NOAA Fisheries Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update NOAA Fisheries is actively monitoring and adjusting to the COVID-19 national health crisis.

Primary Sources of Information

(March 27, 2020) … Coronavirus.gov — The primary portal for public information, curated by the Coronavirus Task Force at the White House, working in conjunction with Center for Disease Control, Health and Human Services, and other agency stakeholders. 

CDC Coronavirus Disease 2019 — The latest public health and safety information on COVID-19. It includes consumer and medical information on how the virus spreads; symptoms; prevention and treatment; stigma; cases; and what to do if you are sick.

Follow CDC
Twitter: @CDCgov
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CDC
Instagram: @CDCgov

What the U.S. Government is Doing — A catalogue of all U.S. government activities related to COVID-19. En Español

Department of Commerce COVID-19 Information for Employees

Regarding Activities Related to NOAA Fisheries Mission

Our Mission 

NOAA Fisheries is actively monitoring and adjusting to the COVID-19 national health crisis. Ensuring the health and safety of our employees, partners, and broader fishing community during this crisis is a priority. We remain fully operational with much of our workforce teleworking. We will continue to fulfill our mission, maintaining our nation’s seafood supply and protecting marine life. 

NOAA Fisheries COVID-19 Strategy Team

We recently stood up a team of experts from across the agency to collect and analyze COVID-19-related impacts on the U.S. commercial seafood industry, including wild harvest and aquaculture. We are interested in learning about the virus’ impacts on their employees, their business, the businesses they support, and the broader seafood supply chain.

We are also looking at impacts on the recreational fishing industry. With this effort, we are interested in assessing immediate and long-term needs to secure and enhance the resilience of the U.S. seafood and fisheries industries. We will continue to work with the Administration and Congress on this important, unprecedented COVID-19-driven effort.

Stakeholders interested in sharing information on the effects of COVID-19 on their businesses can submit that information to NMFS.COVID-19@noaa.gov. 

Seafood Safety
We are fully committed to providing quality seafood inspection services to the seafood industry in the safest and most efficient way possible during COVID-19.

For updated information related to COVID-19 and seafood safety, please visit the following organizations:
Food & Drug Administration
National Fisheries Institute

Closures, Cancellations, Changes

Out of an abundance of caution, our facilities are closed to the public. This includes the following:

Woods Hole Aquarium
Alaska Fishing Permits
Southeast Fisheries Permit Walkup Window
Medical Declaration

All public in-person events are canceled or rescheduled. Meetings and workshops essential to our agency’s mission will be virtual when feasible. 

Reporting Marine Animal Stranding or Entanglement 

The public should continue to report all sightings of stranded animals to the appropriate contact number for your location. Our marine mammal and sea turtle stranding network partners are making operational decisions based on COVID-19 that may impact the ability to respond to strandings and entanglement incidents. As always, if you see a stranded marine mammal or sea turtle, keep people and pets back a safe distance of 150 feet.

Fishery Observers/At-Sea Monitors
NOAA Fisheries has issued an emergency action to waive observer coverage on a case-by-case basis.