US senators introduce new bipartisan bill to boost open ocean aquaculture

On 31 July, Senators Brian Schatz (Democrat, Hawai’i) and Roger Wicker (Republican, Mississippi) introduced the bipartisan Marine Aquaculture Research for America (MARA) Act of 2025 (S.2586), a bill that sets out to advance the development of commercial-scale open ocean aquaculture in US federal waters.

Drue Banta Winters, campaign manager of Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS), commented: “The bipartisan consensus is clear: Congressional action is needed to build a robust American open ocean aquaculture industry, and the MARA Act lays the groundwork towards that goal.

“We thank Senators Schatz and Wicker for their leadership in introducing legislation that will allow us to demonstrate how 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.”

“Expanding American aquaculture would increase our domestic seafood supply, create jobs, attract investment to coastal communities, strengthen the seafood industry, and reduce the nation’s seafood trade deficit.”

She added that the bipartisan consensus in Congress to advance open ocean aquaculture in America comes with strong support from leading environmental groups, seafood industry businesses, chefs, and academics.

SATS points out that the US imports up to 85% of the seafood it consumes, half of which comes from fish farms in other countries. As a result, the U.S. ranks just 18th in aquaculture production, behind nations like China, India, and Indonesia. 

The MARA Act would:

• Establish an assessment program to evaluate commercial-scale demonstration projects.
• Create a dedicated Office of Aquaculture within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National
• Marine Fisheries Service to coordinate federal permitting for a U.S. aquaculture program.
• Set clear timelines and establish a consolidated environmental review process during the permitting approval process.
• Authorise grant funding to modernise American working waterfront communities, including infrastructure that benefits both commercial fishing and aquaculture.
• Invest in workforce training and curriculum development to train the next generation of aquaculture professionals.
   

The bill builds on years of bipartisan legislative effort, incorporating key provisions from both the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture, or AQUAA Act, and the Science-based Equitable Aquaculture Food, or SEAfood Act, which were both introduced in previous congresses.

One small project, Ocean Era’s Velella Epsilon project—a single-net-pen demonstration farm off the coast of Florida, recently received a permit from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to produce red drum, a native species to the area.

The project, which is the size of just 1% of a commercial-scale farm, has been caught in the permitting process for more than seven years and still faces more hurdles before it is fully approved to enter the water. In June, campaign group Friends of Animals filed a legal petition calling on the EPA to withdraw its permit, and more anti-fish farming groups look set to voice their opposition.