NAMA and the Don't Cage Our Oceans Coalition: Fighting Industrial Offshore Aquaculture

The MARA Act — the Marine Aquaculture Research and Advancement Act (S.2586) — would open U.S. federal waters to industrial-scale offshore fish farming for the first time. If it passes, corporations could install massive net pen operations miles off the coast, raising millions of finfish in floating cages in the same waters where wild fisheries have operated for generations.

The Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA) and the Don't Cage Our Oceans (DCOO) coalition are leading the fight to stop it.

What NAMA Brings to the Fight

NAMA has been advocating for small-scale fishing communities since 2004. Based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the organization works at the intersection of fisheries policy, food systems, and economic justice. Their position on offshore aquaculture isn't abstract — it's rooted in decades of working alongside the fishermen and coastal communities who would bear the consequences.

NAMA's argument against the MARA Act is straightforward: industrial aquaculture in federal waters would concentrate ocean access in the hands of a few large corporations, undermine the market position of wild-caught fishermen, and create environmental risks that the regulatory framework is not equipped to manage. This isn't speculation. It's the pattern that has played out in every country where offshore aquaculture has been permitted at scale — Norway, Chile, Scotland.

"We've watched what happens when you hand public ocean resources to private industry without adequate safeguards," says NAMA in their policy briefings. "The communities that depend on those waters don't get a seat at the table until the damage is done."

The Don't Cage Our Oceans Coalition

The DCOO coalition is broader than any single organization. It brings together commercial fishermen, recreational anglers, environmental groups, Indigenous communities, food safety advocates, and coastal residents who share a common concern: that industrializing America's oceans will cause irreversible harm.

The coalition's membership reads like a who's who of ocean advocacy:

• Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA) — fishermen-led policy advocacy
• Food & Water Watch — corporate accountability and food system transparency
• Center for Food Safety — environmental and health impacts of industrial food production
• Friends of the Earth — global environmental advocacy
• Recirculating Farms Coalition — land-based aquaculture alternatives
• Multiple commercial fishing associations — representing the people who actually work on the water

What makes DCOO effective is that it's not just environmentalists. It's fishermen standing alongside scientists, alongside consumer advocates, alongside Indigenous leaders. The coalition's position is that if the U.S. wants to expand domestic aquaculture production, there are proven land-based recirculating systems that don't put wild fisheries and marine ecosystems at risk.

Why the MARA Act Matters

The MARA Act would establish a federal permitting framework for offshore aquaculture in the Exclusive Economic Zone — the waters between 3 and 200 miles from shore. Currently, there is no comprehensive federal law governing finfish aquaculture in these waters, which has effectively served as a moratorium.

The bill's proponents argue that domestic aquaculture would reduce reliance on seafood imports (the U.S. imports roughly 80% of its seafood) and create jobs. NAMA and DCOO counter that the bill:

• Prioritizes corporate interests over existing fishing communities
• Lacks adequate environmental review — net pen operations produce concentrated waste, spread disease to wild fish, and risk genetic contamination when farmed fish escape
• Undermines wild-caught markets — flooding domestic markets with cheap farmed fish drives down prices for the independent fishermen already struggling with consolidation and rising costs
• Ignores land-based alternatives — recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) can produce fish without the environmental risks of open-ocean net pens

What You Can Do

The MARA Act is active legislation. It can be stopped, but only if people engage. Here's how:

1. Contact your senators — Tell them you oppose S.2586 and support the Keep Finfish Free Act (S.1529) instead

2. Join the DCOO coalition — Sign on as a supporting organization or individual at [dontcageouroceans.org](https://dontcageouroceans.org)

3. Support NAMA's work — [namanet.org](https://namanet.org) — their policy team is on the front lines of this fight

4. Buy wild-caught — Every purchase of traceable, wild-caught seafood is a vote for the fishing communities that the MARA Act would undermine

The fight over offshore aquaculture is not just about fish farming. It's about who gets to use America's oceans, and whether the communities that have sustained themselves on wild fisheries for generations will have a future.

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