Saving Seafood

US seafood consumption declines in 2024 as species rankings shift

November 5, 2026 — Tilapia slipped to fifth place among the most-consumed seafood species in the United States, despite a slight increase in consumption to 0.92 pounds per person, up 0.01 pounds from 2023, according to data release by the National Seafood Association.

Pangasius, a commonly imported farm-raised fish, moved into sixth place, overtaking domestic catfish. Americans consumed 0.73 pounds of pangasius per capita in 2024, an increase of 0.19 pounds from the previous year. That marked the largest gain among the top 10 seafood species.

The shift is particularly relevant to U.S. catfish producers, who compete with imported seafood in the domestic market. Catfish fell in the rankings as consumption declined to 0.52 pounds per person, down 0.03 pounds from 2023.

Cod moved into seventh place, with consumption increasing slightly to 0.54 pounds per capita, up 0.01 pounds from the previous year.

Crab also recorded a modest gain, reaching 0.48 pounds per person, an increase of 0.03 pounds. Scallops rounded out the top 10 at 0.2 pounds per capita, unchanged from 2023.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Shark Finning Bans Aren’t Stopping Shark Mortality. Here’s Why.

November 5, 2026 — For decades, in some fisheries, the most valuable part of that animal was not its body… but its fins. A fisher would remove the fins, keep them and throw the rest of the shark back overboard in a practice known as “shark finning,” which is both wasteful and devastatingly painful for the animal on the receiving end of the blade. It did make economic sense in a grimly practical way, as fins took up far less space than whole sharks, leaving valuable room onboard for other species. But in a bid to end the cruel practice, global countries introduced regulations requiring sharks to be landed whole, with their fins naturally attached, attached to the carcass with ropes or wires, or landed according to prescribed fin-to-carcass ratios. On paper, this seems like a straightforward conservation solution. Stop finning, and you remove the incentive to kill sharks for their fins.

But what happens next? A new global analysis suggests the answer is not nearly as simple as we might hope.

Researchers examined shark trade across 188 countries between 2007 and 2020 using the Aquatic Resource Trade in Species, or ARTIS, database. Rather than looking only at whether countries had regulations, they asked if introducing shark-finning regulations actually changed how much shark product countries exported, imported or consumed. They then used a statistical approach called difference-in-differences, allowing them to compare countries before and after they introduced regulations with countries that had not yet introduced them. It is a useful way of getting closer to the question of causation rather than simply observing that two things happened at the same time. The headlining result is surprisingly undramatic: on average, finning regulations did not produce statistically significant changes in shark exports, imports or domestic consumption. Countries with regulations eventually exported about 351 metric tonnes less shark product per year than they might otherwise have been expected to export, while imports were about 142 tonnes higher. Domestic consumption was estimated to be lower by about 1,672 tonnes per year, but this effect was also not statistically significant.

Read the full article at Yahoo! News

National Aquaculture Association Calls for Recognition and Expansion of Responsible Aquaculture in the US

November 2, 2026 — In response to recent reporting on environmental and labor concerns associated with international fish farming and seafood supply chains overseas, the National Aquaculture Association (NAA) of the United States (US) emphasized the importance of expanding responsible, well-regulated aquaculture production in the country.

According to them, the recent reporting involving forced labor, unsustainable fishing practices, and environmental degradation warrants serious attention. However, these practices should not be used to characterize an entire global sector that includes wholly diverse species, production systems, and regulatory environments.

“Serious problems in poorly regulated international supply chains should not be used to discredit responsible American aquaculture producers who operate under some of the world’s most stringent environmental and regulatory standards,” said Caitlyn Czajkowski, Executive Director of the National Aquaculture Association.

“The United States has the regulatory framework, scientific expertise, and responsible producers needed to safely expand sustainable aquaculture production. We should be growing more seafood here at home, not allowing the failures of irresponsible operations overseas to define our sector,” she added.

Read the full article at Aquaculture Magazine

Federal government’s new America-First Seafood Strategy offers hope for Gulf shrimpers

October 28, 2026 — The Southern Shrimp Alliance welcomes the Trump Administration’s announcement of the America First Seafood Strategy.

The Friday announcement was accompanied by a 33-page report and website, seafood.gov, focused on the revitalization of the U.S. seafood industry that clearly identified the challenge confronting the federal government: “Rich Waters. Rising Imports.”

