Saving Seafood

Scott, Whitehouse Introduce Bipartisan QUAHOGS Act to Investigate Declining Shellfish Populations

September 19, 2025 — The following was released by Senator Tim Scott:

U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced bipartisan legislation to study why quahogs – also known as hard shell clams – and other native shellfish populations are in decline along the east coast of the United States. The Quantifying Uncertainty and Action to Help Optimize Growth of Shellfish (QUAHOGS) Act would create a research task force comprised of federal agency representatives, fishery management councils, state agency representatives, industry leaders, scientists, and other stakeholders to better understand what is fueling the shellfish population decreases.

“South Carolina’s shellfish industry depends on healthy bivalve populations, and this task force will support the research needed to develop science-based solutions that protect both our natural resources and the livelihoods they sustain,” said Senator Scott. “From commercial fishermen to restaurant workers and the tourism industry, this directly affects the families and communities that depend on them. I’m pleased to co-sponsor this bill to study the declining bivalve populations and develop informed solutions to safeguard our state’s coastal economy and heritage.”

“Quahogging in Narragansett Bay is a quintessential Rhode Island trade whose harvest brings us the Ocean State summer staples of clear chowder and stuffies. Unfortunately, quahog and other shellfish landings are in steady decline across the Eastern Seaboard, and it’s been difficult for shell fisherman and researchers to pinpoint exactly why,” said Senator Whitehouse, co-founder of the Senate Oceans Caucus. “My bipartisan bill with Senator Scott would assemble a federal research task force to investigate why certain shellfish populations are declining and help protect a pillar of Rhode Island’s Blue Economy.”

East coast shellfish populations and commercial shellfish landings have mysteriously declined for years. There have also been notable declines in oyster, scallop, and soft-shell clam populations up and down the east coast. Shellfishermen and scientists have speculated that ocean acidification, nitrogen reductions, seagrass meadow decline, and plunging phytoplankton production have all contributed to the declining bivalve populations. Without a well-founded explanation, states and industry have struggled to develop action plans to recover these important shellfish.

The East Coast Bivalve Research Task Force would be composed of between 16 and 21 members, with the Secretary of Commerce appointing a chair from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, and the New England, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Atlantic States Fishery Management Councils. The secretary would also appoint representatives from state fish and wildlife management agencies, bivalve fishing industry representatives, academic experts, and at least one Tribal representative. The Task Force’s resulting research report would synthesize the current knowledge on bivalve decline, forecast future research, and highlight the financial and regulatory barriers hurting shellfish aquaculture.

“Hard clams used to be one of the top fisheries in Southern New England, and the decline in population has been drastic in several states.  It was only a few decades ago that Rhode Island exported millions of dollars of clams to Europe,” said Bob Rheault, Executive Director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association. “In order to rectify the decline it is of paramount importance to determine the cause so we can take appropriate steps to recover the population and this important fishery.  The QUAHOGS Act will allow scientists to properly study the situation so resource managers know what to do to try and fix it.”

“As a shellfish farmer and business owner in South Carolina, I am in full support of the Quantifying Uncertainty and Action to Help Optimize Growth of Shellfish Act.  It is critical to our sustainability to collect research on various seed to further lessen the risk of mortality events,” said Trey McMillan, Vice President of the South Carolina Shellfish Growers Association.

“The QUAHOGS Act supports the science needed to keep East Coast shellfisheries strong in the face of changing ocean conditions – an essential step in protecting our ecosystems, economy and cultural heritage,” said Matt Griffin, Rhode Island Representative of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association.

The text of the bill is available here.

US House passes military funding bill eliminating Buy American exceptions for seafood

September 15, 2025 — A last-minute amendment to the U.S. House version of the annual defense funding legislation would eliminate any exceptions for seafood from the government’s usual “Buy American” provisions.

Under the Berry Amendment, the federal government is required to purchase American-made products, although exceptions can be made for select products and those for which the government determines a U.S. produced good is unavailable. However, a provision added by U.S. Representative Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) would ensure exceptions cannot be issued for seafood, fish, or shellfish purchases.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Where Steel and Concrete Meets Sea: Artificial Reefs Along the Atlantic Coast

August 14, 2025 — Beneath the Atlantic surface, concrete pyramids, stripped subway cars, and massive steel skeletons of vessels lie purposefully placed across the ocean floor repurposed into bustling undersea metropolises. These are artificial reefs, human-made sanctuaries giving new life to marine ecosystems and new opportunities for anglers.

