Saving Seafood

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

Program will train aquaculture workforce in Maine as industry grows

May 12, 2021 — Seafood farms popping up all along the coast have Maine’s aquaculture industry primed for a boom and two organizations in the state are preparing to meet its workforce needs with a first-of-its-kind training program.

The Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center and Washington County Community College received a $500,000 grant to be paid out over three years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop an aquaculture-specific training program at the college.

The program will aim to meet the growing need for tech-savvy, skilled workers in four of the largest aquaculture subsets: land-based recirculating aquaculture, marine fin-fish aquaculture, cold-water coastal shellfish aquaculture and marine macroalgae aquaculture. Students will graduate with either a workforce training certificate or an associate’s degree.

“Aquaculture is the fastest-growing form of agriculture in the U.S.,” said Chris Davis, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald