Blog
Spotlighting fishermen-led climate action from coast to coast
The Permitting Bill Fishermen Can't Afford to Ignore
BAAJA rewrites the rules for offshore wind farms, export cables, offshore oil and gas, and seabed mining. It changes how those projects are approved, how long the approvals last, and how hard they are to challenge. Nearly every change reduces the leverage fishermen have used to protect fishing grounds historically, and that’s not a coincidence. The Senate outcome is close to being settled. The House is a different story, and that is where fishermen still have a real opening. But we must make our voices heard, and soon.
The USDA’s “Harvest Fuel Relief” program: What we know so far - Updated 10/27
On October 19, the USDA announced a plan to issue $8 billion in one-time payments to American farmers this harvest season to provide relief during temporary market disruptions and increased input costs. This is the USDA’s third financial assistance program for farmers this year alone, but that’s not remarkable. What is remarkable is one three-syllable word in paragraph 6: fishermen.
USDA publishes new REAP rule: What does it mean for fisheries?
Today, the USDA published a new final rule changing the way that the agency administers the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). REAP is a program that offers grants, loans, and energy audits to help agricultural producers and small businesses install energy efficiency equipment and renewable energy systems. The 30-day public comment period ends on November 2, 2026. This blog is your guide to what’s in the new rule and what it could mean for fishermen.
Join the action, advance the cause! Fishery fuel cost relief and energy efficiency investments
Fishing industry members and their allies are invited to fill in a form to express support for the contents of “Fishery Fuel Cost Relief & Energy Efficiency Investments: A Fishing Industry Policy Platform”. This sign-on opportunity will support fishing industry-led organizing and advocacy to expand federal efficiency and relief programs and make them more accessible to commercial fishermen. Now is the time to make our voices heard!
Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance: Fishermen propose solutions to high fuel prices
From the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Association’s Plumbing the Depths series.
Andrew Spalt has been paying about $1.50 more a gallon for fuel since April, about $40,000 a vessel, more than $100,000 across his three boats.
“You have to go fishing; you can’t really negotiate the price. It just hurts more,” said Spalt, working on his boats in New Bedford on a June day.
Report to the fleet: Conversations with policy makers about tackling the fuel cost crisis
In recent weeks, I have joined fishermen across New England, Washington, and California to meet with Senate offices and the new USDA Seafood Office. The purpose of those conversations was to explore current and near-term opportunities for fishermen and their representatives to shape policy outcomes related to fuel cost relief, investments in vessel efficiency and energy innovation, or both. This blog is a report to the fleet about what we’ve learned.
Workshops in RI and MA highlight urgency of fuel efficiency and relief programs
Tim Rovinelli and Dean Karoblis are Fishing Fleet Energy Resilience Fellows with the Fishery Friendly Climate Action Campaign. In this blog, they share takeaways from two workshop in early June—one in Wakefield, Rhode Island and one in Chatham, Massachusetts—focused on this season’s high fuel prices and what fishermen and their partners in government can do to counter the crisis.
Federal fuel price relief for fishermen: A look at program design options
What kinds of short-term fuel cost relief mechanisms are available to get the fishing industry to the end of this fishing season without crippling losses? This blog reviews models from NOAA fishery resource disaster relief, recent USDA agricultural relief programs, the 2020 seafood trade relief program, and the early 2000’s trade adjustment assistance program.
Fuel prices are hurting the fleet. It’s time to take action.
In fishing ports worldwide, fishermen are feeling the pinch of high diesel prices. How can the fishing industry advocate for policy packages that marry (1) short-term price relief to get us through the year with (2) longer term investments in fishing vessel energy efficiency and potentially even exploration of non-petroleum based fuels, to buffer our industry from the price shocks of the future?
An urchin diver’s underwater portrait of El Niño
Bruce Steele is a Southern California urchin diver who has spent thousands of hours underwater observing patterns and anomalies in the California Current ecosystem. Here, he draws on that experience to describe in intimate detail what that underwater scene looks and feels like at the inception of what is predicted to be one of the most intense El Ninos in over a century.
Fishermen take interest in federal marine carbon dioxide removal research bill
This is an excerpt from an article published in National Fisherman.
A bill aimed at fostering research on marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) is working its way through Congress. If passed, it would authorize NOAA to designate ocean areas for mCDR testing and make grants to fund this testing. While most fishermen have not yet heard of mCDR (much less talked with their elected officials about it), a few are starting to pay attention—and to let their views be known.
How “fishery sensitive” is the ReSCUE Oceans Act?
The ReSCUE Oceans Act, would, if enacted, promote federally coordinated mCDR research through grants programs, interagency coordination, and the establishment of designated mCDR research areas with advisory panels to oversee them. What could the ReSCUE Oceans Act mean for fisheries? This blog post will provide some initial answers to this question. A deeper dive can be found in our 19-page policy analysis, “How ‘fishery sensitive’ is the ReSCUE Oceans Act?”