Saving Seafood

Conservation group to sue over Kodiak, Gulf salmon management

November 4, 2026 — The Wild Fish Conservancy has sent notice to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and NOAA Fisheries it intends to sue over management of sport and commercial salmon fisheries in Kodiak, Chignik and Alaska Peninsula waters, alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act.

“Nearly nine out of ten Chinook salmon caught in commercial fisheries along the South Alaska Peninsula in 2024 and 2025 originated outside Alaska, according to research from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

“Yet these fisheries operate without federal Endangered Species Act oversight of their impacts on threatened and endangered Pacific Northwest Chinook, even as communities where these fish return face strict fishing limits and invest heavily in their recovery,” WFC wrote in an Oct. 28 letter to ADF&G Commissioner Douglas Vincent-Lang.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

How El Niño could threaten your favorite seafood for years to come

October 29, 2026 — Squid are shifting to cooler water, young salmon are struggling to find food sources, and concern is growing for Oregon’s $100 million Dungeness crab harvest as a powerful El Niño weather pattern heats up coastal ocean temperatures from California to the Pacific Northwest. Scientists expect the phenomenon to last for several months, leaving fishermen such as Phil Fogle scrambling.

Fogle, who owns two squid fishing boats based in the port of Anacortes, in Washington state, normally would keep fishing until foul weather sets in — his boats operate from Eureka, California, to Kodiak, Alaska. Instead, Fogle tied up his boats last week and furloughed his seven employees. The squid that normally inhabit coastal water have fled offshore for colder, deeper water that are harder to reach for smaller boats.

“Those little buggers are really affected by water temperature,” Fogle said about the squid. “It has been devastating to us.”

He said he’s losing about $50,000 a month.

Fogle said he’s waiting for the El Niño conditions to pass and hoping to get on the water again early next year.

This year’s El Niño, the strongest on record, has led temperatures off the Pacific Northwest coast to jump 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit above the average from 1991 to 2020, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. El Niño’s warmth has arrived on top of an existing marine heat wave in the Gulf of Alaska, according to Steven Bograd, senior climatologist at NOAA.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

WASHINGTON: 2 million invasive green crabs captured along Washington state shorelines

October 14, 2026 — More than 2 million invasive green crabs were captured in Washington state from July 2025 to June 2026, smashing previous records.

More European green crabs were trapped in those 12 months than in all previous years combined since the pinchy invaders were first documented in Washington state in 1998.

“We’ve seen some pretty dramatic increases,”  said aquatic invasive species researcher Brian Turner, who’s with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It’s not good news.”

Read the full article at KUOW

Pacific Northwest lawmakers request Section 32 purchase of hake

September 22, 2026 — U.S. lawmakers from the Pacific Northwest are asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to make a bulk purchase of Pacific whiting, or hake, as the ongoing war in Ukraine and other supply chain issues continue to impact demand.

“Historically, Pacific whiting exports to Ukraine, one of the largest whiting fillet markets, reached up to nearly USD 95 million per year (EUR 83 million), but instability in the region as a result of war has put that market in jeopardy and caused significant impacts to the supply chain,” the lawmakers said in a joint letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. “Compounded by trade embargoes, increased imported competition from low-cost proteins, inflationary pressures, rising operational costs, and more, these factors threaten the long-term stability and viability of this once-booming market and create uncertainty for coastal economies that rely on the whiting fishery’s success for their livelihoods.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US House committee advances bill expanding culling of salmon-eating seals and sea lions

September 16, 2026 — The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee has approved a bill that would allow the state of Washington and area Tribes to kill more seals and sea lions that prey upon recovering salmon populations.

“I am pleased the House Natural Resources Committee voted in a bipartisan manner to advance my bill,” U.S. Representative Michael Baumgartner (R-Washington) said in a release. “This bill, born in collaboration with many of the Tribes in Washington who have federally recognized treaty fishing rights, is an important step in the right direction to protect salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. I look forward to continued bipartisanship as we work to get it signed into law before the end of this Congress.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

More than $100 million in habitat funding targets key US fisheries

September 14, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries is directing $103 million toward habitat restoration projects across the country, with several of the largest awards aimed at improving habitat for commercially important salmon, shrimp, oysters, and other species.

The agency announced Sept. 10 that it selected 16 projects for funding, ranging from salmon habitat work in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest to salt marsh restoration along the Gulf and Southeast coasts.

The funding is intended to restore wetlands, rivers, coral reefs, and other habitats fish rely on for feeding, spawning, and growth. NOAA said healthy habitat is essential to sustaining both commercial and recreational fisheries and the communities and industries that depend on them.

