Photo courtesy of Wayang Putra/Flickr, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
By Margaret McNamara
Nationally, fresh seafood prices have increased 6.3% from August 2025 to 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This may be no surprise, especially if one is aware of the increasing diesel prices fishers are subject to. “Whenever diesel goes up, seafood is going to directly rise because most of the seafood processing vessels are diesel-driven, plus the seafood’s got to get to market on the diesel trucks,” said Capt. Dylan Hubbard, vice president and co-owner at Hubbard’s Marina.
Hubbard also discussed the impact of fishing regulations such as total allowable catch limits and individual fishing quotas implemented under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. Framing the issue in terms of supply and demand, he said, “lower supply, higher demand, and more price.” He added a local example: “Gag grouper, they’re everywhere. You can catch the fish really easily, but no one’s given up any quota, because the quota is really low, because it’s in a rebuilding program. So, the supply is really low.”
While fishing quotas can constrain supply and drive up prices, Bob Zales, executive director of Southeastern Fisheries Association, pointed to the cumulative direct regulatory costs that impact the cost of seafood. He said, “The regulatory process, every additional thing, is more money that that fisherman has to pay. They’ve got to pay for permits, they’ve got to pay for vessel monitoring
systems, they have to pay for home sale retail licenses, they have to pay for what’s called saltwater products licenses, they have to pay for all kinds of stuff.”
But what might the cost be without sustainability-focused fishing regulations? Kevin Beach, marine botanist, ecophysiologist, and professor at The University of Tampa, said, “If populations aren’t managed properly, and if they’re not harvested in a sustainable manner, the overall population density declines and the amount of effort you have to put in to bring back the same amount of fish goes up and up. And that translates into higher and higher costs.”
There are different perspectives on how to address high seafood costs. One approach advocated by Zales focuses on securing federal funding. “Southeastern Fisheries Association
worked with other commercial fishing and seafood organizations throughout the country. To have this new USDA office of seafood created,” said Zales.
“It’s funding for that office, so that that office can then get to where they can provide the same type of benefits to fishermen and the seafood business, the processors that everybody below there to the same benefit that farmers and ranchers get,” said Zales.
Meanwhile, Hubbard’s approach focuses on a more competitive market rather than funding. “I think we have to get more competitive; one thing that’s being talked about a lot is aquaculture. So, if you have more competitive markets and more options for the US consumer, then all of a sudden, you have to be more competitive, but I think the boutique wild-caught, offshore, fresh fish is always going to demand that premium pricing,” said Hubbard.
David Shiffman, marine conservation biologist and author, writes in his ethical seafood article that “some aquaculture practices can even be considered more sustainable than their wild-caught equivalent.”
But Shiffman notes that not enforcing long-term environmental management has a hidden cost. “The greatest threat to marine biodiversity is poorly regulated and unsustainable fishing practices,” said Shiffman. “These are bad long-term for fisheries, because they result in overfishing and no fish left for the future. But they’re also bad for everything else, because they can damage vital habitats and directly kill endangered species through bycatch. It may cost money to follow science-based regulations, but not following them is far more expensive.”