Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Mayor of New Bedford urges NOAA to approve proposal allowing scallop permit stacking

October 20, 2025 — The mayor of the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A., is calling on NOAA Fisheries to allow full-time scallop vessels to stack two permits on one vessel.

Mayor Jon Mitchell, in a letter sent to NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, called on the agency to allow for permit stacking in order to help protect the industry. Mitchell’s letter said he has reconsidered his position on the matter, as the scallop fishery continues to face limited days at sea.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Gay Head Lighthouse joins right whale protection network

October 20, 2025 —  The Gay Head Lighthouse in Aquinnah has joined a marine safety network meant to reduce the number of vessel strikes for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

StationKeeper tracks vessel activity and sends messages directly from shore to vessels. Equipment installed at participating lighthouses makes it possible to warn mariners to slow down when they’re traveling through right whale habitat.

Race Point Lighthouse in Provincetown is a StationKeeper site, and more recently, the Gay Head Lighthouse in Aquinnah has joined the network, Gay Head Lighthouse principal keeper Chris Manning said.

“[StationKeeper] communicates and integrates with NOAA [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] to receive whale location data, and in turn it sends that information and the speed restriction zones to ships passing nearby,” he said. “As far as our role at the lighthouse, we host the system, but the system really operates and runs all on its own.”

Read the full article at CAI

New Bedford Mayor Urges NOAA to Advance Targeted Scallop Permit-Stacking to Keep Fleet Working

October 17, 2025 — Mayor Jon Mitchell today wrote to Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, setting forth his position on a proposed rule that would allow full-time, limited-access scallop permit holders to “stack” two permits on a single vessel. New Bedford has been the nation’s highest-value fishing port for 23 consecutive years, since 2001. As the Mayor writes, “the Atlantic sea scallop fishery is one of America’s highest grossing commercial fisheries and is concentrated in New Bedford,” giving the city “a singular interest in policies that govern the allocation of scallop permits.”

Background and changing circumstances

Three years ago, the mayor opposed a proposal that would have authorized leasing of limited-access scallop permits. In his view then, it went further than necessary to address over-capitalization and risked inexorable industry consolidation, costing shoreside jobs and diminishing returns to single-boat owners and their crews, while failing to sufficiently engage the small businesses most exposed. He now notes that changing circumstances have prompted him to revisit his position, given the continued tightening of effort controls and their knock-on effects throughout the fleet and waterfront.

Why the industry needs relief

“The continued decline in available days-at-sea and closed area trips for limited-access permit holders has forced a broad reckoning in the industry that the traditional assignment of one permit per boat is antiquated. It has resulted in scallopers remaining in port for nearly eleven months a year on average – hardly an efficient use of a multi-million-dollar business asset,” the mayor writes. Building on that point, the mayor cites the practical consequences in port: prolonged vessel idling has increased congestion on municipal piers, reducing safety for fishermen; and by cutting average-boat revenues, it has constrained reinvestment in vessels, raising additional safety concerns.

What’s different now

“The new proposal is being advanced by a different group of proponents, who went back to the proverbial drawing board to fashion a more measured approach. In its broadest terms, the proposal would not allow the leasing of permits, but it instead would allow the transfer of permits between two vessels of similar size and common ownership. In practice, this would enable one boat to fish for approximately twice as long in any given year,” the mayor wrote.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

Shutdown cancels NOAA meeting with regional fishery councils

October 15, 2025 — A planned meeting between NOAA Fisheries’ senior political leaders and representatives of the eight regional fishery advisory councils has been canceled due to the government shutdown.

The Council Coordination Committee, which includes the chairs, vice chairs, and executive directors from each regional fishery management council, was scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday to share information and talk about the nation’s fisheries priorities, including compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order to boost American seafood competitiveness.

The notice for the meeting on the committee’s website noted the cancellation and that it was due to the shutdown.

Read the full article at E&E News

Seafood coalition requests Court of International Trade to step in on NOAA’s MMPA findings

October 15, 2025 — The group of seafood companies and industry groups that sued NOAA over its determinations on Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requirements has also filed over the same issue with the Court of International Trade.

The group – which includes the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), several seafood companies, and the Restaurant Law Center – is asking the court for a preliminary injunction halting any import prohibitions resulting from NOAA’s MMPA decisions. NOAA found 240 foreign fisheries do not have equivalent regulations to U.S. fisheries regarding marine mammal protections, necessitating a ban on all seafood imports.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Seafood Coalition Seeks Preliminary Injunction to Halt Marine Mammal Protection Act Import Prohibition in New Court Filing

October 14, 2025 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

The coalition that filed suit against NOAA on Thursday October 9, over the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), today asked the Court of International Trade for a preliminary injunction that would halt import prohibitions that will bar the entry of seafood products from 240 fisheries across 46 nations.

