Saving Seafood

US pledges USD 17 million to fight IUU fishing in the Pacific Islands

September 3, 2026 — The United States has pledged USD 17 million (EUR 14.7 million) to fight counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in and around the Pacific Islands.

“The United States is a Pacific nation and has long stood with our Pacific friends and neighbors to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” the U.S. Department of State said in a release. Our commitment to the security and prosperity of the Pacific Islands is steadfast, enduring, and a key pillar of our America First Foreign Policy.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

 

MAINE: Lobstermen buoyed by US House passage of Golden bill to pause right whale protections until 2035

September 3, 2026 — The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday passed a bill to extend the pause on federal lobster rules in a 219-196 vote.

If passed by the Senate, the bill — introduced by Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Michael Lawler (R-New York) in June — would continue shielding lobstermen from new regulations to protect North Atlantic right whales until 2035.

In a statement, Golden described it as a win not only for the Maine fishing industry, but also for bipartisan work in Congress.

“While the threat of unnecessary, industry-killing regulations is a matter of survival for lobster harvesters in Maine, the issues at play affect fishermen across the Northeast,” Golden said. “Building bridges across party lines is essential for a functional Congress, but unfortunately, it’s a skill that has been lost for far too many members.”

Read the full article at Maine Morning Star

NOAA announces priorities to promote science-based American seafood dominance

September 2, 2026 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Today, NOAA announced priorities for advancing reforms within NOAA Fisheries to move towards regulations grounded in science that support American seafood dominance. These agency-level actions follow the Regional Priorities guidance that was released on July 2, 2026 to apply the same standard of accountability to NOAA’s own operations, regulatory frameworks, and scientific pipelines. This priority list serves as an operational roadmap of NOAA Fisheries’ direct support of the President’s Executive order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness and will lead to the broader interagency America First Seafood Strategy that will be released in the coming months.

“Through these priorities, the agency is taking actionable steps to fulfill the President’s vision of making the United States the world’s dominant seafood leader,” said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., NOAA administrator. “NOAA is proud to deliver real-world results to the American public through innovative solutions that streamline regulations.”

“These priorities represent NOAA Fisheries’ commitment to ensuring that federal fisheries management boosts domestic harvesters,” said Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “We are proud to empower hard-working American fishermen to produce more seafood for American plates.”

After considering input from more than 700 individuals and organizations, including from councils, the fishing industry, and the public, NOAA Fisheries is advancing a science-based approach to fisheries management that supports sustainable fishing opportunities while ensuring responsible conservation practices and improving regulatory efficiency. These efforts touch on all aspects of the agency’s mission from protected resources and science to national policies and improving fishing opportunities.

The complete list of priority actions is available on the NOAA Fisheries website.

While this announcement outlines the immediate internal priorities for the agency, it also serves as a bridge towards a broader, interagency transformation of federal seafood policy. In the coming months, the agency will unveil future actions towards this goal to strengthen national seafood markets, rebuild U.S. fisheries infrastructure and processing capacity, and tackle IUU fishing issues to ensure American seafood dominance.

Advancing Agency-Level Reforms to Restore American Seafood Competitiveness

September 2, 2026 — Over the past year, I have met with fishermen, processors, coastal community leaders, and regional fishery management council members and staff across the country. In every harbor and at every meeting, the message has been consistent: American fishermen just want to fish, and they need their government to clear the bureaucratic barriers standing in their way.

On July 2, 2026, NOAA Fisheries sent Regional Priorities guidance, providing the regional fishery management councils a clear roadmap of actions to reduce regulatory burdens and better support the health of our industry, while maintaining our public trust duty to maintain stock and ocean ecosystem health. But our democratic council process is only part of the equation. To complement that guidance, NOAA Fisheries is applying the same standard of accountability and results to its own operations, regulatory frameworks, and scientific pipelines.

Today, I am announcing NOAA Fisheries’ priorities for agency-level actions in support of the Seafood Executive Order. It will serve as our operational roadmap for regulatory, scientific, and administrative reform. Informed by the 787 public comments submitted under the 2025 “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness” Executive Order (EO 14276), these priorities focus strictly on the policy levers directly within the agency’s authority.

This announcement outlines our immediate priorities for the agency and serves as a bridge toward a broader, interagency transformation of federal seafood policy. In the coming months, the administration will release the America First Seafood Strategy, a comprehensive, multi-agency initiative developed in close coordination with our federal partners and informed by extensive feedback from stakeholders. The strategy will firmly outline how efforts under EO 14276 have begun—and will continue—to elevate domestic seafood production to a priority in matters of national food security and strategic independence.

NOAA Fisheries will pursue the actions outlined below immediately as we look forward to that broader strategy. We are moving away from regulations that treat domestic harvesters like a problem to be managed, and toward a science-based, common-sense system that recognizes the importance of those who feed our citizens and the communities they support.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Two giant warming patterns are brewing in the Pacific and warping US weather

September 2, 2026 — In the north-east Pacific Ocean, an immense and persistent heatwave is wreaking havoc on marine life and weather patterns.

