Saving Seafood

Georgia anglers embark on controversial red snapper season | Exclusive

October 16, 2026 — A controversial red snapper season currently underway off the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina is the latest battle in the long-running conflict between commercial and recreational fishers over limited fish populations.

But this time, the 14-day season promises to yield something both sides want: data.

Red snapper in the Gulf and the South Atlantic were overfished in the 1990s, leading to tight federal limits on commercial and recreational harvests. Since 2008, Georgia anglers have been allowed to fish for red snapper for only a few days each year, if at all.

Now, NOAA Fisheries says red snapper populations have recovered enough to support an “experimental” season that will test a new Georgia system for reporting how many red snapper are caught—and thrown back—by recreational fishers.

Read the full article at Savannah Morning News

Highly Migratory Species Management: Managing Shared Resources at Home and Around the World

October 12, 2026 — Through leadership in domestic and international organizations, NOAA Fisheries helps advance science-based highly migratory species fishery management to bolster healthy international fish stocks and advocate for U.S. fishermen and fishing communities.

Highly migratory species—like Atlantic yellowfin tuna, Pacific albacore, and Atlantic swordfish—travel thousands of miles across state, national, and international boundaries throughout their lives. These important commercial and recreational fisheries support seafood businesses and coastal communities across the United States. But highly migratory fish don’t recognize state or national borders, so managing them sustainably requires collaboration across jurisdictional boundaries. Strong domestic management and international cooperation sustain these fisheries and the communities that depend on these shared ocean resources.

In the United States, highly migratory species are managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Their management is consistent with requirements adopted by regional fisheries management organizations established by international treaties. Each of these RFMOs provide a forum for countries to work together to conserve these shared resources that spend their lives moving across jurisdictions.

Fisheries managers in the Atlantic and Pacific share the same goal: providing sustainable fishing opportunities while maintaining healthy fish stocks. Fisheries, geography, and management structures vary by region, so NOAA Fisheries uses different management tools and authorities to achieve that shared goal across fisheries.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

NORTH CAROLINA: Fishermen oppose expansion of military training area in Pamlico Sound

October 9, 2026 — Commercial and recreational fishermen are objecting to a proposed expansion of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point’s military training and operations in public trust waters. Some voiced strong opposition during an in-person public hearing Sept. 29, hosted by the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management (DCM) at NC State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology.

The six in-person comments opposing the measures — which are the only comments made available to the News-Times — are among more than 30 that have been submitted to the state environmental agency so far, as DCM completes a federal consistency review of the proposal.

The proposed project, submitted to the state by military officials, would increase aircraft and unmanned systems operations, add watercraft operations and increase restricted areas around two bombing targets in the Pamlico Sound.

Read the full article at Carolina Coast Online

How Will El Niño Affect Your Local Fisheries?

October 8, 2026 — What does El Niño mean for U.S. fisheries and marine life? What can fishermen and coastal communities expect to observe and experience as this event continues and potentially intensifies? And what are scientists at NOAA Fisheries doing to track this natural phenomenon?

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation is a powerful atmospheric cycle that occurs in the Pacific Ocean along the Equator and weakens trade winds that blow from east to west. This allows warm surface water in the Pacific to slosh back east towards the Americas. It reduces the amount of cold water upwelling that usually occurs off the coast of South America. This natural phenomenon can have intense atmospheric and oceanographic effects, such as increased precipitation, flooding, and warmer ocean temperatures. These impacts vary by geographic location but are typically felt most directly by regions within the Pacific Basin.

In June 2026, NOAA forecasters announced that El Niño had formed in the tropical Pacific. As of October, they have predicted a greater than 83 percent chance of a “very strong event” during the Northern Hemisphere fall and winter 2026–27. Experts expect this event will persist through early spring 2027, with the potential for observable impacts in marine ecosystems for months or even years afterwards.

Scientists still can’t predict exactly what will occur during this period. But NOAA Fisheries can draw upon historic observations and an abundance of data collected throughout previous El Niño events to suggest likely impacts across our ecosystems. Additionally, we are actively deploying tools and strategies to monitor and predict El Niño’s impact on the marine environment across the United States, including:

Learn more about what you can expect from this El Niño event and what NOAA Fisheries is doing to forecast and document its impacts.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Florida fishers fight red snapper fishing season that starts Oct. 9

October 8, 2026 — Six commercial fishing businesses and fishermen, including two on the Treasure Coast, have filed a lawsuit challenging a two-week recreational red snapper fishing season for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina that starts Oct. 9.