The United States has some of the richest fishery resources in the world and the hardest working commercial fishermen on Earth. Yet America imports an overwhelming majority of its seafood supply while domestic seafood businesses and fishing communities struggle to survive. President Trump is fixing this, and putting America’s fisheries and American consumers first.

“President Trump has prioritized getting fishermen back to work to supply Americans with healthy, sustainable, domestically-sourced seafood. The U.S. shrimp industry is thrilled to see a detailed America First Seafood Strategy and looks forward to assisting federal agencies in the implementation of its objectives,” said Blake Price, Executive Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “At the same time, American shrimpers ask that the Administration take meaningful action to combat the unfair trade practices that have allowed foreign seafood to dominate our market and provide immediate relief from high diesel costs that have forced our boats to tie up.”

Read the full article at The Houma Times

U.S. Shrimpers Petition to Stop Imports of Indian Shrimp Using Forced Labor

October 28, 2026 — The following was released by the Southern Shrimp Alliance:

U.S. commercial shrimp fishermen, supported by the Southern Shrimp Alliance, filed a trade action today to end imports of Indian shrimp produced through the reprehensible use of forced labor. The Section 337 complaint asks the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to determine whether forced labor in the supply chains of major seafood producer Nekkanti Sea Foods constitutes an unfair trade practice that harms domestic shrimp producers.

“Forced labor is not a competitive advantage; it’s an inhumane practice that must end,” said Blake Price, executive director for the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “Multiple investigations find that Indian shrimp producers cut their costs by exploiting vulnerable populations, who are compelled by debt bondage, restricted movement, and abusive bosses to work in hazardous conditions to make shrimp that is exported to the United States. When the U.S. opens its market to Indian shrimp, we fail those vulnerable workers and allow immoral practices to push ethical producers out of the market.”

Growing Forced Labor Findings Unaddressed

In 2024, Corporate Accountability Lab, which is serving as co-counsel in the case, released a three-year studydocumenting widespread use of forced labor across all levels of India’s shrimp supply chain. The Associated Press, the Outlaw Ocean Project, and CNN have since corroborated the study, and the U.S. Department of Laboradded shrimp from India to the 2024 List of Goods Produced with Forced Labor (TVPRA List), officially notifying all U.S. buyers sourcing shrimp from India to exercise additional due diligence to combat forced labor.

The Tariff Act of 1930 grants the ITC authority under Section 337 to block the importation of goods involved in unfair acts or methods of competition that either injure or threaten to injure a U.S. industry.

Distorted Prices of Indian Shrimp Harm American Shrimpers

India is a leading supplier of shrimp to the U.S. market, accounting for over half of all peeled shrimp (52%) and 40% of all frozen warmwater shrimp imported into the United States in 2025. The ITC has repeatedly determined that the U.S. shrimp industry is harmed or threatened with injury by Indian shrimp companies due to dumping (selling below fair value) and subsidies from the Indian government that support shrimp production for export. However, these trade remedies do not fully address the unfair competition caused by forced labor, which undercuts U.S. shrimp producers and costs them sales in the U.S. market.

As Indian shrimp prices fell to record lows, they dragged down all shrimp prices, causing the U.S. shrimp industry to lose half of its value between 2021 and 2023. America’s multigenerational mom-and-pop shrimping businesses closed in staggering numbers. By 2024, state shrimping licenses reached their lowest levels on record, and the total number of commercial shrimp licenses for the Gulf of America dropped to less than one-third of what they were in 2000.

Additionally, studies have linked the pricing pressures resulting from the use of forced labor in India to increased worker exploitation in other major shrimp-producing countries, such as Indonesia and Vietnam. Meanwhile, America is quickly losing its ability to harvest sustainable shrimp from local waters because of uncompetitive practices, jeopardizing domestic food security.

“This case aims to pressure India’s shrimp aquaculture industry to remove forced labor from their supply chains to access the large U.S. market,” explained Price. “Unfairly traded shrimp undercut American shrimpers, who are leaving their cherished, multigenerational way of life to make ends meet. America is losing its ability to access the sustainable shrimp stocks that grow naturally in local waters.”

ITC Decision Coming Soon

The complaint offers a clear timeline and transparent plan for the U.S. shrimp industry, which for years has shown evidence of unfair practices and their damaging effects on American fishing families to the Department of Labor, the Food and Drug Administration, and other agencies without any resulting action.

