February 28, 2014
US forms seafood coalition to boost domestic aquaculture
In an aim to provide expertise and momentum in support of government action that will create significant growth in aquaculture development, a core group of seafood industry stakeholders with a common interest to grow domestic aquaculture has banded together to form the Coalition of US Seafood Production (CUSP).
The group which includes aquaculture and feed producers, retail and restaurant customers, researchers, technology and feed suppliers, and public aquaria, was announced last week at the Aquaculture Americas Conference in Seattle.
"We believe establishing relationships and building connections among soy, aquaculture and seafood value chain stakeholders is crucial to helping aquaculture catch on," said Steven Hart, the executive director of the Indiana-based Soy Aquaculture Alliance, one of the Coalition''s founding organisations.
CUSP first met in June, 2013, and developed three strategic directions for the group: specific efforts in support of legislative and administrative government action; coordination of education and communications efforts; and development of concepts for aquaculture pilot projects that are economically sustainable at a commercial scale.
The Coalition''s goals include lobbying for finalisation of the Fishery Management Plan for Regulating Offshore Marine Aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico; reauthorisation of the Magnuson Stevens Act, which regulates National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration''s (NOAA) activities related to aquaculture; and including aquaculture as a "specialty crop" in the next Farm Bill to qualify for Agriculture Department programmes.