Saving Seafood

Trump Restores Commercial Fishing Access to Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument

“By reopening the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts to commercial fishing, fairness, transparency, and science-based governance has been restored to the affected fisheries.” — Bob Vanasse, Executive Director of Saving Seafood

February 6, 2026 — WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — Statement from Bob Vanasse, Executive Director of Saving Seafood, on President Trump’s Action to Restore Commercial Fishing Access to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument:

This afternoon, President Trump revoked President Biden’s Proclamation 10287 and removed the restrictions on commercial fishing within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

This decision reflects a clear understanding of a simple truth: commercial fishing in the United States is already governed by the most comprehensive, science-based, and publicly accountable regulatory system in the world. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, fishing activities in federal waters must meet strict sustainability standards, undergo rigorous scientific review, and follow a transparent process that includes stakeholder input and council oversight. Restoring access to the monument area under this framework reaffirms—not undermines—our commitment to conservation.

In stark contrast, President Obama’s 2016 designation of the monument excluded commercial fishermen from a region they had sustainably fished for generations. It was imposed unilaterally through executive order—without public hearings, without a cost-benefit analysis, and without input from those whose livelihoods were affected. It was a top-down decision that ignored the proven success of the fishery management system already in place. And in a striking display of hypocrisy, while working fishermen were forced out, the uber-wealthy with yachts large enough for spearfishing adventures 130 miles offshore were not banned.

President Trump restored the rights of fishermen once before in 2020. This followed both Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt agreeing to meet with fishing groups in Boston, in meetings I had the honor to chair.

Unfortunately, President Biden repeated the undemocratic actions of President Obama in 2021, reimposing the ban on commercial fishing with no meaningful engagement. Our industry reached out to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in good faith—we wrote letters, made phone calls, and requested meetings. We received no response.

All eight regional fishery management councils formally opposed the Biden administration’s reimposition of the ban. President Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland actively disregarded the voices of the very councils and communities entrusted with managing our marine resources. Their closed-door approach and lack of transparency sent a message: facts and stakeholders were not welcome in their decision-making process. This is not how democratic governance or environmental policy should be conducted. But it is not surprising, as there is a history of monument creation via secretive alliance between certain environmentalists and sympathetic Administration staff, as described in this 2015 E&E News story.

We fully expect the usual environmental advocacy groups to respond as they did in 2020, with misleading rhetoric and predictions of catastrophic overfishing. So let’s be absolutely clear: any fishing that resumes in the monument will remain subject to the full force of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, a law these same groups routinely hail as a global benchmark for sustainable fishery management.

Their objection is not about protecting the ocean—it is about controlling American commercial fishermen and pushing a broader, extremist agenda that seeks to deny citizens the ability to responsibly use our resources, regardless of science or sustainability.

The truth is that America’s commercial fishermen are among the world’s most responsible ocean stewards. Their work is tightly regulated, environmentally conscious, and vital to the economies and food security of coastal communities. When managed through the regional fishery management councils and NOAA Fisheries, commercial fishing supports biodiversity and conservation while feeding the nation.

Vineyard Wind 1 blows past federal stop-work order, project to resume

January 29, 2026 — Vineyard Wind 1 picked up a legal tailwind on Jan. 27 after a federal judge stayed a Trump administration stop-work order that halted the nearly finished project just more than a month ago.

Judge Brian E. Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted the company a preliminary injunction, blocking a Dec. 22 suspension order the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued to five major East Coast offshore wind projects.

The ruling allows Vineyard Wind 1, a joint venture of Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, to restart full construction activities in its lease area south of Martha’s Vineyard and southwest of Nantucket while the broader legal challenge moves through the court system. The project brings power ashore at Covell Beach in Barnstable, connecting to the New England power grid by way of a substation in Hyannis.

Read the full article at Cape Cod Times

ALASKA: U.S. Interior Department agency solicits interest in seafloor mining off Alaska

January 28, 2026 — The Trump administration is floating the idea of mining the seafloor off Alaska’s coast.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said Tuesday it will soon release a formal “call for information” about possible sales of leases for minerals mining in federal waters off Alaska. The call for information will kick off a 30-day public comment period allowing industry to express interest in such a lease sale.

“Alaska’s offshore holds strategic potential for the minerals that drive American industry, defense and next-generation technologies,” Matt Giacona, BOEM’s acting director, said in a statement. “This Request for Information is a practical first step to gauge interest and identify areas where development could make sense for jobs, investment and national supply chains.”

The push for offshore minerals mining “supports the Trump Administration’s focus on strengthening domestic supply chains and advancing American energy and resource leadership,” the BOEM statement said.

Read the full article at Alaska Beacon

CALIFORNIA: California lawmakers push back against offshore oil drilling

January 22, 2026 — Weeks after California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis spoke out against federal efforts to expand offshore oil drilling, state lawmakers told The Center Square that increased drilling is deeply unpopular among coastal residents.

Opponents warn against the environmental costs.

But supporters say technology has made drilling safer. They also note offshore drilling could boost America’s energy independence and lower gas prices in California, which typically has the highest in the U.S.

Legislators’ comments opposing the drilling come after the announcement in November 2025 that the U.S. Department of the Interior would expand oil and gas drilling leases not just off the Pacific Coast in areas such as Santa Barbara, but other sites on the nation’s outer continental shelf.

“We have a deep, visceral experience that is seared into the community’s consciousness about the risks of offshore oil development,” Assemblymember Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, told The Center Square. “We are adamantly opposed to the leasing. There’s been a bipartisan consensus for 40 years that we want to wind down offshore oil development, not expand it.”

