National Fisherman

NationalFisherman.com is a complimentary online platform designed for those in the commercial fishing sector. It offers up-to-date news and insights about the industry all in one convenient location. National Fisherman is part of a broader network of prominent marine media, which is managed by Diversified Business Communications. This network also features Pacific Marine Expo, WorkBoat magazine, and the International WorkBoat Show.

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Carolina shrimp trawl ban

1 week ago | nationalfisherman.com | Paul Molyneaux

On June 18the North Carolina General Assembly’s Senatevoted on an amended House Bill 442 that would ban shrimp trawling in all the state’s sounds, estuaries, and rivers, and within half a mile of the state’s coast. “Now it has to go back to the House,” says Ryan Speckman, owner of Locals Seafood in Raleigh, N.C..
Maine’s 2025 lobster boat race season kicks off

1 week ago | nationalfisherman.com | Michael Crowley

The weekend of June 14-15 marked the annual inauguration of what many Maine lobstermen spent much of the year thinking about, worrying about and planning for: The pure visual and sensory exhilaration of pushing their lobster boat to its absolute maximum speed, amidst other boats doing the same, down a course close to a mile long. That’s Maine lobster boat racing, and the 2025 racing season started on Saturday at Boothbay and went on to Sunday in Rockland.
Alexandria diners face a 50/50 chance of getting wild Gulf shrimp

1 week ago | nationalfisherman.com | Carli Stewart

Tucked alongside the Red River, Alexandria, Louisiana, visitors and diners might want to take a closer look at the shrimp they are ordering. A recent investigation by SEAD Consulting has revealed that when it comes to shrimp, the odds of getting the real Gulf deal are a fifty-fifty shot. SEAD, using its field-based RIGHTTest genetic technology, tested shrimp dishes from 24 restaurants across Alexandria and nearby Pineville on June 3-4, 2025.
Maine enacts new law to promote working waterfronts

1 week ago | nationalfisherman.com | Carli Stewart

Maine took a significant step to safeguard its working waterfronts as Governor Janet Mills signed into law a measure sponsored by Representative Morgan Rielly (D-Westbrook). The legislation, LD 1245, will create a Working Waterfront Advisory Council and establish the Working Waterfront Information and Technical Assistance Fund within the Maine Office of Community Affairs (MOCA). The new law, signed on June 11, aims to address challenges impacting the state’s coastal communities.
New England gear shop talks tech, costs, and barriers

1 week ago | nationalfisherman.com | Carli Stewart

From Gulf of Maine draggers to deep-sea pair trawlers, the push to modernize New England’s trawl gear has met a familiar wall: cost. Paul Nosworthy, owner of New England Marine Engineering and Supply Inc., knows the numbers better than most. “The back end of a midwater trawl — just the codend — costs around $40,000,” said Nosworthy. “Then you’ve got the sweep, the ground cables, the head section. All of that adds up.
Mississippi to enforce new seafood labeling law

1 week ago | nationalfisherman.com | Nathan Strout

Mississippi is set to begin enforcing a newly passed seafood labeling law which will require grocery stores, markets, restaurants, and other vendors to clearly note whether the seafood and crawfish they sell are imported or domestic. “Mississippi's new seafood labeling law is a pivotal step toward restoring consumer trust and safeguarding the integrity of our Gulf Coast heritage,” Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) executive director Joe Spraggins said in a statement.
David Peterson’s craft preserves West Coast fishing

1 week ago | nationalfisherman.com | Michael Crowley

When you are a fisherman on the West Coast, if your old wooden boat is in tough shape or just aging, the first thought for a lot of boat owners wanting to maintain their vessel’s seaworthiness is often shipwright David Peterson. Peterson, who focuses almost entirely on repairing wooden commercial fishing boats from Southern California to Alaska, works out of Zerlang & Zerlang Marine Services, Samoa, Calif., across Humboldt Bay from Eureka.
Keeping a labor force in the pipeline

1 week ago | nationalfisherman.com | Paul Molyneaux

Across the U.S. coasts, various organizations offer training programs and apprenticeships designed to help young people secure jobs in the commercial fishing industry. These have largely operated independently and out of touch with each other, but the launch of the National Future Fishermen’s Coalition (NFFC) aims to remedy that disconnect by bringing the disparate programs to one website. “At NFFC, we’re all about collaboration,” says the organization’s coordinator, Maité Duquela.
A tribute to a Brant Rock lobsterman

2 weeks ago | nationalfisherman.com | Carli Stewart

When Sandra Staples-Bortner set out to write Finest Kind: Tales of a Brant Rock Lobsterman, she wasn’t chasing a bestseller, she was simply trying to capture her father’s stories before they slipped away. “My dad was always telling stories,” she said. “More about his Navy days, really. He was obsessed with those stories in his 80s, telling them over and over again. My brother, who lived nearby and saw him frequently, was getting overwhelmed.
Forged in fire: Basargin Boats reinvents itself

2 weeks ago | nationalfisherman.com | Paul Molyneaux

Rising from the ashes of their fiberglass boat shop, Ivan Basargin Sr. and his sons have turned to aluminum. The fire at Basargin Boats in Homer, Alaska, in 2020 took everything. “All our molds, all our tools,” says Ivan Basargin Sr. “We had some boats we were working on in there.” Ivan Sr had been building and fishing fiberglass boats for decades. “I started working with my uncles,” he says. “When we finished building their boats, they all went fishing.