John Evich, a commercial fisherman in Washington and Alaska, has voted for\u00a0President Donald Trump\u00a0three times, viewing him as someone who would fight for his industry.<\/p>\n
\n
But these days, Evich is weary of the high cost of doing business at sea, with fuel prices rising and trade hostilities with Canada jeopardizing markets for the crabs that he pulls off the ocean floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf somebody came along that was going to do a better job, I would vote for them in a heartbeat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Evich\u2019s sentiment, echoed throughout the U.S. seafood industry, is another piece of a political puzzle that is working against Trump in the midterm elections. Dissatisfaction among commercial fishermen could cause collateral damage for Republicans in competitive races in Washington, Alaska and Maine.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving those costs be so much higher this year has really undermined the viability of some of our fisheries,\u201d Alaska fisherman Linda Behnken said.<\/p>\n
Trump sought to make an ally out of fishermen\u00a0during his first term\u00a0with expanded fishing territory, aggressive trade moves and cutting down regulations on the water. He did so again after\u00a0his second election.<\/p>\n
But one of Trump\u2019s government cutback efforts,\u00a0cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which regulates fisheries, has left the agency slower to respond to the industry\u2019s needs, fishermen said. Staff cutbacks also resulted in the agency\u00a0reducing weather balloonsused to gather data fishermen rely on.<\/p>\n
Fuel costs have also\u00a0crept up during the war\u00a0with Iran, pushing diesel fuel into the $6-per-gallon range when it was less than $4 per gallon a year ago \u2014 a major burden for a diesel-dependent industry. And the trade war with Canada has complicated the American seafood industry\u2019s relationship with a country it has long been interconnected with, fishermen said.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has continued trying to win the hearts of fishermen with industry-friendly moves, including an early September promise to reduce more regulatory burdens in response to a\u00a02025 executive order. And some of the industry\u2019s key states, such as Alaska, Washington and Maine, are important to Trump politically this year because of\u00a0competitive House and Senate races. But support on the water could be waning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m for whatever has to happen for the greater good in the long run for my family and my country,\u201d Evich said.<\/p>\n
Trump has cozied up to the fishing industry for years<\/h4>\n
Trump has positioned himself as a pro-fishing president since his first term, when one of his major moves to impact the fishing industry was the rollback of\u00a0Obama-era fishing restrictions\u00a0for Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument off the New England coast. Biden later restored the protections, and then Trump removed them again.<\/p>\n
The fishing industry is potentially a natural ally for Trump. A 2026 NOAA survey of commercial fishing crews found that 70% thought fishing rules were too restrictive, and Trump has fashioned himself as an enemy of bureaucracy and red tape.<\/p>\n
But in recent months, Trump has brought disruption to the fishing industry in a time when it can ill afford it, said John Sackton, founder of SeafoodNews.com and a longtime industry analyst. He said he sees an industry that is eager to \u201cturn the page\u201d on the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow what\u2019s happened is that there has been this unbelievable wave of disruption from everything \u2014 targeting NOAA and fisheries, science and even weather reporting that people rely on,\u201d said Sackton, who also cited tariffs and the rising cost of doing business as problems Trump brought to the industry.<\/p>\n
Fuel costs and tariffs are huge concerns for fishermen<\/h4>\n
The high price of fuel is \u201cone of the most immediate pressures on us as commercial fishermen,\u201d said Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in New York.<\/p>\n
Nearly all of the U.S.\u2019s commercial fishing fleet uses marine diesel fuel, which makes soaring fuel costs a burden they can\u2019t avoid. Sometimes fuel prices are so high right now that fishermen can\u2019t afford to leave the dock at all, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cActual dockside marine-fuel prices vary, but the magnitude of the increase is undeniable. It determines whether a trip is economically viable, what the crew earns and whether necessary vessel maintenance can be performed,\u201d Brady said.<\/p>\n
In Rhode Island, fisherman Chris Brown, who targets species such as fluke and squid out of Point Judith, puts it more bluntly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge. It\u2019s crazy. Thank you, Donald Trump,\u201d he said sarcastically.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s\u00a0trade war with Canada\u00a0is a more complicated matter because Canada exempted U.S. fish and seafood products from its counter-tariffs that followed the U.S. placing tariffs on Canadian goods. Prior to the exemption, Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen\u2019s Association, said U.S. lobstermen risked becoming \u201ccollateral damage in a broader trade dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n
But unease among fishermen remains, in part because Canada is the U.S.\u2019s largest seafood trading partner. The U.S. also relies on Canada for seafood processing and manufacturing of fishing gear. For some species, such as lobster and salmon, American and Canadian fishermen fish very close to each other or even in the same waters.<\/p>\n
A trade war with such a key partner could have negative consequences for the fishing industry, said Steve Train, a lobster fisherman from Long Island, Maine, who described himself as a \u201cright-leaning centrist\u201d who has voted Republican more than Democrat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get the standing up to a bully concept, but too many people will be caught in the middle of this,\u201d Train said. \u201cBoth sides need to reconsider these tariffs, and they need to reconsider soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cuts to NOAA are troubling to fishermen<\/h4>\n
NOAA Fisheries, the arm of NOAA tasked with overseeing commercial fishing, is facing a budget cut of more than 40% in the fiscal 2027 budget proposal. That would result in cuts to science programs, fisheries management and data collection.<\/p>\n
Those cutbacks trickle down to the fishermen and result in a lack of fishing opportunities, Sackton said. Some in the fishery also have the impression NOAA is too understaffed to regulate fisheries in a timely fashion, he said.<\/p>\n
In Sitka, Alaska, Behnken said the Trump administration\u2019s cutbacks at NOAA have made it more difficult for her and others who rely on the agency. She said she has a lot of empathy for the workers left at the agency, who she said are \u201cdoing the work of three people, particularly at the weather service,\u201d but it is still frustrating for fishermen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to retain good people when their future at the organization is that uncertain,\u201d said Behnken, who is executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen\u2019s Association.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Diesel #costly #commercial #fishermen #afford #leave #dock #Donald #Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John Evich, a commercial fishe… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1163,7626,6455,1292,9063,9064,9062,7417,215,357],"class_list":["post-5980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-afford","tag-commercial","tag-costly","tag-diesel","tag-dock","tag-donald","tag-fishermen","tag-fuel-costs","tag-leave","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n