United States HR 4898: Supporting Equity for Aquaculture and Seafood Act

Bill Text

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119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 4898
To support equity for aquaculture and seafood at the Department of
Agriculture, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 5, 2025
Mr. PALLONE (for himself and Mrs. CAMMACK) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To support equity for aquaculture and seafood at the
Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Supporting Equity for Aquaculture and Seafood Act’’ or 5
the ‘‘SEAS Act’’. 6
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7
this Act is as follows: 8
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Aquaculture defined.
TITLE I—REPORTS ON AQUACULTURE
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Sec. 101. Report on Department of Agriculture seafood purchases and grants.
Sec. 102. Report on Department of Agriculture support for aquaculture and
the seafood industry.
Sec. 103. Seafood industry defined.
TITLE II—PROMOTING EQUITY FOR AQUACULTURE AT
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Sec. 201. Promoting equity for aquaculture producers in administration of De-
partment of Agriculture grant programs.
Sec. 202. Department of Agriculture internal education requirement.
TITLE III—SUPPORT FOR AQUACULTURE PRODUCERS
Sec. 301. Regional aquaculture centers.
Sec. 302. Shellfish research under Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.
Sec. 303. Crop insurance policy for aquaculture products.
SEC. 2. AQUACULTURE DEFINED. 1
In this Act, the term ‘‘aquaculture’’ means the con-2
trolled breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, 3
sea vegetables, and other organisms in freshwater, salt-4
water, and any other controlled water environments. 5
TITLE I—REPORTS ON 6
AQUACULTURE 7
SEC. 101. REPORT ON DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SEA-8
FOOD PURCHASES AND GRANTS. 9
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 10
of this Act, and annually thereafter through fiscal year 11
2028, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to Con-12
gress a report that includes, with respect to the previous 13
fiscal year— 14
(1) the total amount of expenditures of the De-15
partment of Agriculture on seafood purchases and 16
aquaculture purchases and the value of such expend-17
itures; 18
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(2) the total amount of expenditures of the De-1
partment on seafood and aquaculture promotion and 2
outreach supporting the seafood and aquaculture in-3
dustries and the value of such expenditures; 4
(3) the number of grants made by the Secretary 5
of Agriculture to the seafood industry and aqua-6
culture industry, and the amount of such grants; 7
and 8
(4) the number of grants made by the Secretary 9
of Agriculture to facilitate seafood and aquaculture 10
research, the amount of such grants, and the subject 11
matter of such research. 12
SEC. 102. REPORT ON DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SUP-13
PORT FOR AQUACULTURE AND THE SEAFOOD 14
INDUSTRY. 15
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact-16
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit 17
to Congress a report— 18
(1) evaluating the Department of Agriculture’s 19
role in supporting aquaculture and the seafood in-20
dustry; 21
(2) evaluating the domestic seafood processing 22
capacity of the United States and the impact of 23
overseas processing on domestic supply chains, aqua-24
culture, and the seafood industry; 25
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(3) examining the access to the Department of 1
Agriculture’s grants and resources aquaculture and 2
seafood producers have, as compared to traditional 3
land-based farmers; 4
(4) evaluating the potential environmental bene-5
fits of aquaculture, with respect to climate, conserva-6
tion, and pollution; 7
(5) evaluating the potential negative impacts of 8
aquaculture, with respect to pollution, waste, dis-9
ease, and other repercussions; and 10
(6) providing recommendations to support and 11
advance best practices for aquaculture in the United 12
States. 13
SEC. 103. SEAFOOD INDUSTRY DEFINED. 14
In this title, the term ‘‘seafood industry’’ means shell-15
fish growers, shellfish harvesters, sea vegetable growers, 16
fish farmers, commercial fishermen that harvest shellfish 17
or finfish, and other aquaculture producers. 18
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TITLE II—PROMOTING EQUITY 1
FOR AQUACUL