August 7, 2025 — U.S. legislators in Congress have reintroduced legislation intended to ensure aquaculture producers are treated the same as livestock and crop farmers by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The Supporting Equity for Aquaculture and Seafood (SEAS) Act would guarantee that aquaculture and seafood producers could access USDA grants and financial assistance while expanding federal crop insurance to cover aquaculture products.
August 6, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to buy USD 100 million (EUR 86.4 million) worth of Alaska pollock and USD 20 million (EUR 17.3 million) of catfish as part of a bulk purchase of food products for food banks and nutrition assistance programs across the country.
According to the Genuine Association of Pollock Producers, the USDA has already spent nearly USD 60 million (EUR 52 million) on Alaska pollock products in fiscal year 2025, making it the fourth biggest year of USDA pollock purchases to date. The proposed USD 100 million would far outpace the previous record for USDA pollock purchases, when the department spent USD 76.3 million (EUR 65.9 million) in fiscal year 2019.
August 1, 2025 — Louisiana lawmakers have introduced new bipartisan legislation aimed at providing federal disaster relief to crawfish fisheries,
Currently, wild-caught crawfish are not eligible for disaster relief through the U.S. Department of Agriculture or under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which governs most federal fishery management.
The Fisheries Modernization Act (H.R. 4800), introduced by Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., and Cleo Fields, D-La., would modify the legislation to specifically include red swamp crawfish and white river crawfish — two species central to Louisiana’s wild-caught industry. If passed, the measure would allow the Commerce Secretary to declare a fishery disaster for these species in the event of environmental catastrophes, infrastructure failures, or other crises that lead to significant drops in population or revenue.
May 2, 2025 — Amid shifting U.S. trade policy, two prominent Alaska seafood industry organizations are thinking strategically about how they can bring Alaska seafood to emerging markets around the globe.
On 1 May, the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) announced that it had received funds to support six projects in three emerging markets: Brazil, Colombia, and India. The funds will come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS) Emerging Markets Program (EMP).
December 9, 2024 — Based on actions taken by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration during his first term in office, some organizations are voicing concerns that he might try to alter and potentially weaken the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) after he takes office in January – which will in turn impact seafood consumption.
SNAP is the largest federal program aimed at combating hunger in the U.S. and supports around 42 million beneficiaries.
February 13, 2024 — The U.S. seafood trade deficit reached USD 20.3 billion (EUR 18.8 billion) in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
U.S. imports dipped sharply from USD 30 billion (EUR 27.8 billion) in 2022 to around USD 25.3 billion (EUR 23.5 billion) in 2023, while exports fell slightly from USD 5.1 billion (EUR 4.7 billion) in 2022 to approximately USD 5 billion (EUR 4.6 billion) in 2023, NOAA trade data showed.
July 17, 2023 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded USD 118.8 million (EUR 105 million) in seafood contracts to U.S. processors.
Announced 13 July, the results show many of the largest U.S. seafood processors landed major contracts to supply the USDA with Atlantic pollock fillets, haddock fillets, rockfish fillets, Pacific shrimp, Pacific whiting fillets, wild salmon fillets, and canned salmon.
November 29, 2022 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a proposal that would see more seafood added to food packages for the Women, Infants and Children’s Supplemental Nutrition (WIC) program.
The proposed rule, the first food package update of the WIC program since 2009, includes revisions incorporating recommendations from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, USDA said in a press release.
December 27, 2021 — The federal government will spend $25 million on East Coast fish to aid nutrition assistance programs and help New England’s struggling commercial fishing industry.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday it would make the purchase on Atlantic groundfish. That is a group of species such as cod, haddock and pollock that come to the docks in states including Massachusetts and Maine and are popular in seafood markets and restaurants.
The purchase came after members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation called on the USDA to purchase more East Coast seafood through its programs that distribute food to residents in need.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald
September 13, 2021 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking wild-catch U.S. shrimp producers to bid on 229,800 cases of shrimp under its Section 32 program.
Bids are due by 20 September, and the accepted bids will be announced by midnight on 28 September, the agency said in a notice.
Read the full story at Seafood Source