Why Can’t America Grow More Seafood in its Own Waters?
Demand for sustainable protein is rising, yet the U.S. already harvests wild caught seafood at its sustainable limit. As a result, America imports most of the seafood we consume, half from fish farms in other countries. So, what’s holding the U.S. back from producing more of its own seafood, in its own waters? Three leading experts break down the challenges and opportunities of expanding American open ocean aquaculture in Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS)’s new three-part video series.
“The biggest challenge to growing our own seafood in our own waters is the highly convoluted permitting process,” marine biologist Neil Anthony Sims explains in the series.
Sims, the founder and CEO of Ocean Era, Inc., shared his firsthand experience navigating the federal permitting process for more than seven years – and counting – to seek the approvals needed for a single aquaculture demonstration farm: one small net pen located 40 miles off Florida’s coast.
Video: The Need to Fix the Broken Aquaculture Permitting Process
His experience shows how the lack of a clear federal framework for permitting aquaculture projects in U.S. waters is preventing America from increasing its domestic seafood production.
That’s why SATS has launched this new video series: to illustrate to Congress why federal open ocean aquaculture legislation is urgently needed and to highlight the benefits that an expanded American aquaculture industry would provide communities nationwide.
More U.S. aquaculture would create new jobs across the seafood supply chain—from hatcheries and fish farms to equipment manufacturers, feed suppliers, processing plants, and retailers in communities across the country. It would also create new markets for American farmers who grow key ingredients used in sustainable plant-based fish feeds.
“We import a lot of seafood into the U.S. If we have the ability to produce more of it in our country, it will benefit us in agriculture as far as providing the soybean and the other products that we have,” as explained by Ohio soybean farmer Jerry Bambauer, a member of the Soy Aquaculture Alliance.
Video: Growing U.S. Aquaculture Helps Heartland Farmers
Working waterfront communities would also benefit from increased American aquaculture as fishermen and fish farmers work together to increase the amount of sustainable seafood coming into U.S. ports, benefitting seafood processors and distributors, and encouraging investment in portside infrastructure.
“The ultimate benefit to increasing aquaculture development goes to the American consumer because they'll have a wider, more diverse supply of options of seafood products,” explained Sean J. O’Scannlain, the CEO of Fortune Fish & Gourmet.
Video: Expanded U.S. Aquaculture Complements Working Waterfronts
The bipartisan Marine Aquaculture Research for America (MARA) Act of 2025 (S.2586/H.R. 5746) would advance the development of commercial-scale open ocean aquaculture in U.S. federal waters. The bill has received backing from leading environmental groups, seafood leaders, chefs, and academics.