The Section 337 complaint follows a strict legal process. The ITC Commissioners will decide within 30 calendar days (November 27, 2026) whether to initiate the case and announce how it will proceed. An eight-day public comment period will follow publication in the Federal Register.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Read the fact sheet: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Section-337-Fact-Sheet-Final.pdf

Read the Corporate Accountability Lab’s (co-counsel) press release, blog, and landing page

Filed complaint: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Sec-337-Complaint-PUBLIC.pdf

Investigation 337-3935

HAWAII: How new federal tuna fraud law will impact Hawaii customers

October 28, 2026 — A new federal law is putting the spotlight on Hawaii’s fishing industry to keep illegally caught tuna out of the marketplace.

The Illegal Red Snapper and Tuna Enforcement Act was signed into law Oct. 15 by President Donald Trump, and was co-introduced by U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Katie Britt, R-Alabama, Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, and Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi.

The new law calls for a standard procedure to identify where red snapper and certain tuna species come from, including the development of a field test kit that can determine whether fish were caught in U.S. or foreign waters.

Read the full article at Hawaii News Now

UNH leading effort to strengthen U.S. seafood supply through aquaculture

October 27, 2026 — Do you know where your seafood comes from? According to NOAA, roughly 80% of the seafood Americans eat is imported.

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire are leading a major new effort aimed at growing more seafood domestically through sustainable aquaculture.

Just a quarter mile off the coast of New Castle, UNH researchers are raising steelhead trout in a floating sea farm known as an Aquafort. It’s become a model for studying ways to make seafood production more sustainable.

“We are growing fish at a very small community scale for the purpose of supplementing the seafood markets within the local area. So, the difference between wild-caught fish and aquaculture fish are hatched from eggs Our fish are actually hatched at a local New Hampshire hatchery up in Ossipee,” said David Fredriksson, director of UNH’s Center for Sustainable Seafood Systems.

About 4,000 steelhead trout are taken to the floating pen, where they’re raised for several months before harvest. The fish share the pen with sugar kelp and mussels. Researchers say those species act as natural biofilters, helping recycle nutrients and maintain balance within the ecosystem. The approach, known as integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, is designed to make seafood farming more environmentally sustainable by raising multiple species together.

Read the full article at NBC Boston

Trump announces America First Seafood Strategy with new label for domestic products

October 26, 2026 — U.S. President Donald Trump has issued an American First Seafood Strategy to boost the nation’s seafood, aquaculture, and commercial fishing policies, complete with a new voluntary “U.S.-Caught Seafood” for domestic products.

“The species managed in U.S. waters are American icons – from Maine lobster to Gulf shrimp, from Alaskan salmon to Florida stone crab, American seafood is a rich part of U.S. history and our vibrant coastal economy,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a release. “The America First Seafood Strategy ensures that the future of seafood in the United States will be built by American fishermen, American workers, and American industry – not by foreign imports.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump’s America First Seafood Strategy puts US fishermen in focus

October 26, 2026 — The Trump administration has rolled out a new federal seafood strategy aimed at increasing domestic production, rebuilding shoreside infrastructure, and strengthening the position of U.S. fishermen and processors against foreign competition.

President Donald Trump announced the America First Seafood Strategy as part of his administration’s implementation of the 2025 executive order, “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.” NOAA Fisheries will play a central role in carrying out the plan alongside the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration (USDA), and other federal agencies.

The strategy calls for expanding harvest opportunities where supported by science, reducing regulatory costs, investing in processing and waterfront infrastructure, strengthening seafood import enforcement and creating new ways to distinguish domestically harvested seafood in the marketplace.

“The species managed in U.S. waters are American icons, from Maine lobster to Gulf shrimp, from Alaskan salmon to Florida stone crab,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in NOAA’s announcement. “The America First Seafood Strategy ensures that the future of seafood in the United States will be built by American fishermen, American workers, and American industry, not by foreign imports.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

LOUISIANA: Louisiana shrimpers launch petition to restrict imports

September 1, 2026 — Frustrated with decades of competition from cheaper, imported shrimp, shrimpers from Louisiana have launched a petition calling on the U.S. federal government to take action to restrict imports and better support domestic producers.

“The Louisiana Shrimp Association is asking fishermen, fishing families, seafood businesses, restaurants, consumers, and everyone who supports American jobs and American seafood to stand with us,” the association said in a 30 August Facebook post. “Our wild-caught shrimp industry is in crisis. American shrimp harvesters are struggling with unsustainable dockside prices while enormous volumes of imported shrimp continue to enter our country.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource