April 23, 2025 — The Trump administration has released an executive order to restore American seafood competitiveness.
The order, released on April 17, states that the U.S imports nearly 90 percent of seafood and has a seafood trade deficit that stands at over $20 billion. So the country must establish an America-First Seafood Strategy to boost its seafood production, sales, and exports.
The executive order directs the Secretary of Commerce to consider taking actions on regulations that overly burden America’s commercial fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing industries.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) was directed to:
- Incorporate better, cheaper, more reliable technologies and cooperative research programs into fishery assessments.
- Expand exempted fishing permit programs to promote fishing opportunities nationwide.
- Modernize data collection and analytical practices to improve the responsiveness of fisheries management to real-time ocean conditions.