November 5, 2026 — A NOAA Fisheries analysis shows increased depredation by sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and the Southeast Atlantic.
The analysis looked at data from the Southeast Fisheries Science Center’s Bottom Longline Survey, which focuses on sharks, red snapper, yellowedge and red grouper, and golden tilefish from Brownsville, Texas, to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
November 3, 2026 — The way Gulf Coast states manage their limits for red snapper, a popular catch among recreational anglers, is poised to change next year as fisheries management officials recommend adding more flexibility for states into federal rules.
The Gulf Fishery Management Council took action last week to alter how red snapper catch limit “paybacks” are done at their meeting in Galveston, Texas. The council advises the federal government on managing species in its Gulf of Mexico waters. Its members include sportfishers, commercial harvesters and scientists.
Gulf states are each allotted a specific amount of fish per species that recreational anglers may pull from the water every season. It’s done to ensure anglers don’t take too many, which can destabilize the population or even lead to a species’ extinction.
Previously, if a state went over its seasonal catch limit for red snapper, it had the overage amount taken away from its limit the following season, known as a payback.
October 21, 2026 — A bipartisan measure that aims to prevent seafood fraud is now federal law.
President Donald Trump signed into law Oct. 15, the Illegal Red Snapper and Tuna Enforcement Act, led 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.
The process will allow law enforcement to intercept illegally caught or falsely labeled fish before they enter U.S. markets, officials said.
“Our new law will give law enforcement a powerful new tool to detect where ahi comes from, help prevent seafood fraud, and give consumers better, more accurate information on what they’re buying and eating,” Schatz said.
October 20, 2026 — Depredation, the removal of or damage to hooked fish or gear by sharks or other marine predators, is a growing concern among fishing communities. Depredation results in increased mortality for managed fish stocks, economic loss, and degraded fishing experiences.
NOAA Fisheries biologists Dr. William “Trey” Driggers and Dr. Walter Ingram recently analyzed data from the Southeast Fisheries Science Center’s Bottom Longline Survey. Their goal: to determine trends in depredation rates over the past two decades. This is one of the first fishery-independent analyses of shark depredation—most research has been conducted in the fishery. The data confirm what anglers are seeing on the water: increasing trends in depredation by species like sandbar, blacktip, bull, and tiger sharks.
The annual Bottom Longline Survey, which started in 1995, samples U.S. waters of the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of America, from Brownsville, Texas, to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Scientists use these data to monitor trends in abundance of federally managed sharks and other fish species like red snapper. It provides fishery-independent indices of abundance for numerous federal stock assessments in the Southeast region. When the survey protocol was standardized in 2001, Dr. Driggers recognized the importance of collecting data on depredation events. He added it as a standard data collection metric for the survey.
Since 2005, the survey has collected data on:
This has resulted in a standardized record of depredation events for all survey longline sets for more than two decades.
September 3, 2026 — From Gulf Coast shrimpers’ lips to the Trump administration’s ear, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced an extensive set of priorities for reforming the nation’s fisheries on Wednesday, a so-called “operational roadmap” to unshackle what the administration views as a lucrative and essential but unnecessarily burdened industry.
An overture to the executive branch’s nascent America First Seafood Strategy, Wednesday’s announcement continues NOAA’s work under Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness, an April 2025 White House executive order that called seafood “one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the United States.” Since then, according to a news release, NOAA Fisheries has received input from more than 700 entities, including regional fishery councils, commercial producers, and members of the public.
July 28, 2026 — A handful of U.S. senators have asked the Department of the Treasury to issue sanctions on vessels that support China’s distant water fishing fleet, continuing a push from U.S. lawmakers to limit China’s commercial fishing and seafood sectors.
“The Chinese Communist Party is using its global distant-water fleet to conduct ecocide across at least three continents in both hemispheres. They kill endangered species by the hundreds and sharks, whales, and dolphins by the thousands, and have destroyed tens of thousands of acres of coral reefs,” U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a statement. “Their fleet uses coerced laborers, who are subjected to physical abuse, malnutrition, overwork, and withheld pay. They could not conduct these activities without supply ships, including reefers, tankers, and floating bases. The U.S. should bolster our Maritime Domain Awareness capabilities to identify these vessels, and then we should use every available option to sanction and disrupt them.”
July 20, 2026 — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has announced the reopening of the commercial Gulf shrimp season, following its annual assessment of shrimp populations and growth in Texas coastal waters.
According to TPWD, the reopening date is determined using biological sampling conducted each June to maximize benefits for both the shrimp resource and the commercial fishing industry while ensuring sustainable harvests.
July 15, 2026 — A bipartisan coalition of Gulf Coast lawmakers is pushing to change a 73-year-old law that limits their states’ maritime boundaries to 3 miles offshore, potentially reshaping the regulation of local fisheries and generating billions of dollars in tax revenues from offshore energy and minerals leases.
Introduced by U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell, R-Miss., and a group of legislators that includes Reps. Troy Carter Sr., D-La., Clay Higgins, R-La., and Shomari Figures, D-Ala., the Offshore Parity Act would extend state waters from 3 nautical miles out to 9 – matching the long-held boundaries of Texas and Florida.
May 18, 2026 — U.S. Representative Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) has asked the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to release more temporary worker visas for his state’s shrimp industry, which is facing labor shortages ahead of the upcoming commercial season.
“Shrimpers from my congressional district and across the Gulf region applied for the H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers program but have not secured the necessary visas for the upcoming shrimp season, which begins on 15 July,” Gonzalez said in a 13 May letter. “The domestic shrimping industry is already facing an existential crisis due to unfair competition from foreign imports, combined with severe labor shortages and increased fuel prices. Without immediate action from the administration, this industry will suffer irreparable harm if they cannot employ the workers they need for the upcoming commercial shrimp season.”
March 31, 2026 — The call often comes in the middle of the night to the U.S. Coast Guard station at South Padre Island, Texas, rousing service members from their bunks.
A lancha, typically a slim, 20- to 30-foot boat with an outboard motor, is spotted, overflowing with red snapper, 9 miles off the coast in federal waters.
Best known for its emergency response efforts at sea, the Coast Guard also polices the take of marine species from U.S. waters. In the Gulf of Mexico, its crews board their trademark white-and-orange cutter vessels to catch lanchas suspected of illegally fishing for species such as red snapper and sharks.
“It’s a common problem and it’s been a problem that the Coast Guard has been tackling for decades,” said Lt. Phillip VanderWeit, commanding officer with the Coast Guard’s Gulf Regional Fisheries Training Center, where service members, along with state and local law enforcement, are trained to enforce fisheries regulations and conservation laws.
Lanchas can cast off quickly from the Mexican Gulf coast, with crews of up to six fishermen, known as lancheros. They often travel at night in an attempt to hide from U.S. enforcement agencies, targeting out-of-season or undersized fish with types of gear banned under American law. Their catch often exceeds legal limits, officials said. Other species are also inadvertently caught in their nets.
The lancheros aren’t simply choosing to skirt the law on their own. Officials and researchers who track their activity say they’re often forced into illegal fishing by Mexican drug cartels. Cártel del Golfo (the Gulf Cartel) is considered the primary culprit, according to the U.S. Treasury. Most of its lanchas are based out of Playa Bagdad in Tamaulipas, the Mexican state just across the border from South Padre Island.