Editorial – January/February 2026

By Karen Wall

Changes Coming?

Fisheries regulations have been a source of controversy for decades. From the extreme cutbacks – and in some places moratoriums – on striped bass fishing in the 1980s to the shutdown of the bluefin tuna fishery in 2025, regulations and quotas have been a source of frustration for many anglers.

There has long been a sentiment among some that the regulatory system needs to be overhauled to find a better balance between protecting fisheries stocks and allowing people to enjoy the resource. But there has been little agreement on what shape the reform should take.

There could be changes coming, perhaps significant ones with lasting impacts, under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.

The order was signed in April 2025, and required the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to “immediately consider suspending, revising, or rescinding regulations that overly burden America’s commercial fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing industries at the fishery-specific level.”

The process was supposed to “identify the most heavily overregulated fisheries requiring action and take appropriate action to reduce the regulatory burden on them, in cooperation with the Regional Fishery Management Councils, interagency partners, and through public-private partnerships, as appropriate,” according to the order.

The order said the regional fishery management councils should make recommendations that will “reduce burdens on domestic fishing and to increase production.”

“Building upon the earlier goals, identified actions should stabilize markets, improve access, enhance economic profitability, and prevent closures. The Regional Fishery Management Councils will commit to a work plan and a schedule for implementation to ensure these actions are prioritized,” the order said.

The order goes on to say input should be sought from the public, including from fishing industry members, technology experts, marine scientists, and “other relevant parties … for innovative ideas to improve fisheries management and science within the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act,” the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and “other applicable laws.”

It also ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service to “incorporate less expensive and more reliable technologies and cooperative research programs into fishery assessments,” and modernizing data collection and analytical practices “that will improve the responsiveness of fisheries management to real-time ocean conditions.”

Data collection has long been a critical piece of the problem of effective fisheries management. Collecting accurate data – particularly with regard to the involvement of recreational anglers – has been full of issues dating back to the early 2000s.

While some technology and some changes to the methods of collecting data have made incremental improvements, the gaps in the science, particularly with gauging why some species are struggling, remain.

The most recent round of meetings of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission showed the issues that continue to plague the data used in setting regulations.

Initial predictions had been that significant cutbacks were required for the striped bass harvest, based on predictions of the 2025 harvest. But those predictions were undercut at the meeting when data for 2025 showed striped bass removals were lower than what scientists had estimated they would be.

“The new information led to a vote to stay with the current regulations, though not without some wrangling,” Jim Hutchinson Jr. reported in The Fisherman magazine.

Hutchinson reported that not long after the meeting, a report on the Maryland juvenile striped bass young-of-the-year rattled fisheries managers, because the number was significantly lower than the average.

“The fishing community, along with scientists and the fisheries managers, should be working together to explore the drivers of spawning success and failure, from changing climatic and environmental conditions to the impacts of invasive species,” Hutchinson wrote. (Read it here: http://bit.ly/4oYEaeO)

Better data and more collaboration is important, but the idea that it can be done cheaply is part of why we continue to face these issues. Fisheries science has been chronically underfunded for decades. In the early 2000s, the state of New Jersey had a fisheries budget that barely cracked a few million dolllars. It was insanely low compared with the multimillions in revenue to the state. So cutting federal funding to the NMFS will only hinder efforts to meet the goal of improving production. Investing in the science is critical to getting the best available science. It doesn’t mean extreme measures, but for an industry that’s worth billions, sometimes wisdom demands investing in it properly.

NOAA has been collecting comments on “fishery-related barriers, fisheries management, science, and other priority needs,” but the comment period closed in mid-December.

It’s unclear from the NOAA notice what the next steps entail, but it’s worth keeping an eye on to see how things move forward.
NOAA was focused on the following in its comment period, according to the NOAA Fisheries website:

Regulations that govern fishing activities that may be suspended, revised, or rescinded.

Challenges specific fisheries are facing, suggestions for innovative improvements, and examples of existing federal fishery regulations that could be modified to enhance U.S. fishing businesses.

Ways to improve fisheries management and science, including:

How can less expensive and more reliable technologies and cooperative research be used to support fisheries assessments?

How can NOAA Fisheries improve and modernize how it collects and uses data so federal fishery regulations better reflect what’s happening on the water right now?

What types of data, tools, or information do U.S. fishing businesses need most to deal with changing economic and/or environmental conditions and keep fishing? How can NOAA Fisheries best support the development and use of these resources?

How to expand exempted fishing permit programs to promote fishing opportunities nationwide.

The executive order also ordered the review of all existing marine national monuments and recommendations “of any that should be opened to commercial fishing,” the consideration of “whether the opening of the monuments to commercial fishing would be consistent with the preservation of the historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest originally identified in the proclamations establishing the marine national monuments.”

It’s likely that discussions of other marine national monuments, including the one targeting the Hudson Canyon, are likely off the table for the time being.

There are more than 4 million square miles of prime fishing grounds under the control of the United States. Addressing issues with regulations to find a balance between conservation and production is critical not only to the health of the oceans but to the economic stability of fishing communities. Those communities aren’t just quaint relics of a bygone era; they remain important pieces of our society.

“The United States should be the world’s dominant seafood leader,” the executive order said. “But in addition to overregulation, unfair trade practices have put our seafood markets at a competitive disadvantage. Nearly 90 percent of seafood on our shelves is now imported, and the seafood trade deficit stands at over $20 billion.”

“The erosion of American seafood competitiveness at the hands of unfair foreign trade practices must end,” the order reads.