NOAA Fisheries Seeks Recommendations for Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness

NOAA Fisheries wants to make sure more American seafood gets on American plates. We're inviting the public to share input on how to help make that a reality.

On April 17, 2025, the President signed an Executive Order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness. In response, the Department of Commerce, through NOAA Fisheries, launched a bold, coordinated effort to revitalize the U.S. seafood sector. This call for public comments is a critical step in our efforts to fulfill the President's vision of making the United States the world's dominant seafood leader.

In recent years, the seafood industry has faced increasing pressures from global competition, evolving market demands, and impacts from changing ocean conditions. Between 2019 and 2023, domestic landings decreased by approximately 1 billion pounds.

"Through our implementation of the President's Executive Order, NOAA Fisheries is aiming to address the recent decline in fisheries landings and revenues," Eugenio Piñeiro Soler, Assistant Administrator of NOAA Fisheries commented. "We look forward to receiving input from the public."

NOAA Fisheries, in coordination with other federal agencies and partners, has identified a number of actions to meet the directives laid out in the Executive Order. Ongoing and future actions include:

• Considering appropriate regulatory changes, especially for those fisheries with significant recent declines in landings and/or revenue

• Reviewing commercial fishing limitations in existing marine national monuments

• Assessing and potentially modifying advanced technology strategies to improve data collection

• Updating the Seafood Trade Strategy to reflect new global trade dynamics

• Developing a collaborative, interagency America First Seafood Strategy.

We are asking for your input on how to improve fisheries management and science, specifically on the following issues:

• Regulations that govern fishing activities that may be suspended, revised, or rescinded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 modernize data collection and analytical practices to improve the responsiveness of fisheries management to real-time ocean conditions?
  • What types of data, forecasting tools, or information products are most needed by U.S. fishing businesses to adapt their operations effectively to changing economic and/or environmental conditions and maintain access to fishery resources, and how can NOAA Fisheries best support the development and dissemination of such resources?
• How to expand exempted fishing permit programs to promote fishing opportunities nationwide

The comment period will close on Tuesday, October 14, 2025.

Full details on the call for public comments