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Courtesy of NOAA:

NOAA Fisheries released the National Seafood Strategy. The strategy outlines our direction for supporting a thriving domestic U.S. seafood economy and enhancing the resilience of the seafood sector in the face of climate change and other stressors.

The vision is to ensure that:

• U.S. seafood continues to be produced sustainably
• U.S. seafood production increases to support jobs, the economy, and the competitiveness of the U.S. seafood sector
• The U.S. seafood sector contributes to the nation’s climate-ready food production and to meeting critical domestic nutritional needs
• 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

NOAA Fisheries plans to accomplish this by focusing on four goals: (1) maintain or increase sustainable U.S. wild capture production, (2) increase sustainable U.S. aquaculture production, (3) foster access to domestic and global markets for the U.S. seafood industry, and (4) strengthen the entire U.S. seafood sector.

The strategy was developed based on feedback from partners, industry, tribes, and stakeholders concerning the many challenges facing the seafood sector—climate change, the coronavirus pandemic, new technologies and other ocean uses, significant labor shortages, and aging infrastructure, to name a few— and the role NOAA Fisheries might play in sustaining it. Public comments received in February and March 2023 were integral to finalizing the strategy and helping guide the direction of our work to support the seafood sector. The most significant change was the addition of an Equity and Environmental Justice objective under Goal 4.

The National Seafood Strategy will reinforce NOAA Fisheries’ critical science and management support to the seafood sector. Stakeholders recognize that the science conducted by the agency to support management of wild capture fisheries and seafood farming is essential for the well-being of the U.S. seafood sector. The industry needs NOAA Fisheries and other federal agencies to provide more support for and attention to adaptation to climate change, changing markets, and new ocean uses; new domestic sources of seafood supply (wild capture and aquaculture); fair trade; workforce development; and recapitalizing and modernizing seafood infrastructure.

The next step will be to develop an implementation plan. This plan will be drafted by an internal working group comprising representatives from headquarters, regional offices, and science centers. Public comments received on implementation strategies will be considered in the development of the plan.