Friday, May 8, 2026
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Alaska
Alaska 2026 salmon season officially gets underway this month at Copper River!
Alaska's first major salmon fishery gets underway on May 22.
AlaskaFish.News by Laine Welch - May 6, 2026
While trollers in Southeast Alaska catch king salmon almost year round, mid-May marks the official start of Alaska’s salmon season as sockeyes and kings run to the Copper River near Cordova.
Bristol Bay sockeye forecast drops below recent average for 2026
National Fisherman by Margaret Bauman - May 8, 2026
University of Washington's Alaska Salmon Program researchers are forecasting a 2026 total Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run of 41.5 million fish, with slightly larger fish than in 2025.
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Trident expands into black cod and halibut this year
Wrangell Sentinel by Larry Persily - May 6, 2026
“For the first time in many years, we are open for black cod and halibut this spring,” a Trident Seafoods official said of the company’s plant in Wrangell.
West Coast
The missing secret behind West Coast groundfish recovery
National Fisherman by Carli Stewart - May 8, 2026
For years, rebuilding of West Coast groundfish stocks has been held up as one of the great success stories in American fisheries management. NOAA once called it the “comeback of the century,” celebrating the rebound of stocks that had been declared overfished in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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National
NFI Urges USTR to Exempt Seafood from Section 301 Tariffs in Excess Capacity Investigation
SeafoodNews by Ryan Doyle - May 6, 2026
The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) pushed back against proposed tariffs during testimony before the US Trade Representative on May 5, arguing seafood should be excluded from the administration's Section 301 investigation into excess capacity.
NFI Executive Vice President & General Counsel Bob DeHaan told USTR that imposing "significant and perhaps prohibitive tariffs" on seafood would undermine the Agriculture Department's Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommend increased seafood consumption. He warned the tariffs would price "value seafood products" out of reach for American families and stoke consumer inflation.
DeHaan argued that excess capacity concerns "plainly do not apply to seafood," noting US wild stocks are fished to maximum sustainable yield and domestic substitutes often don't exist due to climate and geography. He urged USTR to "ensure all commercial seafood products are outside the scope of the proceeding."
The testimony represents the industry's formal response to the administration's pivot to Section 301 investigations after the Supreme Court struck down President Trump's use of emergency powers for reciprocal tariffs. As reported in February, USTR Jamieson Greer had specifically identified seafood among targeted sectors for the accelerated investigations, alongside rice, excess capacity, and other trade concerns.
The administration has positioned Section 301 as an "alternative tool" to implement Trump's trade agenda following the IEEPA ruling, with investigations expected to cover most major trading partners on an accelerated timeline.
“We expect these investigations to cover most major trading partners and to address areas of concern such as industrial excess capacity, forced labor, pharmaceutical pricing practices, discrimination against US technology companies and digital goods and services, digital services taxes, ocean pollution, and practices related to the trade in seafood, rice, and other products,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer wrote earlier this year.
North Pacific Fisheries Commission Addresses IUU, Bottom Fishing Among Regional Issues Last Month
SeafoodNews by Peggy Parker - May 8, 2026
Although the full report of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) has not been released from its April meeting, NOAA Fisheries has issued a press release about achievements there.
Three primary topics addressed during their 10th NPFC annual meeting, which took place in Osaka, April 14-17, were IUU fishing, bottom trawls used in the Emperor Seamounts, and management of the commercial species in the Convention area.
The United States does not have fishing vessels active under NPFC but shares objectives regarding sustainable fisheries management, improving maritime security on the high seas adjacent to U.S. waters, and ensuring U.S. seafood imports derive from legal, well-managed fisheries.
In the fight to eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing, the Commission adopted minimum standards for port inspections, laying out basic obligations for port states when foreign fishing vessels request entry into port.
The standards are aligned with the Agreement on Port State Measures, strengthening measures the Commission has in place to combat IUU fishing at sea, such as high seas boardings and inspections, vessel monitoring systems, and its transshipment observer program.
The Commission adopted a U.S. proposal to tighten timeframes under which vessels could be nominated for inclusion on the IUU list and impose consequences on those vessels.
“U.S. engagement in NPFC and other RFMOs advances the Administration’s objectives to combat IUU fishing, control overcapacity and overfishing by foreign fleets, and ensure international measures are consistent with U.S. best practices to support seafood competitiveness,” said Eugenio Piñiero-Soler, NOAA’s Assistant Administrator for Fisheries.
More than 120 scientists from 24 countries reiterate their call for the Commission to take steps towards greater protection of the Emperor Seamount Chain.
Japan continues to use bottom trawl gear on the Emperor Seamounts with no scientific advice on sustainable levels of catch or effort. This is likely contributing to the overfishing of splendid alfonsino and negatively affecting stocks of overfished North Pacific armorhead, the NOAA report noted.
“Such fisheries that contact the sea floor also result in substantial bycatch and have the potential to harm deep-sea vulnerable marine ecosystems. The U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone around the northwestern Hawaiian Islands has been closed for decades to the development of related fisheries due to stock status concerns,” NOAA Fisheries wrote.
In the March 14 letter, the scientists wrote “Collectively, we have spent thousands of hours investigating the extremely vulnerable marine species, habitats, and ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean, or of the world’s seamounts.
“The World Commission on Protected Areas and many others have called for the Emperor Seamounts to receive priority protection…”
The group called for “…at minimum — a precautionary, temporary closure of all fishing using gear that may contact the seafloor is warranted.
“Such a closure would allow additional conservation and management measures to be considered and adopted to ensure that bottom fishing does not cause further significant adverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems in the region,” the scientists wrote.
The U.S. proposal led to more members supporting a temporary closure of such high-seas bottom fisheries than ever before, but Japan blocked consensus on stronger action. The Scientific Committee will review the measure and recommend changes to address U.S. concerns about the status of deep-sea stocks and vulnerable marine ecosystems.
The United States also led the push for stronger, more precautionary measures related to bottom fishing in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.
The Scientific Committee will review the measure and recommend changes to address U.S. concerns about the status of deep-sea stocks and vulnerable marine ecosystems.
The Commission cut the catch limit for chub mackerel by almost 30 percent; addressed concerns about mixed catches with blue mackerel; and imposed limits on Japanese sardine for the first time.
The Commission cut catches of Pacific saury by 5 percent as the stock continues to rebuild from overfishing. Catch limits should have been reduced by 10 percent under the interim harvest control rule.
Some members said their industries could not support any catch reductions at all. U.S. intervention was key, according to NOAA, in ensuring the Commission agreed on any cuts to catch.
"We also secured a 2-year deal in which the Commission will respect the harvest control rule and automatically reduce catches by 10 percent next year (unless the Commission decides otherwise based on the best available scientific information),” wrote NOAA attendees.
“I am proud of the NPFC’s accomplishments and the U.S. delegation’s contributions to its substantial progress on addressing IUU fishing and overfished stocks,” said Michael Brakke, U.S. Commissioner for the North Pacific Fisheries Commission.
“The gains in this and previous meetings at NPFC have been hard fought, given the divergent views of its members. This underscores the importance of strong U.S. engagement to continue moving the organization in the right direction,” Brakke added.
Trump proposes 41 percent cut to NOAA Fisheries budget, transferring ESA and MMPA responsibilities
SeafoodSource by Nathan Strout - May 7, 2026
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed a 41 percent budget cut to NOAA Fisheries, which includes the removal of effectively all protected species and habitat conservation functions.
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