Aquaculture is Agriculture: USDA’s Role in Supporting Farmers of Fish and Shellfish

U.S. aquaculture production is growing because demands for healthy seafood products are increasing.

Global stocks of wild-caught seafood have remained stable over the last 20 years, and a growing world population projected to reach over 9 billion in 2050 is expected to exacerbate the demand for seafood products. USDA is providing leadership to ensure that a healthy, competitive, and sustainable aquaculture sector can produce an abundant, safe, and affordable supply of seafood products. USDA activities include:

• supporting economic development that creates jobs and opportunities in rural communities;
• designing aquaculture production systems that use aquatic resources for farming while maintaining healthy ecosystems;
• supporting and conducting research, education, and extension activities that train a skilled work force and support the development of new aquaculture technologies;
• overseeing aquatic animal health; and
• providing marketing programs that educate consumers on the nutritional benefits of seafood products and the sustainable management of responsible aquaculture production.

Given USDA’s extensive portfolio of programs supporting aquaculture, the Office of the Chief Scientist, agencies in the Research, Education, and Economics mission area, and the USDA Working Group on Aquaculture sought to provide the domestic aquaculture industry an opportunity to communicate on how USDA can best serve this farming community. In November 2020 USDA agency representatives, as part of an Aquaculture is Agriculture Colloquium, held six virtual “Deep Dive” listening sessions (in addition to an APHIS-WS special webinar for shellfish farmers) to engage stakeholders on the subjects below.

These sessions were attended by representatives from USDA, other government agencies, academia, and the private sector. On December 11, 2020, USDA hosted a “Aquaculture is Agriculture: USDA’s Role in Supporting the Farmers of Fish, Shellfish, and Aquatic Plants” (videos 14-22) webinar including plenary presentations from USDA leadership and industry representatives and report-outs from listening session hosts on feedback provided to USDA. The Colloquium provided context for both stakeholders and USDA leadership on how to strengthen domestic aquaculture. USDA leaders and scientists heard directly from aquaculture stakeholders—farmers, scientists, and supporting industries—on prioritized industry research needs, critical needs for resource investments, and how accountability for these investments could be evaluated.

A white paper (PDF, 546 KB) summarizing these events and stakeholder recommendations for how USDA can best serve aquaculture stakeholders can be found here. The agenda for the plenary webinar is below, including links to presentation recordings.

Aquaculture is Agriculture
December 11, 2020 Webinar

For more information, please contact:

Caird Rexroad
USDA ARS National Program Leader for Aquaculture
caird.rexroadiii@usda.gov