The plaintiffs in this suit continue to be concerned about unintended consequences of the “comparability findings” made by NOAA and the impact of its current application on U.S. businesses and hundreds of American jobs from Maryland and Virgina to North Carolina and Florida.  The coalition has asked the court to require NOAA to reconsider its decision and to immediately lift the import ban in order to avoid devastating economic consequences to the seafood industry.

The filing notes that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) determinations exceed the agency’s statutory authority and violate its own regulations. The plaintiffs will suffer immediate and irreparable harm—including existential threats to their businesses which have no alternative sources of certain seafood if the foreign fisheries are closed.

“In so many cases with the implementation of this Act we’re not talking about ‘violations’ that put marine mammals at risk, we’re talking about box checking and regulatory equivalence rather than outcomes,” said NFI’s Chief Strategy Officer, Gavin Gibbons. “Meanwhile, in the case of Blue Swimming Crab there’s no domestic substitute that can feasibly replace the product. So, the consequence of failing to have a bureaucratic comparison is taking crab cakes off menus and putting Americans out of work. Is that what MMPA was designed to do?”

The request for a preliminary injunction presents evidence from Plaintiffs of serious concerns about imminent shutdowns, layoffs, stranded inventory, and breaches of supply contracts, in addition to financing risks. 

The parties to this lawsuit are strong proponents of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA.) They do not oppose it. They support its goals and want to see it responsibly and sensibly applied.

Group of seafood companies, NFI sue NOAA over its marine mammal protection decision

October 11, 2025 — A coalition of seafood importers and industry groups such as the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and the Restaurant Law Center have sued NOAA over its recent determinations on Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requirements.

NOAA recently determined 240 foreign fisheries do not comply with U.S. marine mammal regulations under the MMPA, finding they did not have sufficient protections in place for marine mammals. As a result of the ruling, those 240 fisheries from 46 different nations will be unable to export any products to the U.S. as of 1 January 2026, including 12 countries that lost access for every single one of its fisheries. Those countries included four which did not submit any applications – Benin, Haiti, Iran, and Venezuela – and eight which submitted applications but were denied – Grenada, Guinea, Namibia, New Caledonia, Russia, Saint Lucia, The Gambia, and Togo.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Scientists study Atlantic bluefin tuna spawning off Northeast U.S.

October 10, 2025 — Scientists are getting closer to understanding how Atlantic bluefin tuna spawn between the Gulf Stream and the continental shelf off New England, possibly a third important breeding area in addition to the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean Sea.

The Slope Sea off the Northeast U.S. coast has been studied over the past decade in the belief it contributes to bluefin tuna stock mixing between the two long-known east and west breeding populations.

During summer 2025 scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center conducted two exploratory surveys to examine how bluefin tuna use this area for reproduction. A cooperative survey with commercial longline fishermen sought adult spawning tuna, and a second survey soon after sampled Northeast waters for bluefin tuna larvae.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Neil Jacobs confirmed as NOAA head

October 9, 2025 — The United States Senate has confirmed the nomination of former NOAA Acting Administrator Neil Jacobs to lead the agency once again as the undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere.

U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Jacobs in February, but the Republican-controlled Senate lacked the Democrat votes needed to clear many of the president’s nominations. In September, Senate Republicans changed the legislative body’s rules to allow them to confirm multiple nominees at a time in bloc votes after accusing their Democrat colleagues of slowing the confirmation process with procedural motions.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

One of Long Island Sound’s most invasive species is appearing on dinner menus. Here’s why and where

October 8, 2025 — The European green crab, commonly found in the Long Island Sound, is becoming a beloved culinary dish known for its sweet, rich and complex flavor.

But unlike other types of standard seafood fare found on menus in Connecticut, the green crab is considered one of the “world’s most invasive species” to inhabit the icy waters off New England. The crab is believed to have come to the eastern Atlantic from western European waters over 200 years ago and is known for causing ecological harm as a voracious predator, consuming up to 40 half-inch soft-shell clams in a single day and eating a variety of shellfish including scallops, mussels and oysters.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, green crabs are considered one of the most invasive species in the marine environment because they have very few predators, aggressively hunt and eat their prey, destroy seagrass and outcompete local species for food and habitat. The crab is now found from Maine all the way down to Delaware, according to the NOAA.

Read the full article at Hartford Courant