fisheries managers another tool to collect more frequent and comprehensive data.

According to Cornell University, the Fisheries Science Modernization Act would direct NOAA to test and validate eDNA technologies for use alongside existing fishery assessment methods. The bill is led by Senator Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Senator Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, co-chairs of the Senate Oceans Caucus, and has eight republican, democratic, and independent co-sponsors.

NOAA currently develops stock assessments using methods including research vessel surveys, bottom trawls, acoustic sonar, longlines, and commercial fishing data. Those assessments ultimately help regional fisheries managers establish annual harvest levels.

The legislation calls for NOAA to expand its use of eDNA to increase survey coverage and frequency while potentially lowering costs.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Trump administration vows to bring ‘common sense’ back to fishing laws

September 3, 2026 — From Gulf Coast shrimpers’ lips to the Trump administration’s ear, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced an extensive set of priorities for reforming the nation’s fisheries on Wednesday, a so-called “operational roadmap” to unshackle what the administration views as a lucrative and essential but unnecessarily burdened industry.

An overture to the executive branch’s nascent America First Seafood Strategy, Wednesday’s announcement continues NOAA’s work under Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness, an April 2025 White House executive order that called seafood “one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the United States.” Since then, according to a news release, NOAA Fisheries has received input from more than 700 entities, including regional fishery councils, commercial producers, and members of the public.

Read the full article at CHRON

US House passes bill delaying start of new right whale rules

September 3, 2026 — The U.S. House has passed a bill that would delay the start of new federal regulations intended to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

The bill, known as the Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act, would extend an existing moratorium on new federal rules for fishermen until 2035.

The current moratorium, which was championed by Maine’s congressional delegation and inserted into a 2023 budget measure, is set to lift at the end of 2028.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently announced the beginning of a public comment period intended the launch discussions about new federal regulations, which the agency said must be in place by the last day of 2028.

Read the full article at Maine Public

NOAA plans $64 million rebuild of historic Beaufort laboratory

September 3, 2026 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will use $64 million in federal disaster funding to rebuild its historic Beaufort Laboratory after hurricane-related structural damage forced the facility to close permanently for safety reasons.

The project will be funded through the 2025 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, with design and preconstruction work expected to begin in early 2027. The new laboratory on Pivers Island will be built above the floodplain and designed to withstand future storms and flooding.

The Beaufort Laboratory was established in 1899 and moved to Pivers Island in 1902. It is the nation’s second-oldest federal marine science laboratory and predates NOAA by more than 70 years.

The main laboratory building being replaced was 62 years old and housed most of the laboratory space on the campus, along with offices for about half of the lab’s staff. The building was permanently closed in 2024 after a routine inspection identified foundational damage that made continued occupancy unsafe.

Republican US Rep. Greg Murphy, whose 3rd Congressional District includes Beaufort and Carteret County, said he had advocated for the reconstruction of the facility since it was damaged.

Read the full article at The Carolina Journal

ALASKA: AOOS: Home of Alaska ocean data

September 3, 2026 — Bordered by the Pacific and Arctic oceans and the Bering Sea, Alaska is home to the richest fisheries in the world, and the source of half the wild fisheries harvest in the U.S.

Managing the fisheries of the 900,000 square mile EEZ, or exclusive economic zone, surrounding the state effectively requires massive amounts of data that are often collected by different entities, public and private, using different methods. Harvesting the bounty safely and economically also relies on information about weather, waves, ice conditions, stock migration patterns, and more.

To gather and share the data being collected to support Alaska’s marine economic and subsistence activities, the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) was founded in 2003 and started operating in 2004 as one of the regional hubs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) national Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). IOOS was formally established in 2007 and continues to expand in its role as an information portal on many fronts.

“It’s a lot to manage,” says AOOS’ executive director, Sheyna Wisdom. “If you look at California, for example, they have two regional hubs, and they’re both on the Pacific. Ours are very spread out, and if you look at the Arctic, it doesn’t have the same information needs as Southeast.”

Besides marine traffic, water quality, and other projects, much of the AOOS budget of over $4 million goes into funding research that supports fisheries and coastal communities that depend on fisheries.

“What we do is collect information and make sure it is available to the people who need it,” says Wisdom. “With the Alaska Sea Grant, we co-host the bi-monthly Alaska Marine Policy Forum where the public gets updates on marine policy issues. We also facilitate several collaboration networks to connect people across Alaska, such as the Alaska Harmful Algal Bloom Network or the Alaska Ocean Acidification Network. We take our role as a connector very seriously.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman