Saving Seafood

Trump administration promises to make U.S. ‘dominant seafood leader’

July 7, 2026 — Advocates for the U.S scallop fleet hailed President Trump’s declaration of a “National Scallops Day” July 2, leading a list of NOAA Fisheries actions the administration says are aimed to “stabilize markets, improve access, enhance economic profitability, and prevent closures.”

Measures for the lucrative Northeast and Mid-Atlantic scallop fishery headed priorities announced by NOAA Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler. The changes will open the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to the scallop fleet, and advance “permit stacking” on scallop vessels, two reforms the industry’s Sustainable Scallop Fund has sought for years.

“Permit stacking will let scallop permit holders consolidate operations, cut costs, and fish more safely and efficiently. Opening the Northern Edge returns the fleet to a productive, well-managed resource that has stayed closed for years,” the group says.

“We are grateful to President Trump and his team for listening to the men and women of the scallop fleet and acting on their behalf,” said SSF president John Lees. “Permit stacking and Northern Edge access will make our fishery more competitive, more sustainable, and more valuable to the American families who depend on it. This is what it looks like when Washington puts American fishermen first.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA unveils plan to cut seafood regulations under Trump directive

July 6, 2026 — NOAA announced a set of regional priorities on July 2 aimed at cutting regulatory burdens on domestic fishing fleets and boosting seafood production, part of the agency’s response to a presidential executive order.

The announcement follows an August 2025 request for public comment in which NOAA Fisheries sought input from stakeholders, including the eight regional fishery management councils, on ways to stabilize markets, improve access and prevent closures. The agency said it received more than 700 comments from individuals and organizations, along with detailed action plans submitted by each council.

“These regional priorities are a critical step in our efforts to fulfill the President’s vision of making the United States the world’s dominant seafood leader,” said NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs said in a statement. “We look forward to partnering with the councils to advance seafood competitiveness and support our American fishermen.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Administrator Issues Statement on Reducing Burdens on Domestic Fishing and Increasing Production

July 2, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Eugenio Piñeiro Soler today issued a statement outlining the agency’s priorities for reducing regulatory burdens on domestic fishermen and increasing U.S. seafood production. The statement was released in response to President Trump’s Executive Order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness and followed input from 787 individuals and organizations, along with action plans submitted by regional fishery management councils. Piñeiro Soler said NOAA Fisheries is prioritizing actions intended to reduce burdens on domestic fishing, increase production, stabilize markets, improve access, and enhance the profitability of U.S. fishing businesses.

The statement includes highlights by region, with priority actions identified for New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Gulf of America, the Pacific, the North Pacific, the Western Pacific, and Highly Migratory Species. In New England, priorities include implementing rotational access for the Northern Edge scallop fishery, implementing scallop permit stacking, rescinding industry-funded monitoring requirements, deprioritizing ropeless-gear requirements, evaluating vessel baseline restrictions with the Mid-Atlantic Council, and considering reopening the Great South Channel habitat management area to surf clam operations.

In the Mid-Atlantic, NOAA Fisheries said it will evaluate vessel baseline restrictions with the New England Council, consider joint council management for squid, mackerel, and butterfish, and deprioritize ropeless-gear requirements. South Atlantic priorities include revising Snapper Grouper permit policies, supporting state agency-led exempted fishing permits for red snapper, and addressing shark and dolphin depredation. For the Caribbean, NOAA identified actions involving territorial management of spiny lobster and queen conch, accountability measures for pelagic stocks and spiny lobster, review of certain marine protected areas, and state-federal regulatory compatibility.

In the Gulf of America, the agency identified refinements to Individual Fishing Quota participation requirements and rulemaking to extend provisions of the DESCEND Act. Pacific priorities include reconsidering redundant shoreside catch monitors and revising Pacific sardine stock definitions. In the North Pacific, NOAA identified review of Steller sea lion closure boundaries, elimination of the 2 percent IFQ deduction for bled sablefish, and rulemaking related to small sablefish voluntary release and maximum retainable amount calculations. Western Pacific priorities include changes to longline turtle measures and swordfish retention limits. For Highly Migratory Species, NOAA said it will review weak hook requirements in the Gulf and retention rules for dead bluefin tuna under 73 inches, and reconsider upgrading restrictions for swordfish handgear limited access permits.

The full statement is reproduced below:

I have served in my role as assistant administrator of NOAA Fisheries for just over a year. In that time, I have prioritized meeting with members and leadership of each regional fishery management council and participating in as many council meetings as possible. I have done so because I truly believe in our democratic council process and have tremendous respect for the work they do and the expertise they bring to it. I learn something from each meeting I join and each constituent I speak with, but there is a common thread: Fishermen just want to fish, and they are asking for our support in overcoming the barriers preventing them from doing so.

The United States is a global leader in sustainable fisheries management. Our participatory, science-based system under 50 years of the Magnuson-Stevens Act has shown that we know how to rebuild stocks and keep them healthy. But despite this foundation, our seafood sector has faced growing pressure from global competition and evolving market demands. Americans want American seafood, but our landings have decreased since 2019. We need to put U.S. seafood first.

