Every year, the United States spends nearly $11 billion on seafood. Unfortunately, 8 billion of those dollars support the seafood industries of other nations. Because we cannot produce enough seafood to meet domestic demand, we import. The statistics paint a troubling picture:

• Now at $8 billion annually, the growing U.S. trade deficit for seafood is second only to that of oil.
• Seventy percent of the seafood consumed by U.S. citizens comes from countries in Europe, South America, and Asia—that’s four million metric tons of imports every year.
• Fifty percent of imported seafood is farm raised.
• The U.S. cannot insure that imported seafood products are caught or farmed using sustainable practices that protect the environment or the consumer.
• At roughly 16.6 pounds per capita, American seafood consumption is higher than it has ever been.

At the root of the problem is the production of capture fisheries, which has leveled off, and by most projections, will remain stagnant or decline. At the same time, demand has been rising steadily. Global population growth and consumer preference combine to make these trends worldwide phenomena. What distinguishes the U.S. from those countries that sell us more fish each year is a willingness to embrace aquaculture.

Global aquaculture production has increased by approximately 10 percent annually since 1980, and now plays an integral role in filling the widening gap between wild seafood supply and demand. In the United States, however, aquaculture has advanced more slowly.

Today, U.S. aquaculture operations take place almost exclusively on land or in sheltered, nearshore coastal waters. These approaches have merit, but also drawbacks. Land-based operations are restricted by rising energy costs and the variety of seafood they can raise, and strong evidence suggests that in many coastal venues, large-scale finfish production may have negative environmental impacts.

There is a growing consensus among many scientists, marine resource managers, and industry representatives that moving aquaculture to offshore waters could greatly expand production, while mitigating environmental impacts associated with nearshore operations.

For an offshore aquaculture industry to succeed, significant technical and operational challenges must be addressed in a way that satisfies the public, environmental groups, industry, scientists, and marine resource managers. Meeting these challenges requires a strategic, comprehensive program of basic and applied research, and technology development, demonstration, evaluation and transfer.