Nathan Strout

U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced legislation for the Senate to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty, a legal framework established at a United Nations convention 29 years ago.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is a comprehensive set of rules governing how nations can use the world’s oceans; 168 states and the European Union are parties to the treaty. The U.S. signed the treaty in 1994 but is not a party to it –

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will provide an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary work visas in fiscal 2024, nearly doubling the number of available visas from the statutory cap of 66,000.

This is the second year in a row DHS has announced that more than 64,000 additional H-2B visas will be made available to the industry.

Many parts of the seafood sector rely on H-2B visas to fill out their seasonal workforces. In 2022, Alaska's

Lawmakers from the U.S. state of Washington want to fully reinstate a tax break that allows the seafood sector to deduct meals they are required to provide employees at remote seafood processing facilities and on vessels.

The Remote Seafood Employee Meals Tax Parity Act is the latest effort by Pacific Northwest lawmakers to restore the tax deduction, which was limited by Congress in 2017. Seafood processors claim that the loss of the full

U.S. lawmakers have called for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate allegations that Chinese companies used forced labor in seafood production, as well as the complicity of the private seafood sector in those human rights violations.

“It is evident that the [People’s Republic of China] PRC is not the sole party involved in these reprehensible practices,” U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-New Jersey) said.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) held a field hearing in Bethel, Alaska, U.S.A. last week to hear concerns about how declining salmon runs are affecting native communities.

“It is significant and historic to bring the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to Bethel to understand how the salmon crashes in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region are affecting those of you who live here,” Murkowski, the vice chairman of the Senate Committee

A coalition of conservationists, fishing organizations, and tribal groups has filed arguments in its effort to convince the U.S. court system to overturn a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision allowing finfish aquaculture in U.S. oceans.

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) sued the Army Corps of Engineers in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in 2022 over nationwide permit 56, a blanket authorization of the construction

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has announced USD 60 million (EUR 56 million) in government funding is now available to upgrade Columbia River Basin salmon hatcheries as part of an ongoing efforts to restore the population.

The money is part of the USD 2.6 billion (EUR 2.4 billion) in NOAA funding provided via the Inflation Reduction Act for coastal resilience, fisheries support, and tribal priorities. USD 390 million (EUR

U.S. lawmakers have reintroduced legislation that would ban most single-use plastic products and pause plastic production as part of a growing movement to tackle plastic pollution.

“Plastic pollution isn’t just a problem for our oceans and climate – it's a massive environmental injustice,” U.S. Representative Jared Huffman said. “Communities are overburdened with plastics’ toxic air and water emissions and

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will investigate 6PPD-quinone, a chemical found in most tires that is toxic to salmon, under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

The action is in response to a petition brought by environmental group Earthjustice on behalf of the Yurok, Port Gamble S’Klallam, and Puyallup Tribes to ban the use of 6PPD in and for tires. While the EPA didn’t outright ban the chemicals, it has granted the

Canadian commercial fishermen are hopeful ropeless gear could be a solution to address concerns of right whale entanglements in snow crab fisheries, and recent trials are showing that innovative technology can work along the East Coast of Canada.

New ropeless gear that eliminates the vertical lines that can entangle right whales is one possibility, and fishermen have had positive experiences with it in trials along the East Coast of Canada.