The lawsuit contends the decision to allow the 14-day season was based on unsupported assumptions that will lead to overharvest of red snapper.

Read the full article at TC Palm

Fishermen challenge red snapper permits

October 7, 2026 — Six commercial fishing businesses and fishermen from Florida and North Carolina have filed a federal lawsuit challenging exempted fishing permits that authorize a 14-day recreational red snapper season in South Atlantic federal waters.

The lawsuit, Ariel Seafoods of Florida, Inc. v. Lutnick, was filed Oct. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare three permits issued Sept. 21 to Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina illegal.

The permits authorize recreational red snapper harvest in federal waters off the three states from Oct. 9 through Oct. 22, with the possibility of a second season in December. NMFS has separately established a three-day federal season, Oct. 9-11, for anglers not participating under a state permit.

At the center of the dispute is how additional red snapper harvest is being allocated between the recreational and commercial sectors.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Fishermen challenge red snapper permits

October 6, 2026 — Six commercial fishing businesses and fishermen from Florida and North Carolina have filed a federal lawsuit challenging exempted fishing permits that authorize a 14-day recreational red snapper season in South Atlantic federal waters.

The lawsuit, Ariel Seafoods of Florida, Inc. v. Lutnick, was filed Oct. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare three permits issued Sept. 21 to Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina illegal.

The permits authorize recreational red snapper harvest in federal waters off the three states from Oct. 9 through Oct. 22, with the possibility of a second season in December. NMFS has separately established a three-day federal season, Oct. 9-11, for anglers not participating under a state permit.

At the center of the dispute is how additional red snapper harvest is being allocated between the recreational and commercial sectors.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

California tops U.S. in whale entanglements, NOAA report finds

October 2, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries has released a report documenting 76 confirmed whale entanglements across the United States in 2025, a decrease from 95 cases the previous year, with California reporting the highest number of incidents.

Scientists expressed concern over the ongoing issue. “It is, I think, disheartening to see the numbers are still remaining high and we’re not seeing that decrease that we were hoping to see,” said Geoff Shester, Senior Scientist and Director of Fishery Innovation for Oceana.

The report revealed that about 46% of confirmed entanglements in 2025 involved commercial or recreational fishing gear.

“When these are confirmed, most of the entanglements are caused by fishing gear. In California, the Dungeness crab fishery is the one that does seem to be the biggest culprit. It’s obviously because that’s the biggest fishery that we have that uses traps,” said Shester.

Read the full article at KSBW

NEW JERSEY: ‘Please, not again.’ Nor’easter forcing fleets to stay docked — another hit to fishing industry.

September 28, 2026 — The massive coastal storm rocking the New Jersey coastline this weekend has caused major flooding, transportation issues, and a headache for fishermen all along the Jersey Shore. The storm sank the hopes of fishermen casting lines to catch a few more Fluke and Sea Bass.

Rough seas all week long forced charter captains in New Jersey to cancel or limit fishing trips as the coastal storm whipped into a Nor’easter by the weekend. The storm has forced the fishing industry to remain docked, keeping them from reeling in sorely needed profits at a time when fuel costs have doubled.

Charter fleets from Long Branch to Cape May have been docked as the storm kicks up offshore waves near 20 feet high and thrashes the coast with sustained winds up to 40 mph. In many cases the rough weather is keeping New Jersey captains from earning money to offset the cost of fuel. Since September 2025, diesel prices have risen by more than 70%, fueled in part the war in Iran that began in April.

Read the full article at NJ.com

Bipartisan fisheries management law would expand eDNA use

September 1, 2026 — Bipartisan legislation introduced this month by the co-chairs of the U.S. Senate Oceans Caucus relies on environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques pioneered by Cornell researcher David Lodge, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and past director of the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

The Fisheries Science Modernization Act would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to incorporate eDNA tools into their assessment surveys of fish stocks – assessments that inform how many fish can be harvested by commercial and recreational fishers. Eight Republican, Democratic and independent senators co-sponsor the legislation, and multiple fishing industry and environmental protection organizations support it.

“When I started testing eDNA 17 years ago, I was interested in detecting rare species, such as emerging invasive species and endangered species,” Lodge said. “The focus of this legislation is quite different. Here, it’s not just about detecting whether a Pacific hake exists, it’s about estimating how many hake there are, based on how many distinct pieces of hake DNA you can find. It’s pretty astonishing to me that we in the scientific world working on eDNA have come this far, this fast.”

Read the full article at the Cornell Chronicle