Sponsor
Nicholas LaLota
Representative · R-NY
Representative · R-NY
The bill seeks to grow and better coordinate U.S. aquaculture through targeted assistance, stakeholder input, and greater transparency, but does so with added federal administrative costs and risks of limited committee diversity and regulatory uncertainty for states.
Aquaculture farmers and small aquaculture businesses will receive targeted technical assistance for shellfish, algae, and land-based systems, helping improve operations, productivity, and potential revenues.
Owners and investors in the aquaculture sector will benefit from a required catalog of capital constraints and regulatory barriers in the National Aquaculture Development Plan, which can identify obstacles to investment and enable targeted policy actions to spur growth.
Taxpayers, Congress, and industry stakeholders will get more transparency on federal spending, grants, and agency roles through annual reporting requirements, improving oversight and helping track where support or gaps exist.
Taxpayers and USDA/federal employees may face added administrative costs and diverted staff time to implement new reporting, committee, and planning requirements, creating fiscal and operational burdens.
State regulators and affected local communities could face uncertainty if new requirements to catalog regulatory barriers create pressure to change rules or prompt reviews, potentially disrupting existing regulatory frameworks during the review period.
Small-business owners and farmers who cannot afford unpaid service may be excluded from the Advisory Committee (members serve without pay aside from travel), limiting diversity of perspectives and skewing input toward those who can volunteer time.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Amends the National Aquaculture Act to add required catalogs of capital and regulatory constraints to the national plan and create a 14‑member Aquaculture Advisory Committee with specified timelines and duties.
Introduced September 18, 2025 by Nicholas LaLota · Last progress September 18, 2025
Amends the National Aquaculture Act to fix a minor typo, require the national aquaculture development plan to include two new catalogs describing capital constraints and regulatory barriers, and create a 14‑member Aquaculture Advisory Committee to advise the Secretary of Agriculture. The Committee must be appointed and begin meeting on specified 180‑day timelines, have staggered multi‑year terms, meet at least three times per year, and provide recommendations on program oversight, technical assistance (including shellfish, algae, and land‑based systems), research review, and barriers to industry growth.