Steve Bittenbender

Contributing Editor

Steve Bittenbender works as a freelance journalist based in Louisville, Kentucky. Besides working for SeafoodSource.com as a contributing editor, Steve also works as an editor for Government Security News and as the Kentucky correspondent for the Reuters News Service. He also works as a sports writer for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal and The Associated Press. He has received awards from the Kentucky Press Association and the Louisville Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for his on-going and enterprise reporting work.

Published on
March 17, 2021

A study completed by researchers from the University of South Florida has revealed almost every red snapper studied in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill showed signs of liver damage.

Red snapper is the latest Gulf species studied by researchers at the USF College of Marine Science in the wake of the devastating 2010 oil spill. Erin Pulster, a USF researcher and lead author of the study, said the results give

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Published on
March 11, 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday, 11 March, signed the USD 1.9 trillion (EUR 1.59 trillion) American Rescue Plan Act into law, opening the door for billions in aid to go to businesses – including nearly USD 29 billion (EUR 24.2 billion) for a restaurant industry that’s been battered by closures and other restrictions over the past year due to COVID-19.

On Thursday, the National Restaurant Association lauded the bill’s

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Published on
March 10, 2021

The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval on 10 March to a USD 1.9 trillion (EUR 1.6 trillion) COVID-relief spending plan that includes some opportunities for the seafood industry to benefit.

A spokesperson for U.S. President Joe Biden said during the vote that he is expected to sign the bill into law on Friday, 12 March, according to C-SPAN.

H.R. 1319, also known as the American Rescue Plan Act, passed by a highly partisan 220-211

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Published on
March 4, 2021

By an 84-15 vote on the afternoon of Tuesday, 2 March, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo as the next U.S. secretary of Commerce. In that position, Raimondo will be the top official in the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to oversee the federal government’s policies concerning the fishing industry.

Raimondo was nominated for the position on 7 January and testified before the Senate on 27 January.

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Published on
February 26, 2021

A historic January for Texas shrimpers contributed to an above-average month of catches in the Gulf of Mexico ... 

Photo courtesy of Jillian Cain

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Published on
February 24, 2021

Domestic catfish sales have experienced a 2 percent decline in 2020 compared to 2019, with U.S. producers selling USD 371 million (EUR 305.2 million) worth of catfish last year 

Photo courtesy of

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Published on
February 11, 2021

When it comes to marketing fish, carp is a “four-letter word.”

According to the Detroit Free Press, Illinois state officials want to rename the Asian carp species that has ravaged waterways in the U.S. Midwest and South for decades.

Companies like Purina and Canadian-based Wilder Harrier have developed dog food products using the fish. But "it's been hard to get the human consumption part of this because of the four-letter word:

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Published on
February 10, 2021

A bipartisan bill to end the use of drift gillnets to catch swordfish has been reintroduced in the U.S. Senate a month after then-President Donald Trump vetoed similar legislation.

U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia) refiled their bill, entitled the Driftnet Modernization and Bycatch Reduction Act, on Monday, 8 February. The bill calls for a ban on using the mile-long nets that reach 200 feet

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Published on
February 9, 2021

Commercial seafood organizations have begun responding to a U.S. Justice Department task force report on human trafficking in international waters.

The report, nearly three years in the making, included 27 recommendations for the federal government to eliminate loopholes or strengthen policies. Some of those recommendations include the need for congressional legislation. Among this is a recommendation to create a temporary worker visa program

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Published on
February 2, 2021

Oceana continues to challenge the U.S. government over federal catch limits on anchovy the organization claims ignore scientific advice.

In a statement on Monday, 1 February, the environmental conservation group announced it has filed two legal actions to support what it calls “science-based management” of the northern anchovy stock. The organization has taken NOAA Fisheries to court over anchovy catch limits multiple times over the

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