Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS), a coalition of stakeholders in the U.S. aquaculture industry, has launched a month-long campaign to educate federal lawmakers and their staff about aquaculture and raise support for offshore finfish farming.
“As one of the most environmentally friendly methods for producing protein, open ocean aquaculture is a vital food production method being embraced by nations worldwide but it remains an untapped industry here in the U.S.,” SATS Campaign Manager Drue Banta Winters said in a statement.
SATS claims that offshore aquaculture is being held back “due to the lack of federal legislation to support industry growth.”
“Without federal action, the U.S. will continue to miss out on the benefits that a thriving aquaculture industry would provide, including job creation and economic growth in congressional districts and communities across the country,” Winters said. “Legislation to support aquaculture in federal waters would strengthen our economy, ensure a more secure seafood supply chain, and help increase access to affordable, American-grown seafood.”
As part of the campaign, the group will release a fact sheet about aquaculture and social media assets. SATS has also paid for targeted advertisements and will run digital ads in two prominent publications covering Washington D.C. politics: Politico and Axios.
In May, the coalition sent seafood industry representatives to D.C. to educate lawmakers. Participating companies in that campaign included Cargill, Innovasea, JBS Foods USA, Merck Animal Health, and Zeigler Bros.
SATS previously backed the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act, a bill that would create national standards for offshore aquaculture and streamline development. The group has also thrown its support behind NOAA Fisheries’ National Seafood Strategy Implementation Plan, which highlights the importance of growing aquaculture production in the U.S.
“This plan outlines critical steps that the agency is taking to support growth of an American aquaculture sector, which includes a focus on developing an efficient, predictable, timely and science-based regulatory framework for offshore fish farming in U.S. federal waters,” Winters said when the plan was released in October. “Until a clear and efficient regulatory permitting process is put in place, the U.S. will continue to miss out on the significant economic, environmental and food security benefits that offshore aquaculture would provide.”
