NOAA Fisheries works to identify and protect Essential Fish Habitat—the underwater areas that fish call home. Protecting habitat ensures sustainable fisheries, thereby bringing sustainable seafood to your plate.

While overfishing has led to a high risk of extinction for some sharks overseas, U.S. shark fisheries are some of the most sustainable in the world. As you scan the seafood counter in search of new selections to try, keep a look-out for U.S.-caught shark. Finding sustainable products is as simple as asking where they were harvested.

A new study identifies specific locations where blue mussel farms could increase the blue economy. Researchers at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center found several suitable locations off the northeastern United States. The most promising locations for mussel aquaculture among the sites studied are off New York’s Long Island, north of Cape Ann in Massachusetts, and off New Hampshire.

NOAA Fisheries awarded more than $2.3 million to partners around the country to support innovative bycatch reduction research projects through our Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program. Through these grants, we work side-by-side with fishermen to develop solutions to some of the top bycatch challenges facing our nation’s fisheries.

With this biennial Report to Congress, NOAA Fisheries is updating progress made on our strategic approach to endangered species recovery, which focuses agency resources to stabilize species populations and prevent extinction.  The report summarizes the status of each species that has or will have a recovery plan, the status of the recovery plan, and the completion date for the most recent 5-year review.

The endangered North Atlantic right whale population has been steadily declining for nearly the past decade. Today, researchers estimate that only about 400 right whales are left. Learn more about what we are doing and what you can do to help save right whales.

Scientists from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center are teaming up with tech industry partners to develop artificial intelligence for Arctic marine mammal research. The team is developing AI models to detect ice seals, polar bears, and other marine mammals in images taken during aerial surveys of Arctic sea ice.

Jeff Harris, biologist from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center Marine Mammal Laboratory, was awarded the 2019 Department of Commerce Gold Medal for saving the lives of three people who had abandoned a burning vessel in Puget Sound.  The Gold Medal is one of the highest honors that can be granted by the Secretary of Commerce.

NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region published its Biological Opinion for the Reinitiation of Consultation on the Long-Term Operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project.  Ultimately, NOAA Fisheries concluded that the Bureau of Reclamation’s proposed operations will not jeopardize threatened or endangered species or adversely modify their designated critical habitats.

Learn how Hawaiian fish ponds help with sustainable seafood production. Hawaiians know fresh-grown seafood has been a staple of their food supply since well before the United States became a country. A fish pond full of hatchery-born mullets is just one way folks are tapping into cultural wisdom in hopes of improving our nation’s healthy food supply.

By November 18, please submit your comments on Vision Blueprint Commercial Regulatory Amendment 27 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region and proposed rule. The proposed actions would modify commercial fishing seasons, trip limits, and minimum size limits.

By November 20, please submit your comments on the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group’s draft restoration plan proposing construction activities for the restoration of wetlands, coastal, and nearshore habitats injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The proposed Spanish Pass increment would restore approximately 139 acres of historical ridge and 1,794 acres of marsh. The Lake Borgne Project would reestablish the bay rim and intertidal marsh habitat for the southwestern shoreline of Lake Borgne.

NOAA Fisheries has awarded more than $2.3 million to 16 projects under the Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program. Seven of the awards are for projects in the Greater Atlantic Region that support key partners in the research and development of innovative approaches and strategies for reducing bycatch, bycatch mortality, and post-release mortality in our nation’s fisheries.

After a 2-year hiatus, reef construction is back in action, thanks in part to NOAA funding. Construction in at least two sites in the river recently is underway, using hard substrate and fossil shell to build the hard reefs on which spat—baby oysters—settle.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center continues their series to introduce the people who work at one of the Center's five laboratories. Meet Lisa Guy, a biological science technician and curator of the Microalgal Culture Collection at our Milford Laboratory in Connecticut.