Saving Seafood

US lawmakers hope new task force can determine why East Coast shellfish populations are declining

September 26, 2025 — Two United States senators have introduced bipartisan legislation to establish a task force to determine why shellfish populations on the East Coast of the U.S. are declining.

“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,” U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) said in a release. “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.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Scott, Whitehouse introduce bill to investigate declining East Coast shellfish populations

September 23, 2025 — Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced new legislation Friday to study the causes of declining native shellfish populations along the United States’ East Coast.

The bipartisan bill’s primary function would be to study the declining quahog, or hard shell clam, population, earning the apt moniker of the QUAHOGS Act – Quantifying Uncertainty and Action to Help Optimize Growth of Shellfish.

Besides quahogs, the legislators cited declining populations of other bivalves too, like oysters, scallops, and soft-shell clams, up and down the eastern coast. The bill would establish the East Coast Bivalve Research Task Force comprised of between 16 and 21 members chaired by a representative from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Agriculture, New England, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Atlantic States Fishery Management Councils, officials from state fish and wildlife management agencies, bivalve fishing industry representatives, academic experts, and at least one Tribal representative would all be appointed by the US Secretary of Commerce to flesh out the task force.

Read the full article at WPDE

RHODE ISLAND: Sen. Whitehouse wants to know where the quahogs have gone

September 22, 2025 — A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) aims to address the decline of the quahog and other shellfish populations on the East Coast — and the legislation even bears the name of Rhode Island’s official state shell.

The Quantifying Uncertainty and Action to Help Optimize Growth of Shellfish (QUAHOGS) Act would create a research task force of state and federal agency representatives, fishery management councils, and industry leaders dubbed the “East Coast Bivalve Research Task Force” to find out why fewer bivalves are in the water.

At its peak in 1959, nearly 5 million pounds of quahogs were harvested from Rhode Island waters, according to a March 2024 report by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM). Between 2020 and 2023, that number was less than 500,000 pounds.

“Quahogging in Narragansett Bay is a quintessential Rhode Island trade whose harvest brings us the Ocean State summer staples of clear chowder and stuffies,” Whitehouse said in a statement. “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.”

Read the full article at Rhode Island PBS