Abstract
Recent federal executive actions prioritize restoring American seafood competitiveness through deregulation and production targets, yet these policies overlook the fundamental threat posed by climate‐driven natural hazards. We argue that true seafood competitiveness cannot be achieved through production gains alone because competitiveness also relies on stable production. Disaster resilience is therefore essential to long‐term seafood competitiveness as it promotes stability and shortens recovery times. To address this policy gap, we propose a three‐pillar framework that encompasses adaptive governance, a politically insulated safety net and quantified climate risk assessments as the foundation for a durable, competitive and resilient American seafood industry. We illustrate our point using fisheries from U.S. Gulf states as an example of a system increasingly exposed to natural hazards, the most prominent of which are hurricanes. This climate vulnerability is not unique to the Gulf nor to hurricanes. Other climate‐driven impacts such as marine heatwaves and harmful algal blooms are becoming increasingly prevalent and impose analogous shocks along U.S. waters.