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Courtesy of NAA:

NOAA Fisheries has extended the public comment period to March 31st for input on their draft National Seafood Strategy.  The agency encourages all interested members of the public to review and submit comments.

This strategy underscores NOAA’s strong commitment to seafood sector resilience. It aligns with the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals for economic recovery, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience. Further, the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health points to the need for increased seafood consumption in the United States, which this strategy aims to address.

The strategy also responds to the unprecedented challenges facing the U.S. seafood industry, including climate change, the coronavirus pandemic, new technologies and other ocean uses, and significant labor shortages and aging infrastructure.

Vision for Resilience
The National Seafood Strategy outlines direction for supporting a thriving domestic U.S. seafood economy. It describes approaches to enhance by proposing a vision to ensure that:

• U.S. seafood continues to be produced sustainably.
• The U.S. seafood sector contributes to the nation’s climate-ready food production and to meeting critical domestic nutritional needs.
• U.S. seafood production increases to support jobs, the economy, and the competitiveness of the U.S. seafood sector.
• Supply chains and infrastructure are modernized with more value-added activity in the United States.
• Opportunities are expanded for a diverse and growing seafood workforce.

The agency proposes implementing strategies to focus on four goals:

• Sustain or increase sustainable U.S. wild capture production.
• Increase sustainable U.S. aquaculture production.
• Foster access to domestic and global markets for the U.S. seafood industry.
• Strengthen the entire U.S. seafood sector.

Request for Public Input
Public comments are integral to finalizing the strategy and helping guide the direction of their work to support the seafood sector. Written comments may be submitted online until March 31, 2023.