Farmed seafood products make up half of the world’s seafood supply, but U.S. production lags, leading to a $16.9 billion seafood deficit in the United States in 2020, according to NOAA. (Adobe Stock)

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By Kathryn Carley

February 10, 2025   

The Trump administration aims to increase domestic seafood production through industrial aquaculture but opponents said it puts Maine’s coastal communities at risk.

Floating cages holding thousands of fish can harm native ecosystems by releasing pathogens and parasites into the ocean, harming the wild stocks on which local fisheries depend.

George Kimbrell, legal director at the Center for Food Safety, said aquaculture permits could be fast-tracked as proposed during Trump’s first term.

“What we saw then and what we anticipate now is mirroring what the Trump administration has done in other areas, which is unfettered deregulation of industry,” Kimbrell observed.

Supporters of large-scale aquaculture said it can help meet the growing demand for seafood while easing pressure on depleted fisheries but Kimbrell countered wild forage stocks are being overharvested
to ensure fish farms have enough fish food.

Small-scale aquaculture, including shellfish and marine plant farms, is boosting local Maine economies and creating jobs. Conservation groups argued large fin fish farms are similar to land-based concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, which create harmful amounts of waste and reduce jobs through automation.

Kimbrell explained the Trump administration wants more of them in federal waters.

“Establishing CAFOs of the sea is going to be very similar to what we’ve seen in Iowa and all across the U.S. in terms of its dramatic environmental impacts and its failure to provide an economic support for those communities,” Kimbrell contended. “Instead of farmers, it will be fishers that will be displaced.”

Kimbrell encouraged people to make informed decisions about their seafood and to support sustainably managed wild fisheries along with the nonprofits working to protect the ocean.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has already identified so-called “aquaculture opportunity areas” starting in the Gulf of Mexico. Public comments on the permits are being accepted through Feb. 20.