According to a November 2025 order from the U.S. secretary of the interior, the program to increase oil drilling off American coastlines is meant to increase “national energy resilience” by increasing the number of oil drilling leases. That order mandated that four lease sales were planned for the coming months – one in December 2025, two in March 2026 and one in August 2026.

The first sale was held in December in New Orleans, attracting 219 bids from 26 companies that would include the increased oil production of 1.02 million acres in the Gulf of America, according to previous reporting by The Center Square. The last time oil drilling leases were sold in the Gulf of America, formerly the Gulf of Mexico, was in 2023.

Additional lease sales are planned for the Gulf of America and Cook Inlet in Alaska, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Despite no lease sales immediately planned off the coast of California, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans to start auctioning six total oil drilling leases off the coast of California starting in 2027, according to a proposed program report from the bureau released in November. Three lease sales are planned in 2027 off the coast of Southern California, another two starting in 2027 off the coast of Central California and one off the coast of Northern California in 2029, the report states.

Congress approves more Bay funding than White House sought

January 20, 2026 — Rebuffing deep spending cuts proposed by the Trump administration, Congress has approved more funding for Chesapeake Bay cleanup and conservation than the White House requested — including boosts for restoring oysters, dealing with invasive blue catfish and addressing whether menhaden, an important forage fish in the Bay, are being overfished.

By a vote of 82-15, the U.S. Senate gave overwhelming, bipartisan approval Thursday to a trio of spending bills that included funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Commerce, Justice, Energy and Interior departments through the end of September. With the House having passed the package on Jan. 8, the measures now go to the White House for President Trump’s signature.

The bills do reduce overall spending at the affected agencies but by far less than proposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget. And lawmakers actually increased spending on some science-related programs and projects.

Notably, Congress approved record-high funding of $93 million for EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program, the federal-state partnership that coordinates pollution reduction and habitat restoration efforts in the estuary and its rivers and streams.

Read the full article at Bay Journal

US House passes legislation funding NOAA Fisheries for fiscal year 2026

January 9, 2026 — The U.S. House has voted to pass appropriations legislation funding the Department of Commerce and the Department of the Interior for the remainder of fiscal year 2026.

“Today, the House took another step forward in advancing three more FY26 appropriations bills to President Trump’s desk,” U.S. Representative Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said after the vote. “Through bipartisan, committee-led consensus, we are delivering full-year measures that spend less than current funding, implement critical priorities for our districts, and continue to advance the America First agenda. This was not by accident – it is the result of ending bloated omnibuses, empowering members, and doing the hard work Article I of the Constitution demands.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Judge Delays Dominion’s Offshore Wind Suit Awaiting U.S. Data

December 31, 2025 — The first showdown over the U.S. Department of the Interior’s efforts to stop the construction of five offshore wind farms is being delayed as a U.S. District Court in Virginia waits for data from the government. Dominion Energy’s efforts to gain a temporary restraining order to permit it to restart work were delayed, with the next hearing set for January 16.

Dominion Energy and its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is one of five that were ordered to stop offshore work by the Department of the Interior, which made vague claims about national security concerns due to radar clutter caused by the turbine blades and towers. The government cited new confidential data from studies by the Pentagon as the justification for the orders.

The five projects are all under construction, and in the case of Coastal Virginia and Vineyard Wind 1 in Massachusetts nearing completion. Dominion asserted in its court filing that the stop-work order is costing the company $5 million a day and said it could jeopardize completion of the wind farm on time in 2026 and the stability of the power grid, which needs more electricity. Coastal Virginia was expected to generate its first power in early 2026.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

US judge rejects Trump administration’s halt of wind energy permits

December 10, 2025 — A federal judge on Monday struck down an order by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to halt all federal approvals for new wind energy projects, saying that agencies’ efforts to implement his directive were unlawful and arbitrary.

Agencies including the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Commerce and the Environmental Protection Agency have been implementing a directive to halt all new approvals needed for both onshore and offshore wind projects pending a review of leasing and permitting practices.

Siding with, a group of 17 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia, U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston said those agencies had failed to provide reasoned explanations for the actions they took to carry out the directive Trump issued on his first day back in office on January 20.

They could not lawfully under the Administrative Procedure Act indefinitely decline to review applications for permits, added Saris, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat whose state led the legal challenge, called the ruling “a big victory in our fight to keep tackling the climate crisis” in a social media post.

Read the full article at Reuters

Nantucket wind lawsuit on hold as feds take 2nd look at SouthCoast permit

September 8, 2025 — In a move that could reshape the future of SouthCoast Wind — and signal deeper uncertainty for offshore wind — the U.S. Department of the Interior is reviewing its approval of the planned offshore wind farm off Nantucket. At the same time, federal attorneys want to pause the town of Nantucket’s related lawsuit while regulators revisit the permit — a shift Nantucket supports.

On Aug. 29, the U.S. Department of Justice asked the U.S. District Court for a temporary hold on Nantucket’s appeal filed over the permit. In a Sept. 2 statement, town leaders said they hope the pause leads to broader changes in how offshore wind projects are approved.

Read the full article at Cape Cod Times

NEW JERSEY: Cancel Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Projects, LBI Group Asks Trump Admin

August 6, 2025 — A local anti-offshore wind group is petitioning the Trump Administration to cancel the Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm projects.

Save LBI announced Tuesday that the group had formally petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to cancel the leases for the Atlantic Shores South and North offshore wind projects and rescind existing permit approvals.

“We are committed to permanently stopping the Atlantic Shores projects,” Save LBI wrote in the petition. The group called for an expedited lease cancellation.

Read the full article at the Patch