Saving Seafood

  • Home
  • News
    • Alerts
    • Conservation & Environment
    • Council Actions
    • Economic Impact
    • Enforcement
    • International & Trade
    • Law
    • Management & Regulation
    • Regulations
    • Nutrition
    • Opinion
    • Other News
    • Safety
    • Science
    • State and Local
  • News by Region
    • New England
    • Mid-Atlantic
    • South Atlantic
    • Gulf of Mexico
    • Pacific
    • North Pacific
    • Western Pacific
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Fishing Terms Glossary

Aquaculture proponents fly in to Washington DC to push for AQUAA Act

April 27, 2022 โ€” Proponents of expanding Americaโ€™s aquaculture industry began a three-day meeting with lawmakers and their aides in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, 26 April, in hopes of drumming up more support for a bill to create more opportunities for offshore fish farms.

The fly-in sponsored by industry coalition group Stronger America Through Seafood is the first since the COVID-19 pandemic began more than two years ago. The event is drawing representatives from a wide array of companies, including restaurant chain Red Lobster and animal feed producer Cargill.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

US seafood pressures Congress on aquaculture expansion

March 8, 2022 โ€” The US lobby group Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS) is stepping up pressure on Congress to expand the countryโ€™s aquaculture sector.

The organisation has sent a letter to both the House of Representatives and to the Senate calling for stronger support for the industry.

It was signed by more than 60 supporters from sectors related to fish farming including seafood harvesting, production and retail.

The letter calls for a smooth passage for what is called the Advancing The Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture Act (AQUAA).

The AQUAA Act is aimed at establishing a more streamlined process of permitting marine aquaculture and create a national framework for aquaculture development.

Read the full story at Fish Farmer

Stronger America Through Seafood sends letter to Congress in support of AQUAA Act

February 14, 2022 โ€” Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS) has sent a letter signed by more than 65 supporters of aquaculture โ€“ including leaders in the U.S. seafood harvesting, production, and retail sectors โ€“ to Congress, requesting support for aquaculture expansion in the U.S.

The letter, sent on Monday, 14 February to both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, calls for support for the โ€œAdvancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture Act,โ€ or โ€œAQUAA Act.โ€ An updated version of the AQUAA Act was recently introduced by U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Marco Rubio (R-Florida); and U.S. Representatives Ed Case (D-Hawaii) and Steve Palazzo (R-Mississippi).

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Bill Reboot: The AQUAA Act is back

December 16, 2021 โ€” In October, a trio of senators reintroduced the AQUAA Act, seeking to revise federal oversight and regulation of large-scale offshore aquaculture. Now the act is paired to dance with a House companion, brought to the floor courtesy of Reps. Stephen Palazzo (R-Miss.) and Edward Case (D-Hawaii) on Tuesday, Dec. 14.

The Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture Act was last introduced by Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) shortly after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed NMFSโ€™s lack of jurisdiction over aquaculture leases in the Gulf of Mexico, upholding a 2018 district court ruling.

โ€œHad Congress intended to give [NMFS] the authority to create an entirely new regulatory permitting scheme for aquaculture operations, it would have said more than โ€˜harvesting,โ€™โ€ wrote U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo in the ruling that favored fishing, environmental and public interest groups who filed the suit against the federal government to fight an expansion of NMFSโ€™ reach into aquaculture.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

AQUAA Act Reintroduced in Congress; Bill Aims to Create Standards for U.S. Offshore Aquaculture

October 29, 2021 โ€” U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Brian Schatz, (D-HI), and Marco Rubio, (R-FL) reintroduced the AQUAA Act which aims to create national standards for offshore aquaculture in the U.S.

The bill was first introduced in September of 2020, with the Senators describing the Act as a complement to former President Donald Trumpโ€™s May 2020  Executive Order, โ€œPromoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth.โ€ The EO focuses on the development of a domestic offshore aquaculture industry which will help create a sustainable seafood source and allow the country to rely more on its own resources.

More specifically, the bill would designate NOAA as the lead agency for marine aquaculture. It would also direct NOAA to โ€œharmonize the permitting system for offshore aquaculture for farms in federal waters, and direct the agency to lead a research and development grant program to spur innovation throughout the industry.โ€

Read the full story at Seafood News

 

Floating fish farms in Gulf of Mexico could get green light with Congressional bill

September 30, 2020 โ€” A new bill in Congress would open the Gulf of Mexico and other federal waters to offshore fish farming, a controversial idea backed by President Donald Trumpโ€™s administration but opposed by environmental groups and elements of the seafood industry that depend on wild fisheries.

Introduced Thursday and sponsored by U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, Marco Rubio, R-Florida, and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act aims to accomplish what a recent federal court decision said was impossible unless Congress intervened.

Last month, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans blocked federal rules that would have allowed offshore fish farming for the first time in the Gulf, considered potentially a prime area for raising high-value fish in large floating pens. The court said federal regulators lack the authority to โ€œcreate an entire industryโ€ not mentioned in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing fisheries since 1976.

Read the full story at NOLA.com

Bill pushing for US offshore aquaculture development reintroduced in House

March 12, 2020 โ€” A bill designed to develop and support offshore aquaculture in the United States is getting a second chance at passing in the U.S. House of Representatives this week.

U.S. Representatives Steven Palazzo (R-Mississippi) and Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota), House Agriculture Committee Chairman, reintroduced the bipartisan Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act on Wednesday, 11 March.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Wicker aims to bolster U.S. seafood production

October 21, 2019 โ€” U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chairman of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, said he intends to reintroduce a bill that would improve domestic seafood production.

