Saving Seafood

MAINE: Great Northern Salmon announces multiple strategic partnerships for Maine-based salmon RAS

March 3, 2026 — Great Northern Salmon announced multiple strategic partnerships with companies as it continues to work on its Millinocket, Maine, U.S.A-based salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility.

Great Northern Salmon (GNS), formerly known as Katahdin Salmon, had already announced a strategic partnership with Eyvi, a provider of aquaculture systems. Now, the company said it has established partnerships with other aquaculture technology providers, engineering and construction companies, and potential buyers for its product once it gets its facility online.’

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: NOAA Fisheries identifies 77 potential aquaculture opportunity areas in Gulf of Alaska

February 24, 2026 — NOAA Fisheries has identified 77 locations in the Gulf of Alaska that could be suitable for aquaculture operations, following up on an order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020.

“Alaska has more coastline than the rest of the nation combined, and we should be using that resource to its full potential,” Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said in a release. “This atlas helps identify where aquaculture makes sense in our state waters. It will support creating new job opportunities, strengthen food security for Alaskans, and add to Alaska’s already tremendous seafood industry.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MAINE: Maine’s aquaculture industry highlighted in new campaign for public education

February 20, 2026 — The Maine Farmed Seafood Coalition (MFSC), a Maine-based community program for sustainability, recently launched a campaign called “Maine Farmers Are Why,” intended to educate the public about Maine aquaculture in light of recent sea farming disputes across the state’s coastal regions.

“The campaign puts sea farmers at the front of the conversation and tells the stories of innovators who make a diversified living on the coast of Maine,” MFSC said in a release.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA claims steady progress was made on US aquaculture in 2025

February 18, 2026 — Following directives from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, NOAA’s Aquaculture Program said it made steady progress in 2025 on exploring new aquaculture projects in the U.S., inching closer to helping the country close its farmed seafood import gap.

“Currently, the U.S. imports USD 15 billion [EUR 12.7 billion] worth of farmed seafood. That’s billion with a ‘b.’ It is by far more than we produce here at home, which is less than USD 2 billion [EUR 1.7 billion], and that has the eyes of a lot of people across the government, not just people who focus on aquaculture,” NOAA Office of Aquaculture Director Danielle Blacklock said on 17 February during the 2026 Aquaculture America conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Advance Offshore U.S. Aquaculture

February 17, 2026 — Half a mile off the Big Island in Hawaii, where the currents run swift and the depths reach 200 feet, Blue Ocean Mariculture raises kanpachi (Seriola rivoliana), a native Hawaiian yellowtail, in what is the United States’ sole open-ocean, commercial finfish farm.

Small in comparison to coastal Norwegian salmon farms, with annual combined exports of 1.2 million tons, Blue Ocean Mariculture produces about 1,100 tons of fish annually in net pens submerged 30 to 130 feet under water. Roughly half the fish is sold to distributors and stores in Hawaii, while the rest goes to markets on the U.S. mainland, according to Taylor Korte, vice president of marine operations at Blue Ocean Mariculture.

The company’s conservation efforts have earned it Seafood Watch’s rank of yellow, or a good alternative to endangered species like bluefin tuna, but not quite as stellar as a green ranking for sustainably harvested seafood, like farmed mussels or Arctic char. Blue Ocean kanpachi, a rich, mild-flavored, versatile fish, is on the menu in restaurants across the country, from Mama’s Fish House in Maui to Sugarfish in New York and California, where it’s served raw as sashimi or ceviche—or baked, grilled, or steamed.

Although it is close to shore, Blue Ocean Mariculture is considered an environmental and economic model for very deep open-water aquaculture. And now, it has become the poster child for the Marine Aquaculture Research for America (MARA) Act.

The bill was introduced last fall to develop aquaculture of all types (finfish, seaweed and shellfish) in federal waters, defined as 3 to 200 nautical miles offshore. The bill has strong bipartisan support and could advance in the Senate as early as March, Maddie Voorhees, U.S. aquaculture campaign director for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), told Civil Eats.

The MARA Act is the latest bill to reflect a decades-long drive, largely by industry groups such as the Stronger America Through Seafood Coalition, to advance U.S. aquaculture in the open ocean. Coalition members include big feed businesses like Cargill and JBS; food service giant Sysco; and U.S. aquaculture companies such as Taylor Shellfish and Ocean Era.

