The National Aquaculture Association (NAA) has asked USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins for her assistance to lead a focused federal regulatory reform effort beneficial to the aquaculture community.

NAA Board Member Geno Evans (pictured standing) addressing USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins about U.S. aquaculture priorities - 4.3.25

Read NAA's Letter to Sec. Rollins

This effort will not start from scratch. The NAA commented to the Secretary the aquaculture community participated in nine federally funded, peer-reviewed studies conducted by independent, objective economists from 2013 to 2023 quantifying the costs and impacts of state and federal regulations. The studies were recently summarized, and the team of authors pointed to a variety of common sense solutions. These solutions can inform and amend regulations and regulatory policy efficiencies identified by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), Subcommittee on Aquaculture, that published in 2022 a Strategic Plan to Enhance Regulatory Efficiency in Aquaculture.

In addition to information pointing to regulatory complexity and cost, we shared information on the seafood trade deficit, at-risk U.S. food security and the human health risks associated with imported seafood.  We also shared a more than relevant finding from the National Aquaculture Act of 1980:

“Congress declares that aquaculture has the potential for reducing the United States trade deficit in fisheries products, for augmenting existing commercial and recreational fisheries and for producing other renewable resources, thereby assisting the United States in meeting its future food needs and contributing to the solution of world resource problems. It is, therefore, in the national interest, and it is the national policy, to encourage the development of aquaculture in the United States.”

If you believe as we do that now is the time for change as the federal government engages in a historic reset of its priorities, then we encourage the farming community to write Secretary Rollins in support of this effort.