Image Credits: Fisheries.noaa.gov.

The Unexpected Catch: Friendship at Sea

8/19/2026 - By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. One Random Room Assignment When I graduated from college and entered the workforce, I never imagined my path would lead me to becoming a fisheries observer. It wasn't exactly a career I had planned, but looking back, I'm so glad it found me. Before the month-long training began,… SEE MORE
Members of the monitoring show off adult salmon captured at a monitoring station. From left to right, Kevin Vandenack holds a steelhead, Katherine Stonecypher holds a coho salmon, and Bryan Crouch holds a Chinook salmon. Credit: Katherine Stonecypher/Cal Poly Humboldt

Can Habitat Restoration Help Salmon Recover? Prairie Creek Offers Clues

8/18/2026 - By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. This story is part 2 of a 2-part series. Read part 1. When any habitat restoration project finishes, a critical question remains: Will the project help threatened fish and other species recover? Answering that question requires rigorous long-term monitoring. At the Prairie Creek salmon habitat restoration project in Northern California,… SEE MORE
Prairie Creek project partners gather at the restoration site before construction begins. Credit: Michael Weir/CalTrout

Restoring California’s Prairie Creek Supports Salmon Recovery and Local Community

8/17/2026 - By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. This story is part 1 of a 2-part series. Read part 1. For more than a decade, NOAA Fisheries and a broad coalition of partners worked to transform degraded fish habitat on California's Prairie Creek into a thriving floodplain ecosystem for juvenile salmon and steelhead. Located in California's redwood… SEE MORE
A researcher in a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter first spotted the entangled humpback anchored to the bottom about 20 miles off the Oregon Coast. The whale’s white pectoral flipper extends underwater to the lower left, while white baleen outlines its open lower jaw at bottom right. The entanglement left the whale’s mouth stretched permanently open, making it unable to feed. Photo collected in partnership with Oregon Coast Aquarium, Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute and Cascadia Research Collective.

Fishing Vessel Joins Trained Team to Free Injured Humpback Whale 20 Miles off Oregon Coast

8/16/2026 - By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. An Oregon team joined by experts from Washington and a local fisherman freed a severely entangled humpback whale about 20 miles off the Oregon Coast on July 26. While the team removed all of the gear from the whale, the entanglement left the young whale’s jaw permanently… SEE MORE
Pacific capelin with unknown maturity. Scientists make microscopic observations to determine if capelin spawn only once or if they are capable of spawning over multiple years. Credit: NOAA Fisheries

NOAA Scientists Discover Repeat Spawning in Pacific Capelin

8/12/2026 - By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. For certain fish species, like Pacific salmon, reproduction is a once-in-a-lifetime event, known as semelparity. Many other fish are iteroparous—meaning they can spawn repeatedly throughout their lives. New research by NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center reveals the first evidence that Pacific capelin can be repeat spawners. Over the past decade,… SEE MORE
Enforcement officer inventories shark fins. Credit: NOAA Fisheries

NOAA Fisheries Enforcement Officers Deploy for High Seas Patrols Combatting Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing

8/9/2026 - By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. Enforcement officers from NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Law Enforcement have successfully wrapped up deployments for Operation North Pacific Guard, an annual international mission targeting illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing on the high seas. The officers, who used their specialized experience to support the operation, patrolled over 8,000 nautical miles aboard… SEE MORE
(Overlay) L: Goliath grouper circa 1945. Credit: Wally Ericson. R: Shrimp fishing in Galveston, Texas. Date unknown. Credit: NOAA Library/NOAA Fisheries Archives/Bob Brigham; (Background): Boats in harbor. Credit: Mississippi Alabama Sea Grant

Gulf Fishery Management: Progress Through Partnership

7/31/2026 - By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. From spiny lobster in the Florida Keys to red snapper off the coast of Texas, the Gulf of America’s rich waters support robust recreational and commercial fisheries. In fact, this area leads the nation in recreational landings, generates the second largest commercial landings revenue, and fuels a $20 billion annual fishing economy. A… SEE MORE
Divers propagating mesophotic coral fragments to start new colonies

Deep Diving and Innovation to Restore the Gulf’s Mesophotic Corals

7/30/2026 - By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. Deep in the Gulf of America lies a vital but little-known habitat. In the "mesophotic" (middle light) zone are coral ecosystems that are essential to the Gulf’s food web. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill injured extensive areas of this delicate environment. Today, scientists across federal agencies and… SEE MORE