Seafood processors Archives

ALASKA: Seafood industry works to encourage Alaska fishermen to vote

October 22, 2026 — A coalition of Alaska commercial seafood industry organizations is giving fishermen and processors tools to boost voter turnout in the governor’s race.

The nonpartisan Dock the Vote task force is educating fishermen on absentee and early voting, and encouraging each Alaska resident worker to cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 general election.

The task force launched ahead of the Aug. 18 primary. Some 60 Alaska fisheries organizations dedicated financial or logistical support to the fisherman-led get-out-the-vote effort, Julie Decker, of Wrangell, said in a recent call with the Sentinel.

“It was a giant cooperation among the seafood industry, which is frankly a hard thing to do,” said Decker, a longtime fisherman who’s now director of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

Read the full article at Juneau Independent

Office of Seafood shifts from launch to strategy as outreach expands

August 25, 2026 — More than three months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the creation of its Office of Seafood, officials say the focus has shifted from launching the office to building what they described as an “America First Seafood Strategy” while identifying ways existing USDA programs can better serve commercial fishermen and seafood producers.

Since Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the office in April, USDA has been meeting with industry while conducting an internal review of agency programs that could be available to the industry, according to Mike Illenberg, acting director of the Office of Seafood.

“USDA has been meeting with and gathering feedback from fishermen, aquaculturists, processors, policymakers and other stakeholders to inform the development of the America First Seafood Strategy,” Illenberg told National Fisherman.

The office was established to follow up on President Donald Trump’s April 2025 executive order “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness,” with the goal of bringing seafood more fully into USDA’s food policy and rural development programs.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Federal cybersecurity mandate stirs concern in Alaska fishing industry

August 20, 2026 — A cybersecurity policy change coming down from the federal government is drawing backlash from Alaska’s commercial fishing industry.

The concern is the change could hobble fishermen and processors operating in remote areas around the state where internet and cellular service are unreliable or unavailable.

Recently, the industry learned the U.S. Department of Commerce plans a transition to Login.gov with “multifactor authentication requirements for public-facing systems” such as the Observer Declare and Deploy System (ODDS), eFISH, and other platforms used by participants in Alaska’s federally managed fisheries.

This would require fishermen and other industry participants to establish a Login.gov account. Login.gov is described as “the public’s one account for government.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

OREGON: Southern Oregon Coast seafood processors say tariffs are an old problem, not a new crisis

August 14, 2026 — A state report says President Donald Trump’s tariffs have hurt Oregon trade, but seafood processors on the South Coast say the effects on their industry are more complicated.

Oregon’s tariff analysis says the latest trade policies have disrupted exports and created uncertainty for businesses across the state. Oregon importers paid nearly $3 billion in tariffs between March and December 2025, while exports fell 17% over the year.

Lori Steele, executive director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association, said tariffs are nothing new for the industry.

“There’s definitely concern about retaliatory tariffs, but these are coming in countries where we’ve been dealing with tariffs for a long time,” Steele said.

Read the full article at OPB

MAINE: Lobster processing plant shuttered, up for auction

May 13, 2016 — ST. GEORGE, Maine — A seafood processing plant that opened less than four years ago with the hope of bolstering the lobster industry is closed and up for auction.

Sea Hag Seafood’s plant and 7.5 acres of waterfront property at the mouth of Long Cove in Tenants Harbor will go up for auction on June 17.

Kyle Murdock opened the plant in September 2012 when he 23. The project’s financing included a nearly $1.7 million loan from Camden National Bank and a $400,000 grant through the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

The grant money was provided to the company after it created 23 jobs for low- and moderate-income workers and after it met the terms of the federal program, said Maine DECD spokesman Douglas Ray. The town of St. George had sponsored the grant application but the town will not be liable for any repayment because the jobs were created.

Read the full story at Bangor Daily News

BP Drops $1 Billion Seafood Industry Spill Payments Fight

May 3, 2016 — After fighting for more than two years to avoid paying almost $1 billion in oil spill damages to Gulf Coast shrimpers, oystermen and seafood processors it claimed didn’t exist, BP Plc has thrown in the towel.

“We have withdrawn our claims seeking an injunction against payments by the Seafood Program so the program can be concluded,” Geoff Morrell, a BP spokesman, said in an e-mail Tuesday. The company will keep pursuing fraud claims against lawyer Mikal Watts and his firm, Morrell said. Watts was indicted for allegedly making false claims in connection with the BP spill.

A federal judge in New Orleans Monday allowed BP to drop its bid to avoid paying the second half of $2.3 billion in compensation promised to seafood interests harmed by the blown-out well. The subsea gusher pumped more than 4 million barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, closing fisheries and blackening the shores of five states.

Read the full story at Bloomberg