In fisheries, as in life, results are what matter. That is why I am eager to share the regulatory actions we have prioritized in response to the President’s Executive Order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness. We received input from 787 individuals and organizations, as well as detailed action plans from each of the regional fishery management councils. I believe this volume of input underscores the urgency of our shared mission and I am grateful to everyone who contributed.

After considering all input from councils, fishing industry, and the public, we have prioritized actions—many of which align with Council identified priorities—we believe will reduce burdens on domestic fishing, increase production, stabilize markets, improve access, and enhance economic profitability. 


Highlights by Region


New England

  • Implement rotational access for the Northern Edge scallop fishery
  • Implement Scallop Permit Stacking
  • Rescind Industry Funded Monitoring requirements
  • Deprioritize advancing requirements for ropeless gear
  • Evaluate vessel baseline restrictions (in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Council)
  • Consider reopening the Great South Channel habitat management area to surfclam operations

Mid-Atlantic

  • Evaluate vessel baseline restrictions (in conjunction with the New England Council)
  • Consider joint council management for squid, mackerel, and butterfish
  • Deprioritize advancing requirements for ropeless gear

South Atlantic

  • Revise Snapper Grouper (SG1) permit policies (Amendment 60) 
  • Support state agency-led exempted fishing permits for red snapper
  • Address shark and dolphin depredation

Caribbean

  • Shift spiny lobster and queen conch to territorial management
  • Revise accountability measures for pelagic stocks and spiny lobster
  • Review effectiveness of marine protected areas (e.g., Tourmaline Bank, Abrir La Sierra)
  • State-federal regulatory compatibility review

Gulf of America

  • Refine Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) participation requirements (Amendments 59A/59B)
  • Prioritize rulemaking to extend provisions of the DESCEND Act

Pacific

  • Reconsider redundant shoreside catch monitors
  • Revise Pacific sardine stock definitions

North Pacific

  • Review Steller sea lion closure boundaries
  • Eliminate 2 percent IFQ deduction for bled sablefish 
  • Prioritize rulemaking for small sablefish voluntary release and maximum retainable amount calculations

Western Pacific

  • Remove shallow-set longline leatherback hard cap and strike two turtle trip limit
  • Remove swordfish retention limit in deep-set longline fishery
  • Remove American Samoa longline turtle mitigation measure 

Highly Migratory Species

  • Review weak hook requirements in the Gulf and retention of dead bluefin tuna less than 73 inches
  • Reconsider upgrading restrictions for swordfish handgear limited access permit

Identifying and implementing these actions are critical steps in our efforts to fulfill the President’s vision of making the United States the world’s dominant seafood leader. I am grateful for our partnership with the councils and for the thorough analysis provided by their members, advisors, and extensive stakeholder engagement. I urge them to further maximize our regulatory efficiency by systematically assessing current Fishery Management Plans, and considering the removal of species that no longer require conservation and management. As stated in the Seafood Executive Order, I strongly encourage the council to collaborate with NOAA Fisheries on the expanded and continued use of Exempted Fishing Permits as an agile management tool to test gear innovations, enhance value-added quality, explore additional fishing opportunities, and safely increase domestic production. In some instances, these priorities may implicate other statutory requirements. Where that applies, NOAA Fisheries will work with the councils to determine how best to advance an action.

Complementing these efforts, NOAA Fisheries is actively evaluating internal actions to support these reforms. As I have said at many of the council meetings I have attended, “I will be back, and I want to come back with good news.” These are the types of actions that will keep the industry moving, and that’s why I do this job: to make sure we do things better. I look forward to advancing these vital reforms together with our councils and all who want to propel our industry.

Eugenio Piñeiro Soler
Assistant Administrator, NOAA Fisheries

Florida Keys commercial fisherman is sentenced to jail on lobster charges

May 8, 2026 –A Monroe County judge sentenced a Florida Keys commercial fisherman to a month in jail Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to 30 lobster violations.

Raidel Alvarez Perez, 52, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of possessing wrung lobster tails while on the water and seven counts of possessing undersized spiny lobster.

All spiny lobsters caught must be brought back to shore whole, according to Florida law.\

Read the full article at Miami Herald

FLORIDA: Florida spiny lobster season closes, four-month spawning pause begins

April 3, 2026 — Florida’s spiny lobster season closed April 1 across both state and federal waters, bringing a halt to commercial and recreational harvests as the fishery enters its annual spring shutdown.

The closure, set by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, applies fleetwide and marks the start of a four-month pause during the species’ peak spawning period.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Diving—and Dying—for Red Gold: The Human Cost of Honduran Lobster

December 6, 2023 — Próspero Bendles Marcelino was 15 when he began diving for spiny lobster in the Caribbean waters between Honduras and Nicaragua. That was in 1965, and if he caught an average of 10 pounds of lobster, he earned the equivalent of $30 in today’s terms. A member of the Indigenous Miskito community, he was born in rural Ahuás, Honduras, 29 miles from Puerto Lempira, the capital of the Gracias a Dios region, in the most remote and biodiverse part of the country.

