“I know fish, I know Alaska, and I know how to work with people in both parties to get stuff done," said Rep. Mary Sattler Peltola, who has presented three bills focused on Alaska's seafood sector in recent months.
Photo: Adobe Stock.
A new bipartisan bill proposed by an Alaskan lawmaker proposes to restrict offshore aquaculture development in the United States.
The Domestic Seafood Production Act (DSPA), proposed by Democrat representative for Alaska, Mary Sattler Peltola, focuses on "food security in communities historically reliant on coastal and marine resources by helping them build seafood processing capacity for local use", and proposes providing competitive grants to develop seafood and mariculture processing.
However, the proposed Act would place stringent restrictions on marine finfish aquaculture, effectively banning the activity.
"To ensure the health of the marine ecosystem, this Act would not allow Federal agencies to permit, authorize, or facilitate offshore aquaculture in U.S. Federal waters in the absence of Congressional authorization," reads a factsheet on the proposed legislation.
The proposed act would also mean that NOAA would be prevented from funding any aspect of offshore aquaculture.
"In Alaska, so many communities rely on fish and seafood production both for subsistence and good-paying jobs,” said Representative Peltola.
“My bill would support our local fishing and maritime communities while strengthening our domestic seafood supply chain.”
Peltola's stance is that finfish aquaculture "would have a variety of harmful impacts" on both communities and environments, and notes that it is "already outlawed" in Alaska and the State of Washington.
The DSPA bill argues that offshore fish farming poses serious risks of pollution and harmful algal blooms, spread of diseases and parasites impacting wild fish populations, wildlife entanglements with fish farm gear, and also contends there is an "unsustainable" reliance on forage fish for feed.
The bill also argues that offshore finfish aquaculture would also entail "large farm buffer zones that would limit and displace commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, and other recreational uses."
Mary Sattler Peltola, Alaska U.S. Representative.
Photo: U.S. House of Representatives.
The DSPA bill is the latest in a series of bipartisan seafood-focused legislation proposed by Representative Peltola during 2024.
In May of this year, Peltola introduced the Bycatch Reduction and Mitigation Act, aimed at investing in new technology to help fishermen reduce their bycatch.
In June 2024, Peltola also introduced the Fisheries Improvement and Seafood Health (FISH) Act, with the aim of modernizing Alaskan fisheries. This would include creating a "Fisheries and Ecological Resilience" program to help increase fisheries resilience through coordinated data collection, innovative management tools, and cross-agency and cross-regional Fishery Management Council collaboration.
The FISH Act would also mandate a GAO study on U.S. seafood competitiveness in international markets and a separate study to assess federal programs that support domestic seafood production.
“Since coming to Congress, I’ve worked to make fish and fishing policy the issue of national importance it deserves to be,” Peltola said in May, announcing her presentation of the Bycatch act.
“I know fish, I know Alaska, and I know how to work with people in both parties to get stuff done," she added.