Nearly all of these reef structures have roots in the Sport Fish Restoration Act, paid by manufacturers of fishing tackle and a tax on motorboat fuel. State agencies utilize these Sport Fish Restoration federal excise tax funds and funds from state fishing license sales to create a network of artificial reefs that dot the Atlantic coast.

New Jersey: Reefs from Rust and Rubble

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) began their artificial reef program in 1984 and has since created 17 artificial reef sites. Creating the reefs takes science, ingenuity, and often recycled materials. Artificial reef building materials have ranged from concrete reef balls to decommissioned New York City subway cars, and even retired Army tanks. Before entering the water, artificial reef materials go through a rigorous process stripping the material down to ensure no impact to water quality. Recycled building materials are inspected. Old Army tanks are stripped of fuel and oils. Subway cars lose their windows and wiring. What’s left is bare concrete or metal that is durable and colonizable by marine life.

Once these reef materials are deployed to the ocean bottom, Mother Nature wastes no time. Drop reef material, and within weeks, algae take hold. Months pass, invertebrates and fish begin to settle in. Within a year or two, the reef is real in every biological sense. “New Jersey’s reef sites are a hot spot for anglers with sportfish species like sea bass, porgy, tautog, and summer flounder calling the sites home,” said Pete Clarke from the NJDEP’s Artificial Reef Program.

New Jersey’s reefs are strategically located along the coast so that sites are within easy boat range of New Jersey ocean inlets making the sites accessible to anglers. Some reefs lay within two miles of the coast while others are 23 miles offshore offering users a variety of trip lengths and sport fish species to encounter. Reef communities can also vary depending on the season. “These reefs are important waypoints for migrating sport fish along the Atlantic Coast,” adds Clarke. Along this waypoint network of artificial reefs, it is common for state agencies to collaborate with other state agencies to share information or access to large reef building materials. “I know that an old New York City subway car utilized for a reef in South Carolina or concrete reef balls deployed in Delaware benefits the entire network of artificial reefs, ultimately it helps New Jersey’s reefs and anglers.”

Read the full article at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Southern states lay down the law on seafood labeling

June 30, 2025 — Over the course of the past year, Dave Williams, a commercial fishery scientist and founder of SeaD Consulting, has been testing shrimp in restaurants all around the Gulf states, Georgia, and the Carolinas to find out if they are selling imported farmed shrimp as Gulf shrimp. The results have been astounding, with restaurants tested in Charleston, South Carolina, showing a 90 percent fraud rate.  

Williams’s work, sponsored by the industry group Southern Shrimp Alliance, has prompted the passage of new laws and increased enforcement of existing laws aimed at protecting the U.S. domestic shrimp fleet.  

Alabama’s Seafood Labeling Law was passed in May 2024 and took effect on October 1, 2024. It requires food service establishments including restaurants, grocery store delis and seafood retailers, to list the country of origin of its fish and shellfish, or that the product was imported.

The law also requires labels to state if the seafood was farm raised or wild caught.  Suppliers must provide the seafood’s country of origin to the restaurants and delis. The law is enforced by the state Department of Public Health and consumers who believe there is a violation of the law can file a complaint via an online form.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

“Shrimp Fraud” Allegations Are Rocking the Restaurant World. We Talked to the Company Blowing the Whistle.

June 20, 2025 — Last week, the Texas-based firm SeaD Consulting released the results from a study that shook the culinary scene in Charleston, South Carolina. A team of undercover testers had paid visits to randomly selected seafood restaurants around the city and used on-the-spot genetic testing to determine whether the shrimp came from local waters. The results were shocking in a town that prides itself on abundant fresh catch: Forty out of the forty-four restaurants it tested, the company reported, served imported, farm-raised shrimp.

Charleston isn’t the first market the company has scrutinized since ramping up its testing efforts last August. SeaD has also visited New Orleans, Savannah, Tampa–St. Petersburg, and Wilmington, North Carolina, among others. Of those cities, New Orleans fared best, with only 13 percent of restaurants misrepresenting their shrimp (largely due to more stringent food labeling laws in Louisiana, according to SeaD). Savannah and Wilmington each tallied 77 percent inauthenticity. In Tampa, just two restaurants of forty-five were serving Gulf shrimp, the firm reported.

