[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5746 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5746
To require the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to establish an assessment program for commercial-scale
offshore aquaculture through demonstration projects, to establish
Aquaculture Centers of Excellence, to support aquaculture workforce
development and working waterfronts, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 14, 2025
Mr. Ezell (for himself, Mrs. Cammack, Mr. Case, Mr. Panetta, and Mr.
Weber of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on
Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to establish an assessment program for commercial-scale
offshore aquaculture through demonstration projects, to establish
Aquaculture Centers of Excellence, to support aquaculture workforce
development and working waterfronts, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Marine Aquaculture
Research for America Act of 2025'' or the ``MARA Act of 2025''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Purposes.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
TITLE I--OFFICE OF AQUACULTURE
Sec. 101. Office of Aquaculture.
TITLE II--COMMERCIAL-SCALE DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS
Sec. 201. Assessment program for offshore aquaculture.
Sec. 202. Permits for demonstration projects for offshore aquaculture
facilities.
Sec. 203. Coordination of permit reviews for demonstration projects.
Sec. 204. Reporting by assessment program participants.
Sec. 205. Rule of construction; savings provisions.
TITLE III--WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, FINANCING, AND OTHER SUPPORT
Sec. 301. General support for industry.
Sec. 302. Aquaculture Centers of Excellence.
Sec. 303. Working Waterfronts Preservation Grant Program.
Sec. 304. Outreach on sustainable offshore aquaculture.
TITLE IV--STUDIES AND REPORTS
Sec. 401. Study on offshore aquaculture by Ocean Studies Board of the
National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine.
Sec. 402. Report on offshore aquaculture by Government Accountability
Office.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to authorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to establish and study commercial-scale
demonstration projects to answer scientific questions needed to
safely and sustainably regulate offshore aquaculture in the
United States;
(2) to commission a study and report to assess the
environmental and regulatory viability of a United States
offshore aquaculture industry;
(3) to support aquaculture workforce development and
working waterfronts by creating new jobs and to support
existing jobs and businesses within the seafood industry of the
United States, including jobs and businesses for traditional
participants in the fishing industry;
(4) to establish Aquaculture Centers of Excellence to meet
the needs of the growing domestic sustainable aquaculture
industry; and
(5) to reduce the United States seafood trade deficit by
expanding the domestic supply of seafood through the production
of sustainable offshore aquaculture.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Administration.--The term ``Administration'' means the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
(2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the Administration.
(3) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term
``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
(A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation, the Committee on Environment and Public
Works, and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Natural Resources, the
Committee on Agriculture, and the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of
Representatives.
(4) Aquaculture.--The term ``aquaculture''--
(A) means any activity involved in the propagation,
rearing, or attempted propagation or rearing, of
cultured species, including the capture and rearing of
broodstock; and
(B) does not include the practice of--
(i) capturing juvenile finfish to rear to
maturity in an aquaculture facility for
subsequent commercial sale; or
(ii) the practice of rearing and releasing
cultured species for the purpose of enhancing
wild populations.
(5) Aquaculture stakeholder.--The term ``aquaculture
stakeholder'' means--
(A) an owner or operator of an offshore aquaculture
facility;
(B) a Regional Fishery Management Council
established under section 302(a) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16
U.S.C. 1852(a));
(C) an interstate fisheries commission;
(D) a conservation organization;
(E) a fisheries association;
(F) a State or county government;
(G) an Indian Tribe;
(H) a Native Hawaiian organization;
(I) a Native Hawaiian community;
(J) a Tribal or Indigenous community;
(K) a Federal or State agency with interests in
aquaculture; or
(L) any other interested party.
(6) Coastal state.--The term ``coastal State'' has the
meaning given the term ``coastal state'' in section 304(4) of
the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1453(4)).
(7) Cultured species.--The term ``cultured species''--
(A) means any species propagated and reared for
marine aquaculture;
(B) includes larval marine shellfish species that
self-recruit in the offshore environment; and
(C) excludes any member of the class Aves,
Reptilia, or Mammalia.
(8) Escape.--The term ``escape'' means the escape of
juvenile-or adult-farmed organisms, viable gametes, or
fertilized eggs spawned by farmed organisms from offshore
aquaculture facilities.
(9) Exclusive economic zone.--
(A) In general.--Unless otherwise specified by the
President in the public interest in a writing published
in the Federal Register, the term ``exclusive economic
zone'' means a zone, the outer boundary of which--
(i) except as provided by clause (ii), is
200 nautical miles from the baseline from which
the breadth of the territorial sea is measured;
or
(ii)(I) if an applicable maritime boundary
treaty is in force or is being provisionally
applied by the United States, is established by
that treaty; or
(II) in the absence of such a
treaty and in a case in which the
distance between the United States and
another country is less than 400
nautical miles, is a line equidistant
between the United States and the other
country.
(B) Inner boundary.--Without affecting any
Presidential proclamation with regard to the
establishment of the United States territorial sea or
exclusive economic zone, the inner boundary of the
exclusive economic zone is--
(i) in the case of the coastal states, a
line coterminous with the seaward boundary of
each such State, as described in section 4 of
the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1312);
(ii) in the case of the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, a line 9 nautical miles from the
coastline of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;
(iii) in the case of American Samoa, the
United States Virgin Islands, or Guam, a line 3
geographic miles from the coastlines of
American Samoa, the United States Virgin
Islands, or Guam, respectively; or
(iv) in the case of the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands--
(I) the coastline of the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, until the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands is granted
authority by the United States to
regulate all fishing to a line seaward
of its coastline; and
(II) upon the United States grant
of such authority, the line established
by such grant of authority.
