September 24, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
This week NOAA Fisheries and our partners will celebrate National Aquaculture Week. NOAA Fisheries and its predecessor agencies have been involved in aquaculture for more than 125 years, pioneering fish culture methods and stock enhancement techniques to replenish wild stocks. Many culture, hatching, and rearing techniques currently used by the industry worldwide were developed in NOAA labs, such as the Milford, Connecticut lab for mollusks; the Manchester, Washington, lab for salmon; and the Galveston, Texas lab for shrimp.
Marine aquaculture is an important part of the agency’s strategy for economic and environmental resiliency in coastal communities and supporting healthy oceans. In 2017, US aquaculture producers raised 32 million pounds of salmon, 36 million pounds of oysters, and 9 million pounds of clams along the nation’s coast. In total, farm-raised seafood accounted for 21 percent of the U.S. seafood production by value in 2017. Around the nation in many fishing and coastal communities, aquaculture is creating important economic opportunities and year-round employment.