Saving Seafood

Faster Analysis of Data to Evaluate Bycatch Reduction Efforts in Pollock Fishery

September 30, 2025 — Scientists used a model to detect and classify fish in videos more quickly than humans. The detection model is called You Only Look Once, version 11 (or YOLOv11). It’s helping scientists evaluate the effectiveness of excluders that help salmon escape from fishing nets intended to catch pollock.

YOLOv11 is an object detection deep learning model for images. Scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center customized it to detect and identify both pollock and salmon in fishing nets. This allows scientists to semi-automate the video review process used to evaluate the effectiveness of bycatch reduction devices. They can also observe fish behavior to improve the performance of these devices.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Feds seek to reauthorize marine mammal harassment rule

September 30, 2025 — A bureau at NOAA is pushing the agency to reimplement an existing rule for how seismic testing affects marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the rule’s expiration next spring.

If extended, the rule would reauthorize harassment of marine mammals by oil and gas industry companies that conduct seismic tests in the Gulf, which President Donald Trump renamed the Gulf of America earlier this year.

In an August letter, Director Jennifer Wallace of NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Policy wrote to the head of the Office of Protected Resources asking that the current rule be reimplemented going forward. That rule includes monitoring requirements, efforts by companies to detect marine mammals and maximum harassment levels.

Read the full article at E&E News

The Council Responds to Executive Order 14276; Pauses the Gear Marking Framework and Approves a Management Flexibility Amendment

September 30, 2025 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council met in Gloucester, MA from September 23 – 25, 2025.

Notable outcomes are summarized below.

COUNCIL FINALIZES RESPONSE TO EXECUTIVE ORDER 14276 ON SEAFOOD COMPETITIVENESS

At its September meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council finalized its response to Executive Order (EO) 14276, “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.” The letter, developed in coordination with NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office (GARFO), lays out a work plan to reduce regulatory burdens, increase fishery production, improve economic returns, and help prevent unnecessary closures. The Council submitted its recommendations to NOAA Fisheries on September 30, 2025.

To shape its response, the Council sought broad input from all Advisory Panel members and Plan Development Teams. Based on this input, the Executive Committee drafted a list of recommendations for new and ongoing actions and submitted this to the Council for approval. The list contains four key areas:

  1. Council Actions in the NOAA Fisheries Rulemaking Process: urged timely implementation of Northeast Multispecies Framework Adjustment 69 and the Atlantic Herring 2025–2027 specifications.

  2. Council Actions Currently Under Development: continue work currently underway related to increases in management flexibility, specifications for monkfish and skates, reduced burdens in the dogfish fishery, and a scallop strategic plan.

  3. Possible New Council Actions: the Council will consider updates to vessel baseline restrictions, herring slippage rules, monkfish management, accountability measures, gillnet exemption areas, and outdated regulations.

  4. Non-Council Actions: that call on federal agencies to expand seafood marketing, strengthen science and monitoring, support recreational management tools, invest in climate-ready fisheries, and streamline NEPA reviews.

The full list of recommended actions is available here.

NOAA council reels in proposal to encourage ‘ropeless’ fishing gear

September 29, 2025 — The New England Fishery Management Council tabled a proposal last week to encourage the use of “on-demand” and “ropeless” fishing gear in the Atlantic Ocean to protect right whales after industry groups and a Maine lawmaker argued the plan would unduly burden lobster fishermen.

At a Thursday council meeting in Gloucester, Massachusetts, fishermen and industry representatives decried the framework proposal, saying the new fishing gear remains unproven and would further disrupt an industry already facing heavy regulation in a difficult economy.

Earlier in the week, Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, had also written a letter to NEFMC Executive Director Cate O’Keefe charging that the framework intended to protect endangered right whales from fishing gear entanglements was “premature and unnecessary.” Golden said it runs counter to a congressional mandate that the federal government should suspend any regulations targeting fishing gear until 2028.

Read the full article at E&E News

NOAA Fisheries Releases 2025 Alaska Aquaculture Accomplishments Report

September 29, 2025 — The NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office has released the 2025 Aquaculture Accomplishments Report. It highlights the growth of the aquaculture industry in Alaska and provides details about local, state, and federal efforts aimed at supporting this important maritime industry.