Since the Charleston bombshell dropped, the plot has thickened. Local shrimpers have come forward to vouch for clients who buy from them, since SeaD didn’t reveal the names of the forty establishments that served imported shrimp. And the S.C. Shrimpers Association has announced a lawsuit against those unidentified restaurants (referring to them as “John Doe Restaurants” in the complaint) in which it accused them of false advertising and in violation of South Carolina’s Unfair Trade Practices Act.

With the industry still reeling, we chatted with SeaD founder Dave Willams and his daughter, chief operations officer Erin Williams, to find out exactly how the team conducted its testing, if the Charleston results surprised them, and what changes they hope to see in the shrimping and restaurant industry. And, yes, they know where they’re headed next, but they’re not saying.

Read the full article at Garden and Gun

South Carolina shrimpers sue local restaurants over shrimp fraud

June 18, 2025 — The South Carolina Shrimpers Association has sued roughly 40 restaurants in the U.S. state, claiming they were falsely presenting the imported shrimp they sell as locally sourced.

“It’s illegal to say that a product is from South Carolina when it’s not, and similarly, federal law prohibits the mislabeling of the origins of seafood. It’s simply illegal at a state and federal level,” South Carolina Shrimpers Association Attorney Gedney Howe said, according to local news outlet WCSC-TV.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

SOUTH CAROLINA: McMaster, Fry call on White House to uphold ban on offshore oil and gas drilling

June 12, 2025 — Some of Donald Trump’s closest political allies are urging him to continue a moratorium on offshore gas and drilling leases along the South Carolina coast as the White House pursues its broader domestic energy policy.

“There is no question that our country must unleash American energy, expanding domestic production, cutting red tape and reassuring our energy independence,” U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, R-7th District, wrote in a Tuesday latter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “At the same time, I believe energy development must be pursued in a way that respects the distinct economic and environmental realities of each region.”

Fry, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, requested that Burgum keep in place a 2020 Trump memorandum exempting South Carolina from offshore oil and gas projects until at least 2032.

Read the full article at WBTW

SOUTH CAROLINA: South Carolina rolls out its own red snapper rules

May 20. 2025 — South Carolina will no longer follow federal management standards in state waters aimed at protecting red snapper populations that are still recovering after years of overfishing off the south Atlantic coast.

Gov. Henry McMaster (R) signed S.B. 219 on May 8 taking full authority over the state’s snapper-grouper fishery — composed of 55 species — within 3 miles of the South Carolina coast. The law specifically references red snapper and black sea bass, both of which are highly sought after by recreational fishermen.

“This law reflects South Carolina’s commitment to common-sense, homegrown solutions” to fishing regulation, McMaster said in a statement issued by sportfishing groups. “Our anglers deserve a system that’s fair, science-driven, and tailored to our state’s unique waters, not a one-size-fits-all approach.”

Read the full artile at E&E News

New taxes are coming for imported shrimp. SC shrimpers say it’s about time.

December 3, 2024 — South Carolina shrimpers will begin to feel some relief from the pressures of cheap, imported frozen shrimp.

The U.S. International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce will impose added taxes on the seafood product that’s flooded the market in recent years.

For shrimpers, it’s a welcome reprieve from the years of price gouging that’s run many fishermen out of business.

For consumers, it can mean higher prices on the frozen warmwater shrimp commonly found at grocery stores like Walmart and Costco.

The influx of imported frozen shrimp and unfair trade practices have injured the domestic shrimping industry, the United States International Trade Commission ruled in November.

Read the full story at The Post and Courier

SOUTH CAROLINA: New bill to expand federal relief eligibility for fishing/shrimping industry

October 21, 2024 — A newly-filed bill looks to bring support to shrimpers and fisherman as the industry struggles to stay afloat in a market overcome by foreign competitors.

“The influx of imported shrimp has resulted in the decline of our fleets and massive job losses and our local businesses are devastated,” said Bryan Jones, the Vice President of the South Carolina Shrimper’s Association.

Standing in front of the shrimp boats of Shem Creek, US Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R) introduced the Protect American Fisheries Act on Friday.

Read the full article at Count on 2 News