Saving Seafood

Sullivan reintroduces sweeping bill targeting bycatch, seafloor impacts

July 8, 2026 — U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) has reintroduced the Bycatch Reduction Act, legislation that would expand federal efforts to reduce bycatch, limit seafloor impacts from trawl gear, improve fisheries monitoring and increase transparency in fishery management.

According to Sullivan’s office, the bill builds on recommendations from the Alaska Salmon Task Force, which was created through legislation he authored and signed into law in 2022.

The proposal would establish new standards and monitoring requirements designed to keep both midwater and bottom trawl nets off the seafloor, require proven salmon excluder devices on pollock vessels, invest in salmon tagging and genetic sampling, expand ecosystem research, and create a new flume tank testing facility to evaluate fishing gear under simulated ocean conditions. The bill also would reauthorize NOAA’s Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program and encourage fishermen to test new gear and technologies aimed at reducing bycatch and habitat impacts.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA eyes potential changes to Alaska sea lion protections as Trump urges boosted seafood harvests

July 6, 2026 — Federal regulators plan to reevaluate fishing closure boundaries established to protect endangered Steller sea lions in Alaska, part of a national Trump administration push to cut regulation of U.S. commercial seafood harvests.

The Steller sea lion protections are among a series of rules that the administration is seeking to relax or change to carry out a mandate from President Donald Trump to increase catches, reduce regulation and ensure that the nation is “the world’s dominant seafood leader.”

The recommended changes were released on Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries service and are in response to Trump’s 2025 executive order titled “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.” They could affect oceans from New England and the Caribbean to the tropical Pacific and the Bering Sea.

Several months of public consultations resulted in a list of recommendations that “we believe will reduce burdens on domestic fishing, increase production, stabilize markets, improve access, and enhance economic profitability,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler said in a statement.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

Alaska pollock fishery secures MSC recertification

March 20, 2026 — Recertification of the Alaska pollock fishery against the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard was finalized today, reaffirming the fishery’s status as a responsibly managed and sustainable seafood resource.

The Alaska pollock fishery has maintained MSC certification since 2005 and has now been recertified for another five-year period following a comprehensive, independent assessment.

Matt Tinning, CEO of the At-sea Processors Association (APA), which holds the MSC certificate for the Alaska pollock fishery, issued the following statement:

“We are proud that the Alaska pollock fishery continues to meet the rigorous, science-based standards of the Marine Stewardship Council. This recertification reflects decades of responsible management, strong science, and a shared commitment to continuous improvement across the fleet.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Channel Fish, Trident Seafoods win latest USDA contracts for pollock, haddock

June 9, 2025 — U.S. seafood suppliers Trident Seafoods and Channel Fish Processing have won new contracts for fish products from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) worth a total of nearly USD 2 million (EUR 1.8 million).

Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based Trident Seafoods was awarded USD 530,556 (EUR 465,627) to supply 228,000 lbs of frozen pollock fish sticks and fillets, while Braintree, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Channel Fish Processing was awarded USD 1.1 million (EUR 952,791) to supply 456,000 lbs of frozen pollock fish sticks and fillets.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Alaska’s pollock industry looks to get to the bottom of a rising criticism

April 23, 2025 — Alaska pollock is one of the world’s most valuable fisheries, due to the enormous annual harvest volume and the versatility of the white, mild-flavored fish, federal economists say.

Fairly or unfairly, the pollock fishery’s prodigious size makes it an easy target on controversial issues such as salmon bycatch.

Lately, another criticism has taken on a higher profile – the charge that the pollock industry’s pelagic nets aren’t really “midwater” gear, but rather touch bottom much of the time, damaging seafloor habitat and mangling king and Tanner crab. These crab fisheries have seen total closures in recent years due to stock declines primarily attributed to changes in the marine environment.

To address the bottom contact issue, the pollock industry is embarking on an ambitious project to gain a better understanding of how its trawl gear works in the water and, possibly, to develop improved designs.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Advocacy groups call on Alaska to eliminate pollock trawling in Prince William Sound

December 10, 2024 — Salmon industry advocacy group SalmonState is calling on the Alaska State Board of Fisheries to limit or eliminate the Prince William Sound pollock pelagic trawl fishery – the only such fishery managed by the state.

The state board will consider four separate proposals that would either add further restrictions on the state-managed pollock fishery or eliminate it entirely at its annual meeting in Cordova, Alaska, taking place 10 to 16 December.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US seafood preference ranking reveals strong regional differences

February 5, 2024 — Catfish, lobster, haddock, pollock, and crab each have regional strongholds in the U.S. But a few species have broken through to national popularity, with shrimp, salmon, and cod leading the charge.

Shrimp was ranked the most popular species of seafood in every region of the U.S. for 2023. Salmon also made an appearance in the top five seafood species in all nine regions of the U.S., as identified by a Circana SupplyTrack survey done over 52 weeks ending June 2023. The data was presented at the Global Seafood Market Conference on 25 January 2024 in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US Alaska pollock suppliers navigating complications from expanded ban on Russian product

January 10, 2023 — U.S. suppliers are scrambling to figure out how the nuances of an expanded U.S. ban on Russian seafood might impact their trading in Alaska pollock.

On 22 December 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order expanding the U.S. ban on Russian seafood to include imports of Russia-originated seafood processed in third countries, including China. The expanded ban entered into immediate effect, with import contracts signed before that permitted to be carried out through 21 February 2024, according to the department.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US pollock sector commits more funding to GAPP, “Wild Alaska Pollock” campaign

December 6, 2023 — The Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) will receive more funding to continue its “Wild Alaska Pollock” campaign in 2024.

Since enlisting a new board of directors and expanding its annual budget to USD 4 million (EUR 3.4 million) in 2019, the organization has built awareness and demand for its marquee product through the use of the “Wild Alaska Pollock” tagline.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource