April 27, 2022

Supporters of US bill for offshore fish farming starts three-day meeting in Washington DC

Proponents of expanding the United States' aquaculture industry began a three-day meeting with lawmakers and their aides in Washington DC on April 26, 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.

The main purpose for the fly-in is to promote the AQUAA Act, a bipartisan legislation that would streamline the regulatory process for commercial aquaculture developments in the US' exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

David Kelly, the chief executive officer of Boston, Massachusetts-based aquaculture technology group Innovasea, said in a statement that he was eager to meet with lawmakers and impress upon them the need to bolster food security and create new business opportunities.

"Fish farming is a safe, sustainable way to provide protein to our growing population and presents a massive opportunity for this country to create good jobs and reduce our reliance on seafood imports – if we can simplify our cumbersome permitting processes to encourage more investment in the industry," Kelly said.  

Despite having the world's second-largest EEZ, the US only ranks 16th in the world in aquaculture development, generating US$1.5 billion in products. Globally, the aquaculture industry is responsible for US$263 billion worth of seafood.

According to NOAA Fisheries, roughly half of the seafood imported into the US come from aquaculture developments. As other countries do not have such a bureaucratic process to authorise offshore fish farms, it enables cheaper imported goods to enter US grocery stores and restaurants, the agency said. As a result, the US seafood trade deficit grew to US$16.9 billion in 2019.

"The importance of making the US a more meaningful contributor to global aquaculture production has never been more evident," Chris Stock, global director of aquaculture sales at Gardner, Pennsylvania-based aquafeed manufacturer Zeigler Bros. "For decades, we have witnessed our country's dependency on foreign sourced seafood continuously expand. Now we have an opportunity to change this."

- SeafoodSource