Steve Bittenbender

U.S. Representative Andy Harris is calling on the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to make more H-2B visas available to cover the need crab houses have in the Maryland Republican’s district.

It’s not the first time Harris has called for an increase in the temporary worker permits that enable companies to bring nonimmigrant workers to the U.S. for temporary, non-agricultural work. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland

Through 20 January, 2022, NOAA Fisheries is accepting pre-proposals to fund projects designed to reduce bycatch.

In an announcement made on Wednesday, 15 December, the agency said about USD 2.4 million (EUR 2.1 million) is expected to be available for the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP). The program looks to support new technologies or fishing practices that will minimize the amount of protected and endangered species that are

For the second time in four years, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) has taken the federal government to court to keep the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from approving projects in Washington state that expand shellfish aquaculture without considering their environmental impact.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, 19 December in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Washington, by CFS claims the Corps’ policies violate the Clean Water Act, the National

A push to expand offshore aquaculture in the United States garnered more support on Tuesday, 14 December with the refiling of the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Palazzo (R-Mississippi) and U.S. Rep. Edward Case (D-Hawaii) are the sponsors behind the House version of the bill. Their bill would create a national framework for aquaculture developments and streamline the regulatory

More than 100 scientists signed a letter sent to Congress on Monday, 13 December, urging lawmakers to ensure that all seafood products imported into the United States are caught using legal means.

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is often associated with human trafficking and other human rights abuses, and distant-water fishing forces vessel owners and operators to extend trips to “achieve a sizeable catch,” the

Fishing-related businesses in the U.S. state of New York are now able to apply for direct payments from the second round of COVID-19 relief funding the state received from the federal government.

The money comes from the USD 255 million (EUR 225.4 million) Congress approved in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which lawmakers passed late in 2020.

In March 2021, NOAA Fisheries announced allocations for each state and territory. New

Two bills that would reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act received a hearing on Tuesday, 16 November, in the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife.

As U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) said in a statement, the hearing was “one of contrasts,” as lawmakers reviewed his proposal and one by Subcommittee Chairman Jared Huffman (D-California). Young said Huffman’s

NOAA is asking the public for input on additional steps it should take regarding a Biden administration initiative to conserve 30 percent of the country’s lands and waters by 2030.

The U.S. agency that includes NOAA Fisheries announced via the Federal Register that it will accept written comments through 28 December on the government’s Federal eRulemaking Portal for the next two months. In addition, NOAA leaders will host two virtual

Charter-fishing operators in the Gulf of Mexico will now have more time to install tracking systems meant to help with fisheries management.

NOAA Fisheries published the extension regarding the Southeast For-Hire Integrated Electric Reporting Program in the Federal Register on Tuesday, 2 November. Charter operators with federal charter permits now will have until Tuesday, 1 March, 2022, to have a vessel monitoring system (VMS) installed on their