MARA Act champions say the law is needed to cut red tape and reduce U.S. reliance on imported seafood. Opponents of industrial fish farming fiercely push back on the proposal and say there are better ways to boost consumption of domestic seafood.

Read the full article at Civil Eats

Falling in Love with Farmed Seafood

February 13, 2026 — Is there a better Valentine’s Day date than cozying up with a warm bowl of hearty, local seafood with the ones you love? Choosing domestically produced seafood, wild and farmed, helps show your affection for working waterfronts.

We have a special place in our hearts for farm-fresh seafood. It’s hard not to fall for savory mussels, steaming salmon, and succulent seaweeds at first sight!

Here are some of the ways NOAA experts show their love for American-grown seafood.

Developing a Love of Mussels Early

Michael Murphy, Communications Director, NOAA Fisheries

“I have been feeding our two children seafood since they were toddlers. They both have generally preferred mild fish throughout their childhood such as West Coast rockfish (preferably caught by dad). Now that we live on the East Coast, I usually buy (or catch) striped bass, cod, and blue catfish. You can imagine my delight a few years ago when our oldest asked to try the mussels my wife and I were enjoying at our favorite French bistro. Our mouths dropped when she proceeded to inhale almost the entire bowl!

Since many wild-caught fish can only be purchased fresh at certain times of the year, the good news is fresh mussels are readily available throughout the year in most major supermarkets across the country. They are also really easy and quick to make! The mussels we enjoyed recently (pictured here) were from a Rhode Island farm and we prepared them using a classic French recipe. I am now smart enough to know to buy enough for the parents and our 15-year-old to enjoy. Our 11-year-old is still not on board with the rest of her mussel-loving family but we know it is only a matter of time!”

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

MAINE: Hard-shell clam project aims to diversify aquaculture and shellfish harvesting in Maine

January 5, 2026 — An effort to diversify Maine’s aquaculture and shellfish industries is getting a boost from a hard shell clam farming project near Brunswick.

The project, led by the conservation science group Manomet, involved seeding some 400,000 quahogs in floating upweller systems that are commonly used in oyster farming, said senior fisheries director Marissa McMahan.

Read the full article at Maine Public

European fisheries ministers strike deal on 2026 catch limits

December 18, 2025 — The Council of the European Union has released details of a political agreement reached by EU fisheries ministers on fishing opportunities for 2026 in the Atlantic, North Sea, Mediterranean and Black Sea.

The agreement, which concluded after two days of complex negotiations at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels, sets total allowable catches (TACs) and fishing effort limits for key commercial stocks, and also incorporates outcomes of consultations with the UK and Norway.

The new measures will apply from 1 January 2026, following formal adoption and publication in the EU’s Official Journal. In its announcement, the EU Council said the agreement aims to balance scientific advice (from ICES and STECF) with socioeconomic considerations, in line with the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy.

Jacob Jensen, Denmark’s minister for food, agriculture and fisheries, who chaired the negotiations, said the compromise had “broad support among the member states”, and would provide fishers with “certainty about their fishing opportunities for 2026.”

Read the full article at We Are Aquaculture

Broad coalition promotes Senate aquaculture bill

December 4, 2025 — The seafood industry, environmentalists and researchers are aligned in pressing Congress to speed the permitting and development of open-ocean aquaculture trials.

In a Tuesday letter to leaders of both the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee, supporters of S. 5286, the “Marine Aquaculture Research for America Act,” said agencies should permit pilot projects that “generate the robust, real-world data” necessary to evaluate aquaculture activities in federal oceans without harming water quality or marine ecosystems.

“The MARA Act will equip federal and state agencies with the evidence needed to establish high environmental standards and ensure that any growth of U.S. aquaculture proceeds responsibly and sustainably,” states the letter with 140 signatures.

Read the full article at E&E News

Offshore aquaculture advocates send joint letter to US lawmakers pushing for MARA passage

December 2, 2025 — Advocates of enabling and expanding offshore aquaculture in the U.S. sent a joint letter to lawmakers in Congress urging them to pass the Marine Aquaculture Research for America (MARA) Act.

“The U.S. has the science and technology, ocean resources, and skilled seafood workforce to lead in sustainable seafood production,” Drue Banta Winters, campaign manager of Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS), said in a release. “The MARA Act would put in place a pathway to allow us to demonstrate that we can grow more of our seafood here at home both responsibly and sustainably while strengthening coastal economies, supporting America’s terrestrial farmers, and strengthening our nation’s food security.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource