America Can't Wait Another Year: Congress Must Act to Build a Stronger, More Resilient Seafood Industry
America needs more seafood — and we can grow more of it in our own waters — but only if Congress puts in place the permitting framework needed to support responsible growth of the industry in U.S. federal waters.
This summer’s record heat pushed ocean temperatures to new highs as extreme weather intensified. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries reports that marine heatwaves are reshaping ocean ecosystems and shifting where important species are found, while a new University of Miami study found that hurricanes, heatwaves and harmful algal blooms are increasingly disrupting American fisheries.
While climate change is creating new challenges for America’s seafood supply, our wild fisheries are already harvested at sustainable limits. As we look to diversify our food sources and strengthen our domestic seafood production, open ocean aquaculture would complement our wild fisheries and help build a more resilient seafood system. But congressional action is needed to unlock aquaculture’s full potential in the U.S.
The biggest barrier is the lack of a clear, predictable regulatory pathway for open ocean aquaculture. A new Virginia Tech report found that the absence of a federal regulatory framework for aquaculture makes the permitting process nearly impossible to navigate, costing the industry an estimated $807 million a year in lost economic value.
Ocean Era, a small Hawaii-based mariculture company founded by marine biologist Neil Anthony Sims, recently received final federal approval for a demonstration project in the Gulf — after eight years, nine federal and state laws, and 12 federal and state agencies. And that was just for one net pen raising 20,000 fish.
As Sims explained in a recent video series from Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS), “The biggest challenge to growing our own seafood in our own ocean is the highly convoluted permitting process.” That regulatory uncertainty is one reason why the U.S. now ranks just 20th globally in aquaculture production.
The U.S. is falling behind at a time when the federal government — and countries around the world — are recognizing the essential role aquaculture can play in sustainably increasing seafood production and strengthening food security. Both the Trump and Biden administrations made the development of U.S. aquaculture a priority, and NOAA under both Administrations supported efforts to expand domestic production, including identifying suitable areas for offshore development and recognizing aquaculture as “a pathway to grow climate resilience.”
What is missing is the congressional action needed to turn that bipartisan federal recognition into a clear regulatory pathway that allows the industry to move forward.
Legislation in Congress, the bipartisan Marine Aquaculture Research for America (MARA) Act, would advance a science-based approach to the development of commercial-scale open ocean aquaculture farms in U.S. federal waters.
“America has the opportunity to build a stronger, more resilient seafood supply, but we need a clear and predictable pathway to responsibly expand into our open ocean,” said Drue Banta Winters, campaign manager for SATS. “The MARA Act will allow us to demonstrate that we can grow more of our own seafood here at home—and do so responsibly and sustainably, just like it’s already being done today in countries abroad and in our own state waters.”
As the changing climate continues to reshape our oceans and put additional pressure on wild fisheries, developing a more diverse and resilient seafood supply will become increasingly urgent. With federal agencies already laying the groundwork and bipartisan legislation before Congress, the U.S. has an opportunity to build on that progress and strengthen the future of American seafood. Now Congress must act to give American aquaculture a path forward and ensure the U.S. can grow more of its own seafood, strengthen its food security and build a more resilient seafood industry.