NOAA announces priorities to promote science-based American seafood dominance

NOAA announces priorities to promote science-based American seafood dominance September 2, 2026 Docked fishing boats at Yaquina Bay in Newport, Oregon. (Image credit: iStock) Today, NOAA announced priorities for advancing reforms within NOAA Fisheries to move towards regulations grounded in science that support American seafood dominance. These agency-level actions follow the Regional Priorities guidance that was released on July 2, 2026, to apply the same standard of accountability to NOAA’s own operations, regulatory frameworks, and scientific pipelines. This priority list serves as an operational roadmap of NOAA Fisheries’ direct support of the President's Executive order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness and will lead to the broader interagency America First Seafood Strategy that will be released in the coming months. “Through these priorities, the agency is taking actionable steps to fulfill the president's vision of making the United States the world's dominant seafood leader,” said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., NOAA administrator. “NOAA is proud to deliver real-world results to the American public through innovative solutions that streamline regulations.” “These priorities