For Immediate Release: February 4, 2026

Contact:

Hamida Kinge
Media Coordinator
North American Marine Alliance
hamida@namanet.org

Feini Yin
Communications Director
North American Marine Alliance
feini@namanet.org

WASHINGTON — More than 420 organizations, community leaders, and businesses have signed a joint letter to Congress urging lawmakers to reject the Marine Aquaculture Research for America Act of 2025 (MARA Act of 2025, S. 2586 | H.R. 5746).

The letter, which was delivered to lawmakers this week, was endorsed by fishing groups, food advocacy organizations, conservation organizations, farmers, businesses, aquaculture producers, chefs, Tribal groups, and faith-based organizations. They warn that the bill would open the door to industrial-scale fish farms in U.S. federal ocean waters for the first time – under the misleading label of “research.” These waters stretch from about three miles to more than 200 miles offshore and currently support commercial fishing communities, coastal economies, and marine ecosystems that depend on clean water and biodiversity.

This letter was addressed to leaders of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Natural Resources. In it, the signers argue that MARA creates a one-way road to permanent, large-scale offshore fish farms, with no off-ramps. They point out that the “research” claim is deceptive because MARA sets up a pathway to commercial production from the start. The bill would authorize long-term leases in public waters, let private firms build large operations designed to grow and sell farmed fish in high volumes, and lock in ongoing harms that coastal communities would be left to absorb.

Those urging Congress to reject MARA point to well-documented risks from industrial-scale, open-ocean fish farming worldwide: carnivorous species, including salmon, are fed fishmeal and fish oil made from wild-caught forage fish, which has decimated wild fisheries in West Africa and on other coasts; facilities release untreated waste directly into surrounding waters; disease and parasites spread to wild fish; and farmed fish escapes disrupt local ecosystems and fisheries. 

“If the MARA Act passes, the only real ‘experiment’ will be on the communities that will lose access to their fisheries, the nearby marine life exposed to filth and fish viruses, the consumers who eat these farmed products and, sadly, the farmed fish themselves,” says Jason Jarvis, commercial fisherman and fishing community advocate with 30 years on the water. Jarvis is also board president of the North American Marine Alliance.

“We all depend on healthy ocean ecosystems because they help regulate the climate, produce much of the oxygen we breathe, sustain immense biodiversity, and support food webs that feed billions of people worldwide,” says Mia Glover, program manager at Inland Ocean Coalition, an organization that mobilizes land-to-sea stewardship across North America. “As the world’s oceans become more and more industrialized, there will be major consequences for all of us, regardless of whether we live near the coast or not.”

Don’t Cage Our Oceans — a coalition of fishing community leaders, seafood businesses, conservation groups, chefs and small-scale aquaculture farmers — was among those supporting the letter effort. The coalition emphasizes that it does not oppose aquaculture but supports community-based seafood farming, such as low-impact seaweed and bivalve aquaculture, including oysters, clams, and mussels. It rejects the industrial model, which mirrors factory farms on land: vast numbers of animals raised in tight spaces, heavy feed and antibiotic usage, and concentrated waste and disease. This model also leans on taxpayer-funded government support, while concentrating control and profit in the hands of corporations and their shareholders.

Groups and leaders critical of MARA warn that some of the world’s largest agribusiness, food, and drug companies, such as Cargill, JBS Foods, and Merck, have financial interests in industrial aquaculture. They are major suppliers of fish feed and pharmaceuticals, processing and distribution giants, and other players along the supply chain. The group says this model of aquaculture shifts the burden and cost of cleanup onto the public for polluted waters, fish escapes, disease outbreaks, damage to wild fisheries — and the resulting economic fallout.

Congress is actively weighing the MARA Act. Despite claims by MARA supporters that the U.S. needs these farms to solve a “seafood deficit,” U.S. commercial fishermen already harvest more wild seafood each year than the nation consumes — 8.4 billion pounds harvested in 2022, compared to 6.6. billion pounds eaten. A 2024 study published in Nature: Ocean Sustainability also shows that seafood independence is within reach in the U.S., especially with shifts in consumption and improvements to processing and distribution. 

The letter signers are calling on Congress to pursue policies that bolster, rather than replace, existing domestic seafood economies, such as the Keep Finfish Free Act of 2025 (KFFA) and the Domestic Seafood Production Act (DSPA). These bills support working waterfronts by scaling up processing and distribution infrastructure, preventing corporate consolidation, and keeping public waters in public hands.

For more information and to request interviews, please contact:

Hamida Kinge, Media Coordinator – hamida@namanet.org 
Feini Yin, Communications Director – feini@namanet.org

Don’t Cage Our Oceans (DCO2) is a coalition of organizations and businesses working to stop industrial aquaculture while supporting community-based, values-based aquaculture and seafood systems. DCO2 is a program of the North American Marine Alliance.

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