Demand for funding far exceeded what was available. NOAA received nearly 350 proposals requesting a combined $1.5 billion, more than 17 times the amount ultimately awarded.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

WASHINGTON: Rise of the Black Cod, Once seldom sought, sablefish becomes a best seller in Ilwaco

August 3, 2026 — A once seldom-sought deepwater fish is rapidly rising to the top of local seafood demand.

Sablefish — also known as black cod, butterfish, skil, beshow or coalfish — are a deepwater species native to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. They are a tasty source of protein, rich in omega-3 fatty acids and fetch a high price in local markets.

“Black cod is the thing we’re really bringing in right now,” said Eryn Domeyer, director of operations of Tre-Fin Seafood Market, now in their fourth year of operation at 213 First Ave. in Ilwaco. “It’s kind of unlike anything else — it’s incredible.”

Going deep

Sablefish are commonly caught off the Washington coast by commercial harvesters using otter-trawls, jig handline and longline gear, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

They are a robust fish with an elongate body and two dorsal fins, capable of growing to over 30 inches in length and living to more than 90 years.

They are often referred to as black cod, even though they are not actually part of the cod family, according to NOAA Fisheries.

Adults are blackish or greenish gray above, usually with slightly paler blotches or a chainlike pattern on the upper back and more pale below. The Washington state record black cod is 30 pounds, caught off the coast of Grays Harbor County in 1994 by Jeff Rudolph.

The fish range from Japan north into the Bering Sea and south through Alaska and British Columbia to Mexico, with highest concentrations in Alaska. Adults can be found on mud bottoms in depths of 300 to 1,500 meters (984 to 4,900 feet).

Sablefish have been identified as a potential species for commercial farming in the Pacific Northwest, according to NOAA Fisheries, where they are the target of a sustainably managed commercial and recreational fishery. The United States currently does not produce farmed sablefish, but researchers are experimenting with raising them in hopes of creating a viable commercial aquaculture industry.

Read the full article at Chinook Observer

US bill would allow tribes to kill more sea lions along Columbia River

July 13, 2026 — A new bill introduced in U.S. Congress would authorize Native American tribes in Southwest Washington to kill some of the sea lions eating salmon in the Columbia River.

California and stellar sea lion populations have ballooned in the Pacific Northwest under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA); since 1950, the population has increased from roughly 10,000 to 250,000. Salmon are a major source of prey for sea lions, and the increased pinniped population has placed more pressure on the fish.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

OREGON: Oregon lawmakers push to restore salmon hatchery funding

July 10, 2026 — A bipartisan group of Oregon coastal lawmakers is urging the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to reverse its decision to cut funding for a salmon hatchery program they say is critical to the state’s commercial and recreational fisheries.

BPA announced in June that it plans to end its more than $2 million in annual funding for the Select Area Fisheries Enhancement (SAFE) program. Which is managed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, according to reporting by OPB. The funding has covered more than one-third of the program’s operating costs since 1993.

BPA is a federal nonprofit agency under the U.S. Department of Energy that also markets wholesale electricity generated by 31 federal dams and one nuclear plant in the Pacific Northwest.

According to OPB, BPA said it is ending its support because the program has not made sufficient progress toward improving populations of salmon protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

El Niño is officially here, and this one could be a doozy

June 12, 2026 — Prepare for intense heat, drought and some flooding — it’s officially El Niño season, the National Weather Service announced Thursday.

This El Niño event could be on par with some of the strongest documented in the past, according to models from the NWS.

“There is a 63% chance that we’re looking at a very strong El Niño during the November to January time period that could rank amongst the largest El Niño events in the historical record,” Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist for the NWS in Los Angeles, said at a news conference held by the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. “We’re already seeing those warm temperatures lining up.”

El Niño is a natural climate pattern that causes warm surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean. It’s associated with higher average global temperatures, so its effects exacerbate warming from climate change. The pattern is linked to fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic and more in the Pacific.

In the U.S., El Niño’s influence is most obvious in the winter, as it shifts the typical flow of the jet stream, the ribbon of air that encircles the Northern Hemisphere and drives weather patterns. The pattern typically pushes the jet stream south.

In the Pacific Northwest, that creates dry, warmer-than-usual conditions in winter, which is a concern this year because much of the region is already mired in drought after receiving middling snow. In Southern states, the trend typically brings unusually wet weather in the winter, which could prime the region for flooding.

El Niño can also drive powerful marine heat waves and scramble sea life, causing mass die-offs and bringing unusual tropical fish to coastal waters.

Read the full article at NBC News