NOAA’s Aquaculture Program supports cutting-edge science and policies to foster sustainable domestic aquaculture growth. Currently, at least 70 percent of the seafood Americans eat comes from other countries, and over half of that is farm-raised. Produced responsibly, as it is here in the United States, aquaculture is one of the most resource-efficient ways of making healthy food, and it can help reduce reliance on imports, providing a more stable and secure seafood supply. By expanding domestic aquaculture in harmony with wild-capture fisheries, NOAA helps create jobs, support coastal communities, and ensure healthy, home-grown seafood for American families.

Alaska’s aquaculture industry consists of seaweed and shellfish farming. Oysters, mussels, sugar kelp, ribbon kelp, and bull kelp are the primary species grown in the state. The NOAA Fisheries Alaska Aquaculture Program has strategically aligned our annual activities to support the Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth, and NOAA’s 2023-2028 Aquaculture Strategic Plan. The plan lays out a framework to support a thriving, resilient, and robust U.S. aquaculture industry as part of a resilient seafood sector. This effort also supports the Executive Order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

California leads spike in whale entanglements last year, NOAA report says

September 25, 2025 —  The number of large whale entanglements in U.S. waters increased steeply in 2024, with California seeing the most of the incidents, a U.S. government report said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a report last week documenting 95 large whale entanglements in 2024, compared to 64 in 2023 and well above the historical average of around 71 per year. The majority of the entanglements, 71%, happened off the coast of four states: Alaska, California, Hawaii and Massachusetts, the report said. Of those, 25% occurred off the California coast, primarily in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Area.

The report said about half of the entanglements, mostly of humpback whales, were directly attributed to commercial or recreational fisheries. Whales become snagged in fishing gear used to catch lobster, crab, and other species, affecting their ability to swim, reproduce, and feed, and often causing death.

Entanglements and vessel strikes are two main causes of whale deaths, according to the NOAA. The agency says that since 2007, at least 922 humpback whales have been maimed or killed by long lines of rope fishermen use to pull up crab cages.

Read the full article at CBS News

NOAA identifies 21,000 acres suitable for commercial aquaculture development

September 25, 2025 — NOAA Fisheries has identified 21,000 acres of ocean off the coast of California and in the Gulf of Mexico, now called the Gulf of America by the Trump Administration, that it claims would be suitable for offshore aquaculture development.

The announcement follows up on an executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term, which charged NOAA Fisheries with establishing 10 Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOA) by 2025. According to the order, AOAs would be sites predetermined by the government to be suitable for commercial aquaculture.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Conservation groups to sue over hatchery salmon in Columbia River

September 24, 2025 — The Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) and The Conservation Angler (TCA) have announced plans to sue the federal government over the damage they claim hatchery fish are doing to wild salmon, steelhead, and orca populations.

“Mitchell Act hatcheries are causing harm that we know how to prevent. We’re taking this action today as part of our long-standing commitment to hold the federal government accountable and prevent further violations that imperil these species and the ecosystems they depend on,” WFC Executive Director Emma Helverson said in a release. “It’s time for NOAA to stop prioritizing maintaining harmful hatchery practices over their responsibility to protect wild fish for current and future generations.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Red snapper commercial season closes as NOAA catch limits met for 2025

September 24, 2025 — The commercial harvest of red snapper closed Wednesday morning, officially ending the 2025 fishing season of the animal now for both commercial and recreational fishermen.

According to the NOAA, the commercial catch limit of 102,951 pounds whole weight was met for the year, prompting the season closure.

This comes after NOAA fisheries published a final rule in June, reducing the catch limit from 124,815 pounds whole weigh to 102,951 pounds whole weight. The recreational catch limit of red snapper also dropped from 29,656 fish to 22,797 fish.

Read the full article at WPDE

Amid economic volatility, financial challenges, U.S. seafood producers are calling for change

September 23, 2025 — Every year, more than US$100 million in federal financing programs are allocated to support U.S. aquaculture businesses. But some producers are finding that availability and meaningful access can be two different things – and they are beginning to speak out. 

It’s a seeming disconnect between government pronouncements to support the growth of U.S. aquaculture through these funding programs and the difficulties and hurdles business owners say they face when trying to access them. 

“ One of the things that’s really making it a lot more difficult is the position of NOAA,” says Robin Pearl, co-founder and president of Florida-based shrimp genetics producer American Penaeid. “And it shouldn’t be this hard and it shouldn’t be this way.” 

Pearl, who also co-founded American Mariculture (AMI), the company behind Sun Shrimp, maintains the current system governing NOAA-managed financing programs has not been responsive to the needs of seafood farmers, especially after their businesses have had to endure a global pandemic and other natural disasters.

Read the full article at Aquaculture North America