Saving Seafood

July 10, 2026 — President Donald Trump’s proposal to reopen the Northern Edge of Georges Bank to scallop fishing is generating optimism throughout New England’s scallop industry, though fishermen and scientists say reopening one of the East Coast’s most productive fishing grounds will likely take time and require approval through the federal management process. The Northern Edge has been closed to scalloping since 1994 to protect Atlantic cod habitat.

July 10, 2026 — The catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster led to the splitting of the federal Marine Minerals Administration into two separate agencies – one focused on offshore leasing and production, and another on safety. Now Democratic leaders in Congress are sounding the alarm over the Trump administration’s move to reunite the agencies’ functions under one roof.

July 10, 2026 — Norm Van Vactor stands on the bank of the Wood River facing a mysterious looking grey box with blinking lights. “So that’s the habitat and the home for our ‘bird’, and it’s a completely self-contained unit,” he said, pointing to the box. At exactly 8:30 a.m., the box opens and a drone emerges. It quickly takes off on an automated flight path, flying to an observation position above the right bank of the Wood River.

July 10, 2026 — This afternoon, White House Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro posted a video on X noting that “.@POTUS is protecting our scallop industry by opening up the Northern Edge of Georges Bank off the coast of New England.” In the video, Mr. Navarro says: President Trump is making American fishing great again. The latest example is scallops. America has the largest wild scallop fishery in the world.

July 10, 2026 — Alaska fisheries officials are calling on the Marine Stewardship Council(MSC) to reject the recertification of Russia’s Western Bering Sea pollock fishery, arguing the fishery fails to meet the conservation standards routinely required of U.S. fishermen while competing directly with Alaska pollock in global markets. The request comes as MSC considers formal objections to the fishery’s five-year recertification.

July 10, 2026 — Alaska’s commercial weathervane scallop fishery opened July 1 with harvest levels unchanged from last season, but despite nearly 400,000 pounds of statewide quota available, only two vessels are expected to participate in one of the world’s most exclusive commercial fisheries.

July 10, 2026 — After a declining population of mackerel since 2017, recent assessments show the population is improving, according to NOAA Fisheries. NOAA says it found that the Atlantic mackerel population was dangerously low and overfishing was occurring in 2017. Since then, it says it has implemented a 5-year rebuilding plan to help the population recover. The plan was extended to 10 years after a 2021 assessment estimated it could not be done in the initial time frame.

July 10, 2026 — As Americans call for relief in grocery inflation, Walmart and Sam’s Club announced “thousands” of lower prices on seafood along with other food and non-food items to help customers save money this summer. “Customers count on Walmart to deliver the value they need every day, and summer is no exception,” Walmart Executive Vice President and Chief Merchant Julie Barber said.

July 10, 2026 — The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) sued NOAA Fisheries over inadequate queen conch protection, noting the agency has yet to designate critical habitat for the snail despite listing the species as a threatened under the Endangered Species Act “The Fisheries Service’s failure to protect the coral reefs and other places where the queen conch lives is driving this iconic snail closer to extinction,” CBD attorney Alex Muir said in a release.

July 10, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plans to add wild-caught peeled and deveined shrimp to the list of foods available under its emergency food assistance programs. “Shell-abrate [sic] the great news for America’s fishermen!” the department said in social media posts.