Saving Seafood

Lawmakers to question NOAA, energy nominees

October 21 2025 — Senate committees will question nominees to NOAA and the Tennessee Valley Authority this week as the administration looks to reform operations there.

As assistant secretary of Commerce for oceans and atmosphere, Timothy Petty would oversee NOAA Fisheries, whose role in regulating commercial and recreational fisheries has become a major policy focus for the administration.

In April, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for the Commerce Department to restore America’s seafood competitiveness, including by rolling back environmental restrictions on commercial fishing fleets and stepping up enforcement of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that has harmed the U.S. seafood industry.

Read the full article at E&E News

US Supreme Court appears split over US agency powers in fishing dispute

January 17, 2024 — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared divided over a bid to further limit the regulatory powers of federal agencies in a dispute involving a government-run program to monitor for overfishing of herring off New England’s coast.

The justices heard arguments in appeals by two fishing companies of lower court rulings allowing the National Marine Fisheries Service to require commercial fishermen to help fund the program. The companies – led by New Jersey-based Loper Bright Enterprises and Rhode Island-based Relentless Inc – have argued that Congress did not authorize the agency, part of the U.S. Commerce Department, to establish the program.

The companies have asked the court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, to rein in or overturn a precedent established in 1984 that calls for judges to defer to federal agency interpretation of U.S. laws deemed to be ambiguous, a doctrine called “Chevron deference.”

The questions posed by the justices did not reveal a clear majority willing to overturn the precedent. Some of the conservative justices seemed skeptical of the doctrine’s continuing force. Others signaled hesitation about reversing it. The court’s liberal justices appeared ready to preserve the doctrine’s deference to the expertise of agencies.

Read the full article at Reuters 

ALASKA: Federal government declares disasters for Alaska fisheries

December 19, 2022 — The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday announced a series of fishery disaster declarations in Alaska dating back to 2020, a key step toward securing federal disaster assistance.

Now that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has made the determination, the fisheries are eligible to receive disaster assistance from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, if Congress appropriates the necessary funds.

The announcement comes months after Alaska officials canceled this year’s Bering Sea king and snow crab fishing seasons due to dramatically diminishing populations, with impacts rippling across the industry and Alaska communities.

“These are not only devastating to Alaska’s fishing and seafood industry and Alaskan families, but Alaska’s economy as a whole,” Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in a statement.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News 

US Commerce Department appoints Regional Fishery Management Council members

June 29, 2018 — The U.S. Commerce Department announced on 27 June that is has made 30 appointments to the eight regional fishery management councils that partner with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration to manage fish stocks.

The councils, established by the Magnuson-Stevens Act, help prepare fishery management plans for each of the eight regions: New England, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Western Pacific, Pacific, and North Pacific.

Of the councilors appointed, 29 are receiving three-year terms, starting on 11 August, that will run through to 10 August, 2021. One member, Michael K. Goto of Hawaii, is  filling a recently vacated at-large seat in the Western Pacific council and will serve out the remainder of that term through 10 August, 2020.

The council members come from diverse backgrounds, including commercial fisheries, recreational fisheries, environmental organizations, and academic institutions. Appointments take place each year, when the U.S. Secretary of Commerce appoints roughly one-third of the 72 total council members from the eight councils. Appointments are made based on nominations from the governors of the fishing states, territories, and tribal governments.

Read the full story at Seafood Source