(C) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this
paragraph may be construed to diminish the authority of
the Department of Defense, the Department of the
Interior, or any other Federal agency.
(10) Fishery stakeholders.--The term ``fishery
stakeholders'' means--
(A) subsistence fishery participants and their
dependents;
(B) fishing vessel crews;
(C) fish processor and distribution workers;
(D) recreational fisheries;
(E) Tribal fisheries; and
(F) territorial fishing communities, including such
communities in American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the
United States Virgin Islands.
(11) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian Tribe'' has the
meaning given that term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).
(12) Institution of higher education.--The term
``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given that
term in section 201 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1001).
(13) Native hawaiian community.--The term ``Native Hawaiian
community'' means the distinct Native Hawaiian indigenous
political community that Congress, exercising its plenary power
over Native American affairs, has recognized and with which
Congress has implemented a special political and trust
relationship.
(14) Native hawaiian organization.--The term ``Native
Hawaiian organization'' has the meaning given that term in
section 6207 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7517) and includes the Department of Hawaiian
Home Lands and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
(15) National sea grant college program.--The term
``national sea grant college program'' means the program
maintained under section 204(a) of the National Sea Grant
College Program Act (33 U.S.C. 1123(a)).
(16) Offshore aquaculture.--The term ``offshore
aquaculture'' means aquaculture conducted in the exclusive
economic zone.
(17) Offshore aquaculture facility.--The term ``offshore
aquaculture facility'' means--
(A) an installation or structure used, in whole or
in part, for offshore aquaculture; or
(B) an area of the seabed, water column, or the
sediment used for offshore aquaculture.
(18) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, and each commonwealth,
territory, or possession of the United States.
(19) Tribal fishery.--The term ``Tribal fishery'' means a
fishery that is--
(A) owned, operated, or managed by a Tribal or
Indigenous community; or
(B) located in an area--
(i) that is subject to the jurisdiction of
an Indian Tribe; and
(ii) for which the Indian Tribe has
sovereign authority over fishing activity in
the area.
(20) Tribal land.--The term ``Tribal land'' means land that
is subject to the jurisdiction of an Indian Tribe.
(21) Tribal or indigenous community.--The term ``Tribal or
Indigenous community'' means a population of people who are--
(A) enrolled members of an Indian Tribe;
(B) members of an Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian
community or organization; or
(C) members of any other community of Indigenous
people located in a State.
TITLE I--OFFICE OF AQUACULTURE
SEC. 101. OFFICE OF AQUACULTURE.
(a) Establishment.--There is established within the headquarters of
the National Marine Fisheries Service of the Administration the Office
of Aquaculture (in this section referred to as the ``Office'').
(b) Resources.--The Administrator shall ensure the Office is
provided with sufficient resources to carry out the duties of the
Office under subsection (d).
(c) Representation at Regional Fisheries Offices.--
(1) In general.--The Administrator shall provide for
representation of the Office in each of the regional fisheries
offices of the Administration.
(2) Minimum presence.--In carrying out paragraph (1), the
Administrator--
(A) shall provide for the placement of at least one
regional aquaculture coordinator from the Office in
each regional fisheries office;
(B) shall otherwise ensure that the representation
of the Office at a regional fisheries office is, at a
minimum, sufficient to permit the Office to fulfill the
duties of the Office under subsection (d); and
(C) may increase that representation to the extent
warranted by the activity and interest of aquaculture
stakeholders in the region.
(d) Duties.--
(1) In general.--The Office shall--
(A) coordinate the implementation of this Act,
including administration of--
(i) the aquaculture research program
established under subsection (e);
(ii) the offshore aquaculture assessment
program established under section 201; and
(iii) the issuance of permits under section
202;
(B) coordinate regulatory, scientific, outreach,
and international issues related to aquaculture within
the Administration;
(C) collaborate with and leverage existing efforts
by the national sea grant college program--
(i) to conduct outreach, education,
extension services, and training efforts for
aquaculture and offshore aquaculture; and
(ii) to engage with aquaculture
stakeholders and, from time to time, convene
conferences for aquaculture stakeholders to
exchange information and ideas;
(D) maintain aquaculture capacity in the regions
covered by the regional fisheries offices of the
Administration;
(E) develop recommendations for performance
standards for offshore aquaculture operations that, at
a minimum--
(i) encourage development of offshore
aquaculture in a manner that complies with
environmental law;
(ii) are based on the best scientific
information available;
(iii) take into account traditional
knowledge of Tribal and Indigenous communities
as appropriate to the region;
(iv) are adaptive to offshore aquaculture
developments, such as updates in technology and
changes in environmental conditions; and
(v) prefer species that are native or
historically naturalized to the region; and
(F) prioritize the health of cultured species.
(2) Agreements with states.--
(A) In general.--Upon request of the Governor of a
coastal State, the Office shall enter into an agreement
with the State to allow the State, and aquaculture
stakeholders in the State as appropriate, to
participate in the activities authorized under sections
201 and 203 and titles III and IV, as though--
(i) the aquaculture conducted in the
State's coastal waters were offshore
aquaculture; and
(ii) facilities for aquaculture in the
State's coastal waters were offshore
aquaculture facilities.
(B) Rule of construction.--Nothing in thi