Rollbacks to purported ecosystem and community protections are cause for serious concern – and further proof that this bill sells out coastal communities. Don’t Cage Our Oceans, a national coalition of 65+ member groups, strongly opposes the latest version of the Marine Aquaculture Research for America (MARA) Act. Introduced quietly in the House in July 2026, this revised bill (H.R. …
What the MARA Act Means for Offshore Fish Farming and U.S. Fisheries
A new explainer from FoodPrint describes how the Marine Aquaculture Research for America (MARA) Act would fast-track offshore, commercial fish farms in U.S. waters under the premise of “research.” It outlines how the bill would worsen environmental harms, expand industrial seafood production, and use public resources rather than supporting America’s current fishing communities. The piece also highlights how these projects …
Letter to the Editor: AI Won’t Clean Up Industrial Fish Farms
In a letter to the editor at IntraFish, farm policy expert Anthony Pahnke says AI and automation won’t fix offshore aquaculture because the real problem is the industry’s intensive, industrial scale. He writes that AI tools like sensors and automated feeders mask the harmful impacts of factory-style aquaculture, which mirrors patterns seen in industrial agriculture: corporate consolidation, ecosystem destruction, mass …