Ocean Stewards’ News

The Ocean Stewards Institute said Wednesday it supports the American Aquaculture Act, which looks to advance offshore aquaculture in the United States… READ MORE

America needs another revolution. We need a Blue Revolution, to start to grow fish in the open ocean, where they belong. And we should lead the world in this initiative. This is an economic opportunity: we must reverse our $12.9 billion seafood trade deficit. We have the technologies, we have the investment capital, and we need the jobs and the working waterfronts. It is also a moral obligation: over 90% of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported. America controls the largest ocean expanse of any nation on earth, yet we import more seafood - by dollar value - than any other country.... READ MORE

New automated offshore fish farming system promises to drastically reduce manpower and open up new frontiers in aquaculture...READ MORE

The Ocean Stewards Institute today applauded the recent action by the Federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that approved the NOAA rule for implementation of the Aquaculture Fisheries Management Plan in the Gulf of Mexico. “This is the culmination of over a decade’s diligent work by the Ocean Stewards, other industry partners, the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council and Federal agencies towards setting up a sustainable commercial aquaculture industry in U.S. Federal waters,” said Neil Anthony Sims, President of the Ocean Stewards Institute and Co-CEO of Kampachi Farms. “It is also an important step in providing domestically grown seafood for U.S. consumers...READ MORE

The Ocean Stewards Institute today announced their robust support of the recently published NOAA Aquaculture Policy, which establishes priorities for NOAA’s aquaculture initiatives and provides guidance and standards for the development of sustainable aquaculture in federal waters...READ MORE

A Wednesday ruling that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can’t regulate offshore aquaculture under existing national fisheries laws is seen by some as a setback to offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico, but industry members are unclear exactly how the decision will affect the sector…READ MORE

U.S. aquaculture advocates – backed by mainstream conservation groups – are saying that locating well-run operations out in the ocean could produce sustainable food and protect wild stocks from overfishing... READ MORE

The Obama administration is laying the groundwork for permitting fish farming in federal waters in the Pacific Islands for the first time, part of its plan to double aquaculture production in the U.S. by 2020... READ MORE

If someone offered you a chance to invest millions of dollars in a business nobody wants, would you take it? If you’re the U.S. government, the answer is a resounding yes. Since 2007, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — despite major political, social, and environmental headwinds — has poured almost $100 million (PDF) into aquaculture, also known by the more pedestrian moniker of fish farming...READ MORE

The Ocean Stewards Institute today welcomed NOAA’s release of the Final Rule to Implement the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Offshore Marine Aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico. The Rule’s release and January 13 publication by the Federal Register is the culmination of more than a decade’s work on this issue by the Ocean Stewards Institute and a number of other industry partners, the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council, and other Federal agencies...READ MORE