“It’s a really bright red eyeball in the Pacific,” says Andrew Leising, a research oceanographer at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). “It’s huge, it stretches across the whole [ocean].” The Pacific heatwave, which formed in May 2025, is already bringing surface temperatures 3-4C (5.4-7.2F) above average for this time of year, according to Leising.

Add to that: a massive warming pattern known as El Niño is brewing further south. El Niño is a weather phenomenon that pushes up global temperatures, and it is also supercharging Pacific Ocean warming. It is expected to intensify this autumn to become the strongest El Niño in living memory.

This combination of a massive marine heatwave and a “super El Niño” is rarely seen. Here are five impacts we can expect to see – and where they will happen.

Read the full article at the BBC

US House votes to extend pause on new lobster regulations for seven years

September 2, 2026 — The U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend a moratorium on new lobster regulations related to North Atlantic right whales through 2035.

“Maine’s iconic lobster fishery contributes billions of dollars to the U.S. economy and employs thousands of Mainers. Unfortunately, the men and women who work the fishery have dealt with extreme regulatory uncertainty that threatens to stifle lobster fishing,” House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas) said in a release.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

House passes bill extending right whale regulatory pause

September 2, 2026 — The U.S. House of Representatives has passed H.R. 9436, legislation that would extend the current pause on new North Atlantic right whale regulations affecting the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries through 2035.

The Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act of 2026 passed the House on Sept. 1 by a 219-196 vote. The bill would extend the existing regulatory pause from its current expiration at the end of 2028 to Dec. 31, 2035.

The legislation has drawn support from Northeast commercial fishing organizations, which argue additional time is needed for ongoing research and technology development to inform future whale regulations. Conservation groups, meanwhile, say the extension would delay measures they believe are necessary to reduce the risk of serious injury and mortality to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association (NEFSA), which urged lawmakers to pass the measure ahead of the House vote, welcomed its passage.

“The New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association strongly supports passage of H.R. 9436,” Jason Joyce, NEFSA’s director of advocacy, said in a statement provided to National Fisherman.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Bipartisan fisheries management law would expand eDNA use

September 1, 2026 — Bipartisan legislation introduced this month by the co-chairs of the U.S. Senate Oceans Caucus relies on environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques pioneered by Cornell researcher David Lodge, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and past director of the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

The Fisheries Science Modernization Act would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to incorporate eDNA tools into their assessment surveys of fish stocks – assessments that inform how many fish can be harvested by commercial and recreational fishers. Eight Republican, Democratic and independent senators co-sponsor the legislation, and multiple fishing industry and environmental protection organizations support it.

“When I started testing eDNA 17 years ago, I was interested in detecting rare species, such as emerging invasive species and endangered species,” Lodge said. “The focus of this legislation is quite different. Here, it’s not just about detecting whether a Pacific hake exists, it’s about estimating how many hake there are, based on how many distinct pieces of hake DNA you can find. It’s pretty astonishing to me that we in the scientific world working on eDNA have come this far, this fast.”

Read the full article at the Cornell Chronicle 

VIRGINIA: Protesters harass menhaden fishermen

September 1, 2026 — Chesapeake Bay menhaden fishing protesters in small craft continue to harass Ocean Harvesters’ boats and fishermen by circling in front of the firms’ steamers attempting to keep boats from making sets.

Ocean Harvesters of Reedville, Va., harvests menhaden and sells it to Omega Protein, also located in Reedville. Omega Protein buys the fish from Ocean Harvesters and processes them into fish meal, fish oil, and other products.

Ocean Harvesters and Omega Protein are part of the only large menhaden reduction fishery in operation on the East Coast of the United States and have drawn protests from environmental groups throughout the mid-Atlantic who want to prevent menhaden reduction fishing on Chesapeake Bay.

“Over the past three years we have seen a few dozen of these recreational fishing boats racing to get in front of us and just circling so we either can’t get to where we want to go, or to try and block us from setting out nets,” says Monty Deihl chief executive officer of Ocean Harvesters. “These go hand-in-hand with the threats we get on social media and the coordinated effort to disrupt our operations.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

LOUISIANA: Louisiana shrimpers launch petition to restrict imports

September 1, 2026 — Frustrated with decades of competition from cheaper, imported shrimp, shrimpers from Louisiana have launched a petition calling on the U.S. federal government to take action to restrict imports and better support domestic producers.

“The Louisiana Shrimp Association is asking fishermen, fishing families, seafood businesses, restaurants, consumers, and everyone who supports American jobs and American seafood to stand with us,” the association said in a 30 August Facebook post. “Our wild-caught shrimp industry is in crisis. American shrimp harvesters are struggling with unsustainable dockside prices while enormous volumes of imported shrimp continue to enter our country.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource