Saving Seafood

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

USDA awards USD 1.7 million in grants for aquaculture research

November 21, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded a total of USD 1.7 million (EUR 1.5 million) in funding for six aquaculture research projects.

The competitive grants were issued through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), a body created to consolidate the federal government’s funding for agriculture research. According to NIFA’s website, global seafood demand is expected to increase 70 percent over the next three decades, and a “dramatic increase” in aquaculture production will need to take place to meet that demand.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Nanoparticles promise swift Vibrio control for safer seafood and healthier fish

November 18, 2025 — Vibrio bacteria are major pathogens in the aquaculture industry, triggering vibriosis—a disease that can cause mortality rates of up to 90% within two days. This not only results in billions of dollars in economic losses globally but also poses a threat to food safety through contaminated aquatic products. Conventional detection methods for Vibrio require three to five days to yield results, and they often involve additional sterilization steps, making it nearly impossible to promptly control the spread of Vibrio infections.

To address this challenge, a research team led by Prof. Chen Lingxin from the Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed edged-satellite AuAg nanoparticles (ES-AuAgNPs). These nanoparticles (NPs) boast several characteristics, including alloyed Ag/Au composition, an edge-satellite structural design, and integrated antimicrobial components.

Collectively, these properties equip ES-AuAgNPs with enhanced peroxidase (POD)-like , surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) performance, and antibacterial capabilities. This study was recently published in Advanced Science.

Read the full article at PHYS.org

NOAA identifies 21,000 acres suitable for commercial aquaculture development

September 25, 2025 — NOAA Fisheries has identified 21,000 acres of ocean off the coast of California and in the Gulf of Mexico, now called the Gulf of America by the Trump Administration, that it claims would be suitable for offshore aquaculture development.

The announcement follows up on an executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term, which charged NOAA Fisheries with establishing 10 Aquaculture Opportunity Areas (AOA) by 2025. According to the order, AOAs would be sites predetermined by the government to be suitable for commercial aquaculture.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Amid economic volatility, financial challenges, U.S. seafood producers are calling for change

September 23, 2025 — Every year, more than US$100 million in federal financing programs are allocated to support U.S. aquaculture businesses. But some producers are finding that availability and meaningful access can be two different things – and they are beginning to speak out. 

It’s a seeming disconnect between government pronouncements to support the growth of U.S. aquaculture through these funding programs and the difficulties and hurdles business owners say they face when trying to access them. 

“ One of the things that’s really making it a lot more difficult is the position of NOAA,” says Robin Pearl, co-founder and president of Florida-based shrimp genetics producer American Penaeid. “And it shouldn’t be this hard and it shouldn’t be this way.” 

Pearl, who also co-founded American Mariculture (AMI), the company behind Sun Shrimp, maintains the current system governing NOAA-managed financing programs has not been responsive to the needs of seafood farmers, especially after their businesses have had to endure a global pandemic and other natural disasters.

Read the full article at Aquaculture North America

NOAA proposes allowing offshore fish farms in Gulf, Pacific

September 23, 2025 — The Trump administration plans to offer up to 21,000 acres of federal waters off Southern California and Texas for large-scale commercial aquaculture, according to a NOAA proposal for 13 “aquaculture opportunity areas” in the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

The initiative — which could provide a boon to U.S. seafood production while carrying risks for traditional fishing economies and ocean environments — shifts into high gear a Trump administration policy priority embodied in two executive orders, one signed by President Donald Trump during his first term and another this spring.

The Biden administration continued the work of studying possible aquaculture projects, including releasing two draft environmental impact statements. The NOAA documents released Friday are the final environmental reviews.

Read the full article at E&E News