โ€œAmerica imports over 90 percent of the seafood we consume. Simply put, there is not enough fresh, healthy, and local seafood produced in the United States to meet consumer demand,โ€ Sen. Wicker said in his opening statement to the committee during an Oct. 16 hearing on the state of the nationโ€™s offshore aquaculture industry.

Sen. Wicker said he will reintroduce the bipartisan, bicameral Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act, which would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to streamline the federal permitting process for aquaculture.

During the 115th Congress, Sen. Wicker sponsored S. 3138 to direct the U.S. Commerce Department to establish an Office of Marine Aquaculture within the NOAA to coordinate regulatory, scientific, outreach, and international issues related to aquaculture.

Read the full story at The Ripon Advance

Itโ€™s Time to Be Honest about Seafood

May 28, 2019 โ€” Demand for seafood is increasing across the globe, and the United States is no exception. Aquaculture, or aquatic farming, is increasingly meeting this demand and now supplies just over 50 percent of all seafood globally. In fact, it has been one of the worldโ€™s fastest growing food sectors for years.

The U.S. is the largest importer of seafood in the world, and some of Americansโ€™ favoritesโ€”including shrimp, salmon and tilapiaโ€”are predominantly farmed these days. Yet, we contribute less than 1 percent of the worldโ€™s total aquaculture production. This means we rely heavily on other countries to satisfy our appetites for seafood.

If the U.S. does not increase its domestic production of farmed shellfish, seaweed and finfish, the divergence between what we consume and what we contribute to the global seafood market will continue to widen. This gap may make it harder for our seafood diets to be sustainable. It also means the U.S. wonโ€™t have a hand in shaping the standards or economies that contribute to the seafood sector as a whole in the future.

A brand-new bill that proposes a moratorium on commercial permits for marine finfish aquaculture facilities in U.S. waters could serve to widen this gap, and it represents another divergence: between public wariness about domestic aquaculture operations and the science showing aquacultureโ€™s potential for sustainable growth.

While wild-caught fisheries have hit โ€œpeak fishโ€ domestically and globally, with limited potential for additional sustainable growth, there is mounting scientific evidence that the U.S. could dramatically increase domestic aquaculture production and do so sustainably, as we did with our fisheriesbefore they peaked. And this growth does not have to come at the cost of our wild-caught fisheries or other priorities for our oceans, especially under careful management and planning.

Read the full story at Scientific American

ALASKA: Rep. Young fights fish farms

May 21, 2019 โ€” In his 46 years as Alaskaโ€™s lone representative in Congress, Don Young helped toss out foreign fishing fleets from Alaska waters with the onset of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976, and today he is intent on doing the same with offshore fish farms.

The MSA established an โ€˜exclusive economic zoneโ€™  for US fleets fishing from three to 200 miles from shore. Now, a bill introduced by Young aims to stop the Trump Administrationโ€™s push to use those waters for industrialized fish farming operations. The fish farms are being touted as a silver bullet to boost seafood production, provide jobs and reduce the $15 billion seafood trade deficit that comes from the nation importing over 85 percent of its seafood.

Earlier this month, Young filed the Keep Fin Fish Free Act which would stop officials from allowing fish farms in US offshore waters unless specifically authorized by Congress.

โ€œThe biggest selling power we have in Alaska is wild caught salmon and other fish products, and I donโ€™t want that hurt,โ€ Young said in a phone interview. โ€œIf we put in a commercial operation offshore, outside of state jurisdiction, weโ€™d have a big problem in selling our wild Alaskan salmon.โ€

Youngโ€™s effort follows a push that began a year ago by over 120 aquaculture and food-related industries to have lawmakers introduce an Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act, which failed to get any traction. The campaign is organized under a new trade group called  Stronger America Through Seafood and includes Cargill, Red Lobster, Pacific Seafoods and Seattle Fish Company.

Read the full story at The News Miner

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page ยป

Recent Headlines

  • Trump reinstating commercial fishing in northeast marine monument
  • Natural toxin in ocean results in restrictions on Pacific sardine fishing off South Coast
  • MAINE: Maine lobstermen remain mighty political force despite shrinking numbers
  • HAWAII: Ahi labeling bill waiting on governorโ€™s signature
  • Trump administration strikes hard at offshore wind
  • USDA awards USD 2.3 million in pollock contracts, seeks more bids on pollock, salmon
  • Trump to reopen Northeast Canyons to commercial fishing
  • US, China agree to 90-day pause on high tariffs

Most Popular Topics

Alaska Aquaculture ASMFC Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission BOEM California China Climate change Coronavirus COVID-19 Donald Trump groundfish Gulf of Maine Gulf of Mexico Hawaii Illegal fishing IUU fishing Lobster Maine Massachusetts Mid-Atlantic National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NEFMC New Bedford New England New England Fishery Management Council New Jersey New York NMFS NOAA NOAA Fisheries North Atlantic right whales North Carolina North Pacific offshore energy Offshore wind Pacific right whales Salmon South Atlantic Western Pacific Whales wind energy Wind Farms

Daily Updates & Alerts

Enter your email address to receive daily updates and alerts:
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Tweets by @savingseafood

Copyright ยฉ 2025 Saving Seafood ยท WordPress Web Design by Jessee Productions

Notifications