Since childhood, during the eight-month lobster season from July to February, Marcelino would wake at dawn with 20 Miskito divers, slip out of his tomb-like bunk on a 40-foot dive boat, and gather the diving equipment: rusty air tanks, cracked fins and goggles, hammers, and the metal rods with hooks used to pry lobsters from their lairs. He would hand the equipment to a friend, who waited in a cayuco, a canoe carved out of a tree trunk. The cayucero, usually a family member or friend, paddled the cayuco with the diver and gear and waited for Marcelino to surface between dives to throw the lobsters into the dive boat. All around it, cayuceros paddled in a constellation of effort, positioning divers to descend to lobster lairs.

The sea, a deep blue from above, was darker 70 to 130 feet below where the lobsters hid in lairs. Marcelino navigated swift, cold currents and poor visibility to reach them. They used their sharp spikes to anchor themselves in their lairs. He pulled them out with a hook, putting them into a bag. Hooking the lobsters by their tails was easier, but dive boat captains discouraged divers from leaving marks on the lobster that would indicate how it was caught. This allowed captains to sell their lobster as if it were trap-caught and for that lie to be told all the way through the supply chain, until it was comingled at processing facilities.

Honduran spiny lobster is a $46.7 million industry, exported almost entirely to U.S. markets. While some of the lobster is trap-caught, it is cheaper to rely on divers. But dive boats and the processors that buy their catch do not invest in training or equipping divers. In the remote region with few jobs, the owners of the lobster boats save money at the cost of the divers, paying poverty wages, offering no protective gear, demanding an unsafe number of dives per day, and sometimes offering divers drugs to increase their tolerance for pain and weariness. When divers are injured, most dive boat owners do not want to pay for their care.

Read the full story at Civil Eats

One man caught 62 out-of-season lobsters. Another tried to hide some in his shorts, cops say

June 14, 2022 — Florida spiny lobster season is about two months away, but the draw of the tasty crustaceans was simply too hard to resist for two men who were arrested in separate state fish and wildlife police busts over the weekend in the Keys, according to reports.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers were watching one of the men, Rafael Larduet Carrion, as the 43-year-old snorkeled just off shore from Duck Key on Saturday. The eight-month recreational and commercial spiny lobster season doesn’t start until Aug. 6, but FWC investigators say they saw Carrion catching them in addition to separating the tails from the carapace in the water — which is illegal.

All harvested lobsters must be brought to shore whole, per Florida law.

Read the full story at the Miami Herald

 

Reduced Fishing Season Length for the Harvest of Spiny Lobster in Federal Waters off Puerto Rico for the 2021 Fishing Year

July 29, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

What/When:

Harvest of spiny lobster (commercial and recreational) in federal waters off Puerto Rico will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on August 22, 2021, and will re-open at 12:01 a.m., local time, on October 1, 2021.

Why This Closure Is Happening:

  • The annual catch limit for spiny lobster in Puerto Rico is 327,920 pounds.  Based on the average of the three most recent years of available landings, from the 2017-2019 fishing years, NOAA Fisheries determined that the annual catch limit for spiny lobster was exceeded.
  • As a result, an accountability measure is applied, reducing the length of the 2021 fishing season for spiny lobster in federal waters of Puerto Rico.  Harvest of this species will close at the date and time specified above.
  • This closure is necessary to protect the spiny lobster resource in federal waters off Puerto Rico.

During The Closure:

During the closure, spiny lobster in or from federal waters off Puerto Rico may not be harvested, possessed, purchased, or sold, and the recreational bag and possession limit for spiny lobster in or from federal waters off Puerto Rico is zero.

FLORIDA: Gulf lobster: Post-covid, hope for ‘normal season with good pricing’

July 6, 2021 — Florida’s 2020-21 spiny lobster season was extremely poor, with low production and low early-season boat prices that only rebounded in the winter when the crustaceans were scarce.

But as always, Keys seafood dealers and fishermen remain optimistic that the 2021-22 season, which opens in August and runs through March, will return to average harvest levels of between 5.5 million and 6 million pounds.

According to state commercial landings data, only about 3.5 million pounds of lobster tails were harvested in 2020, with an average boat price of about $7. Landings for 2021, which are still incomplete, show about 350,000 pounds with an average price of more than $11.50, owing to a surge in purchase of live product by Chinese buyers for that nation’s winter New Year celebration.

“Production-wise, we’re way off,” said Gary Graves, who operates Keys Fisheries, a restaurant, market and wholesaler in Marathon, Fla. “The season was horrible. Is it water quality? Is it the storms that destroyed the habitat? I’ve been doing this 50 years. This year, we’re looking forward to a normal season with good pricing. There’s a shortage of lobster around the world and prices should be good.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman