Nathan Strout is a Portland, Maine-based associate editor of SeafoodSource. Previously, Nathan covered the U.S. military’s space activities and emerging technologies at C4ISRNET and Defense News, where he won awards for his reporting on the U.S. Space Force’s missile warning capabilities. Nathan got his start in journalism writing about several communities in Midcoast Maine for a local daily paper, The Times Record.
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Alaska’s congressional delegation has introduced legislation to close loopholes in U.S. rules banning Russian seafood imports.
The U.S. ban on Russian seafood was part of a slew of sanctions and prohibitions announced by U.S. President Joe Biden in a March 2022 executive order designed to impose economic punishments on Russia for its ongoing invasion and occupation of Ukraine.
“As [Russian Federation President Vladimir] Putin
… Read MoreThe king salmon troll fishery in Southeast Alaska will be allowed to open in just over a week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit paused a district court ruling that threatened to keep the fishery closed this summer and winter.
“This has been an extremely challenging time for all of us,” Alaska Trollers Association (ATA) Executive Director Amy Daugherty said. “But thankfully, with the state’s help and
… Read MoreA U.S. government watchdog agency will investigate the impact of offshore wind development on the fishing industry and the environment at the behest of congressional Republicans.
In March 2023, Republicans began a push for more federal scrutiny of efforts by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to advance offshore wind projects along the U.S. East Coast, culminating in a request to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) – an
… Read MoreU.S. representatives in Congress have introduced legislation to create an office of aquaculture within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Shellfish harvesters and seaweed farmers play an essential role in our food supply, but historically they haven’t received the support they need to reach their full potential,” U.S.Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon) said, adding that a USDA aquaculture program office “will help
… Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plans to buy a massive amount of salmon, pollock, and other seafood products for the National School Lunch Program and other federal food assistance programs, per two solicitations it released this week.
The USDA's first solicitation asks companies to bid on a total of 47,120 cases of canned pink salmon and 957,920 pounds of frozen Alaska pollock. The deadline for bids is 22 June, with contracts
… Read MoreA nonprofit civil rights group representing Atlantic herring fishermen wants to take its case to the U.S. Supreme Court as part of a growing movement to limit NOAA Fisheries’ rulemaking authority.
In 2020, NOAA Fisheries implemented a new rule requiring fishermen to pay for human at-sea monitors aboard their vessels. While the agency claimed the monitors are necessary to ensure compliance, fishermen balked at the cost, which they claim can
… Read MoreA first-of-its-kind report by the U.S. Fishery Management Council has found 72 percent of federal waters could be classified as conservation areas.
The report is one component of U.S. President Joe Biden's “30 by 30” plan, a federal initiative to commit 30 percent of U.S. lands and oceans to conservation by 2030. Conservation areas identified in the report will be included in the American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas, which
… Read MoreThe Gulf of Mexico dead zone – a hypoxic area with low oxygen levels that are deadly to fish – is predicted to be smaller than average this summer.
The annual dead zone covers about 5,364 square miles on average, but NOAA has forecasted that the area will be 23 percent smaller this year, covering just 4,155 square miles. The dead zone has occurred every summer for the last six years, caused primarily by excess nutrient pollution from
… Read MoreU.S. Customs and Border Protection plans to redistribute USD 2,598,890 (EUR 2,417,871) collected from antidumping and countervailing duties on imported seafood products to domestic producers in the 2023 fiscal year.
The vast majority of the collected funds came from crawfish tail meat imported from China, which accounted for USD 2.3 million (EUR 2.1 million). Vietnamese frozen fish fillets were the other major contributor, accounting for USD
… Read MoreAfter successfully closing the chinook salmon trolling fishery in the southeast of the U.S. state of Alaska with a lawsuit, the Wild Fish Conservancy plans to petition the federal government to protect the region's chinook salmon habitat under the Endangered Species Act.
According to a 24 May letter sent by WFC to Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang, the group plans to file a petition seeking protection for chinook
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