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Jun 28, 2018
Photo Credit: NOAA
The U.S. is looking to domestic aquaculture to help cut the nation’s trade deficit, as the country imported more seafood in 2017 than any previous year, according to the Associated Press.
Aquaculture is the fastest growing form of food production in the world, and most of this growth is offshore and overseas. Seafood imports are the second largest contributor to the U.S. trade deficit, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Major aquaculture-exporting nations include China, India and Vietnam. U.S. aquaculture (both freshwater and marine) supplies about 5 percent of the U.S. seafood supply, and U.S. marine aquaculture supplies less than 1.5 percent.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and others in the industry are looking to support increased U.S. aquaculture farms as a way to close the gap, according to the Associated Press.
