The Daily Fuckup

NOAA issued an interim final rule on April 29, 2026, allowing a 20 percent increase in the recreational catch of black sea bass along the Atlantic coast for the upcoming fishing season. The timing mattered because Mid-Atlantic states had already started adjusting their own rules and warning that federal waters might not be aligned by May 1. Maryland’s public notice, effective April 19, said state waters would open May 1 but federal waters would not open until May 15 unless NOAA changed course. Delaware’s April 20 notice said the federal agency was behind schedule and that the mismatch could still be resolved before the season opened. ([vanhollen.senate.gov](https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-statement-on-trump-administrations-long-delayed-approval-of-increased-recreational-black-sea-bass-catch-in-the-mid-atlantic))

Sen. Chris Van Hollen raised the issue with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during an April 22 hearing, saying NOAA had told states and fisheries managers earlier in the month that it would not be ready to implement the updated measures. Van Hollen said local fishermen and charter businesses had been planning for months and would take a hit if the federal action did not come through in time. Lutnick said he would check with his staff and try to avoid unnecessary delay. ([vanhollen.senate.gov](https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-statement-on-trump-administrations-long-delayed-approval-of-increased-recreational-black-sea-bass-catch-in-the-mid-atlantic))

The record here is not a policy collapse. It is a delay in implementation, and one that created a real scheduling problem for state agencies and fishing businesses that had to prepare for different rules in state and federal waters. NOAA’s action on April 29 resolved that immediate gap, but only after officials in the region had spent weeks warning that the federal timetable was slipping. ([vanhollen.senate.gov](https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-statement-on-trump-administrations-long-delayed-approval-of-increased-recreational-black-sea-bass-catch-in-the-mid-atlantic))

That distinction matters. The black sea bass change was routine fisheries management, not a high-drama national fight, and the point of the episode is the paperwork lag itself: a predictable rule update that reached the finish line late enough to force states to plan around uncertainty. The agency did eventually act, and the season could move forward under the revised federal rule. But the delay still left the impression of a government that needed outside pressure to complete an ordinary task on schedule. ([vanhollen.senate.gov](https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-statement-on-trump-administrations-long-delayed-approval-of-increased-recreational-black-sea-bass-catch-in-the-mid-atlantic))