Steve Bittenbender

Contributing Editor

Steve Bittenbender works as a freelance journalist based in Louisville, Kentucky. Besides working for SeafoodSource.com as a contributing editor, Steve also works as an editor for Government Security News and as the Kentucky correspondent for the Reuters News Service. He also works as a sports writer for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal and The Associated Press. He has received awards from the Kentucky Press Association and the Louisville Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for his on-going and enterprise reporting work.


Author Archive

Published on
January 10, 2023

Virginia’s seafood economy has an estimated annual value of more than USD 1 billion (EUR 930 million), according to a new study.

Among all U.S. states, Virginia ranks fourth in seafood landings, with the value of its seafood products exceeding USD 200 million (EUR 186.2 million) in 2020. The state is also one of the top producers of oysters along the U.S. East Coast.

According to a December 2022 report from the Virginia Seafood

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Published on
January 4, 2023

Officials with NOAA Fisheries have announced a plan to expand the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), with a proposal that would more than double the number of species it targets.

SIMP was created six years ago to block the import of select seafood products that had been mislabeled or harvested through illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. It requires importers to show detailed information to inspectors upon

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Published on
December 23, 2022

Two federal lawmakers from the U.S. state of Massachusetts have announced an effort to create a national policy that ensures fishermen are compensated for the impact offshore wind developments will have on their livelihoods.

U.S. Senator Ed Markey and U.S. Representative Seth Moulton, both Democrats, said Thursday, 22 December, they’re working on a discussion draft of legislation that would ensure just compensation for fishermen, with

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Published on
December 21, 2022

The omnibus spending bill the U.S. Congress is expected to pass before the end of 2022 contains several provisions that touch on the seafood and fishing industries.

The bill, which would authorize all non-defense-related government spending through the rest of the fiscal year, contains USD 1.09 billion (EUR 1.03 billion) to cover NOAA Fisheries operations, according to a statement from the U.S. House Appropriations Committee.

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Published on
December 20, 2022

Herring fishermen in the U.S. state of New Jersey are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review their case challenging the at-sea monitoring program, a cause that has gained support from a wide variety of groups.

According to the Cause of Action Institute, which is representing the fishermen suing the federal government, 39 groups are part of 14 amicus briefs that have been filed in the case. That includes attorneys general from 18

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Published on
December 13, 2022

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden announced Monday, 12 December, that additional H-2B visas will be available for American companies in need of temporary labor over the next nine months.

The U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have jointly issued a temporary final rule that will allow nonagricultural employers to apply for 64,716 additional visas, which have been divvied up into four pools.

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Published on
December 9, 2022

An retiring U.S. congressman filed a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, 8 December calling for more research on offshore aquaculture to ensure the industry can be developed in a sustainable way.

U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-California), introduced the SEAfood Act, which would require the U.S. Government Accountability Office to produce a report within two years that encapsulates the lessons learned in

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Published on
December 7, 2022

The U.S. government on Monday, 5 December, unveiled a cross-agency plan to reduce the impact offshore wind energy sites may have on fishery surveys. However, questions remain on how NOAA Fisheries and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will be able to completely fund the initiative.

According to a 37-page NOAA technical memorandum, the Federal Survey Mitigation Strategy is designed to come up with ways to ensure

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Published on
December 6, 2022

A report published in the January 2023 issue of Marine Policy says there is “strong potential” for offshore aquaculture developments in U.S. waters. However, there are “knowledge gaps” that need to be filled to develop the right regulatory framework that will guide the emerging industry.

The report, "Toward an environmentally responsible offshore aquaculture industry in the United States: Ecological risks, remedies, and

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Published on
November 18, 2022

A new report has found that school children in almost two dozen U.S. states get an average of less than one serving of seafood per year in their school lunch.

The report, issued Thursday, 17 November, by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture and NOAA to work together in finding ways to increase the presence of seafood in school lunches.

The GAO report found that seafood made up no more than

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