USTR Extends China Section 301 Tariff Exclusions Through November 29

On Thursday, August 28, 2025, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced the extension of tariff exclusions in the Section 301 Investigation of China's Acts, Policies, and Practices. The list of exclusions includes various seafood items, such as frozen haddock and sole, as well as frozen blocks of crab meat, which includes king, snow, and Dungeness crab.

The exemptions, which were to expire on August 31, will now expire on November 29, 2025. This is the second time this year that the exemptions have been extended...

New Seafood Accelerator "Catch+Create" Launches to Drive Product Innovation  

A new startup accelerator program was recently launched to stimulate product  innovation, market growth and economic opportunity within the West Coast groundfish sector.  

Catch+Create, developed by nonprofit Positively Groundfish, is a highly resourced, no-equity accelerator focused on supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses to develop value-added products using West Coast groundfish like Pacific rockfish, sole, lingcod, sablefish, skate and more. This first-of-its-kind program is designed to help entrepreneurs create value-added packaged products like canned fish, frozen meals, smoked fish...

USDA Awards $34.66 Million for Pacific Pink Shrimp and Atlantic Groundfish Contracts

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently awarded $34.66 million in Section 32 contracts for Pacific pink shrimp ($15.73 million) and Atlantic groundfish ($18.93 million).

The announcement comes after the USDA’s pre-solicitation notice on May 23 and its solicitation notice on June 16 for frozen Atlantic pollock fillets, frozen haddock fillets, frozen ocean perch fillets, and Pacific salad shrimp.

Among the successful pink shrimp contracts were the following awards for Pacific salad shrimp: $3.275 million to Bornstein Seafoods, Inc., $10.01 million...

USDA Accepting Section 32 Bids for Atlantic Groundfish and Pacific Pink Shrimp

On June 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced formal solicitations for contract bids on commercially available Atlantic Groundfish and Pacific Pink Shrimp.

As is the protocol under the USDA’s Section 32 Program, products purchased through the solicitation will be distributed to various food nutrition assistance programs.

Per the solicitations, groundfish products must be delivered between August 16, 2025, and April 15, 2026. Pink shrimp products must be delivered between August 1, 2025, and October 31, 2025...

West Coast Fisheries Infrastructure Waxes and Wanes: Part 2

Loss of infrastructure and spreading repercussion

Editor’s note: This is the second of a three-part series on the struggles facing shoreside infrastructure that supports West Coast fisheries, submitted by Pacific Fishery Management Council Executive Director Merrick Burden. Part 1 discussed the decline in fisheries and infrastructure in the past 20 years.  

Infrastructure problems are particularly acute in California due to depleted salmon populations, closures in the nearshore rockfish fishery, delayed Dungeness crab seasons, changing regulations, and shifting markets. In the early 1980s, between 2,400 and 3,300 commercial boats...

NEFMC: Groundfish Council Gives Thumbs Up on Amendment 25, Preps for Final Action on Framework 69

The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) took final action on Amendment 25 to the Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish) Fishery Management Plan (FMP) during its September 24-26 meeting in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

The NEFMC said that the 2023 Atlantic Cod Research Track Assessment found that Atlantic cod would be better assessed as four stock units. However, the FMP refers to only two stocks for Atlantic cod, Amendment 25 would incorporate the four new stock units, as described below...

US Seafood Groups Push for Federal Investigation Into Imported Seafood With Banned Antibiotics

The Oregon Trawl Commission (OTC), along with the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) and the crawfish industry, sent a letter to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) requesting a Section 301 Investigation on the use of antibiotics in farm-raised foreign seafood.

The OTC letter, addressed to USTR Jamieson Greer, requested that the USTR examine how the use of unapproved antibiotics and veterinary drugs constitutes an unfair trade practice that leads to downward pricing pressure on US seafood producers, who face stricter safety standards...

Groundfish Harvester in British Columbia Fined $37,000 For Illegally Catching and Selling Halibut

A commercial groundfish harvester in British Columbia was fined nearly $37,000 for illegally catching and selling halibut during a fishery closure last year in the Haida Gwaii Archipelago.  

According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Stefan Grega, owner of the commercial fishing vessel Pacific Sunrise, pled guilty to multiple violations of Canada’s Fisheries Act. As a result, the court imposed a $30,000 fine and ordered Grega to pay back the $6,989 he made from the illegal harvest, resulting in a...

USDA Announces Section 32 Pre-Solicitation for Atlantic Groundfish and Pacific Pink Shrimp

On May 23, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced plans to purchase commercially available Atlantic Groundfish and Pacific Pink Shrimp for distribution to various food nutrition assistance programs.  

According to the USDA’s announcement, potential materials purchased include frozen Atlantic pollock fillets (material code 111291), frozen haddock fillets (material code 111292), frozen ocean perch fillets (111293), and Pacific salad shrimp (material codes 111453 and 111454).  

The May 23 notice was only a pre-solicitation for seafood bids. Formal solicitations for firm-fixed-price contracts with the...

WPRFMC Calls for Action on Fisheries Issues as 2025 Federal Transition Looms

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC/Council) said it concluded its 201st meeting on an optimistic note ahead of the Federal administration change scheduled for January 2025. 

“The Council found that the incoming administration provides a chance to make U.S. fisheries in the Pacific great again,” it wrote in a December 18 press release. WPRFMC handles Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. 

WPRFMC said that after it landed an increase in longline bigeye tuna quotas last year, US fisheries in the Pacific...