Courtesy of NAA:
The National Aquaculture Association (NAA) is seeking nominations for the Joseph P. McCraren Lifetime Contributions to the Aquaculture Industry award and the Joseph P. McCraren Outstanding Contributions in Promoting the Growth of Aquaculture award. Visit NAA's Joseph P. McCraren webpage to learn more about Joe and the award. 

If you would like to nominate someone for either or both awards, please complete the Nomination Form by midnight, Friday, January 19, 2024.

The awards will be presented during the Plenary Session of the Aquaculture America 2024 on Monday, February 19, 2024.

The opportunity to submit nominations is restricted to NAA Individual, Silver, Gold or Platinum members. Recipients are not limited to NAA members. The NAA Board of Directors serves as the Award Committee and will select the Award recipients by secret ballot.
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The Outstanding Contribution award does not have to be given on an annual/regular basis and may be given to more than one recipient at a time at the discretion of the Board of Directors. However, only one Distinguished Lifetime award may be given per year. 

Courtesy of NAA:
A recent publication by Drs. Carole Engle and Jonathan van Senten sheds new light on the economic burden of U.S. regulations on hybrid Striped Bass and Red Drum farmers.

The authors found that the regulatory costs were one of the greatest costs of production, at 22% of total costs on hybrid Striped Bass farms and 15% for Red Drum farms.  

Previous papers examining U.S. baitfish and sportfish, salmonid, shellfish and ornamental farms have found similar results. 

As this latest paper in a series of aquaculture regulatory surveys, the authors concluded that "Streamlining and simplifying regulatory monitoring and reporting requirements would reduce costs on U.S. aquaculture. Producing more of our seafood locally in the USA could replace product imported from countries with less rigorous standards, and enhance the sustainability of our food supply."
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To learn more about the critical issue, visit NAA's Regulatory Impacts page.  ​

NOAA Fisheries seeks nominations to fill vacancies on the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee, an advisory group that researches, evaluates, and provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary and NOAA on agency policies, activities, science, conservation, and regulatory programs critical to the mission and goals of NOAA Fisheries. 

Committee members are highly qualified, diverse individuals with experience in commercial, recreational, aquaculture, and non-commercial fisheries and businesses; seafood industry, including processing, marketing, restaurants, and related industries; marine, ecosystems, or protected resources management and conservation; and human dimensions or social sciences associated with living marine resources and working waterfronts. 
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A letter of interest and resume are due by December 15, 2023; full details on the opportunity, including instructions for submitting nominations, can be found here. NOAA Fisheries strives to ensure MAFAC members represent a diversity of individuals and interests. We encourage nominations from all those interested across the country.

Virginia Sea Grant, with support from NOAA’s National Sea Grant Office, NOAA’s Fisheries Office of Aquaculture, USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), and USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) recently launched the Aquaculture Information Exchange. 

The Exchange is an online community involving individuals from both the public and private sectors with interests in U.S. aquaculture (e.g., researchers, Land and Sea Grant Extension, industry) and related topics. The Exchange will serve as a communications platform, actively being moderated to facilitate discussions about current issues facing the industry, the latest research and developments in aquaculture, and a space where users from across the nation can connect with other members of the aquaculture community.
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View more here

Courtesy of NAA:
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced two tribal higher education opportunities to train the next generation of agricultural professionals and strengthen ties with tribal higher education institutions.
The USDA 1994 Tribal Scholars Program offers a fast-track career path with USDA, and the Terra Preta do Indio Tribal Faculty Fellowship engages tribal college faculty with USDA resources and research. These programs reflect USDA’s commitment to advance equity and remove barriers to service for tribal nations and encourage tribal workforce development.

New Four-Year Tuition Coverage for Tribal Scholars Program

The USDA 1994 Tribal Scholars Program provides full tuition, fees, books, a housing stipend, and paid workforce training to any interested and eligible student pursuing degrees in agriculture, food, natural resource sciences, or related academic disciplines at a tribal college or university. New this year, the tuition coverage can follow the student from a two-year associate program at a tribal college or university (TCU) to a four-year bachelor’s degree program (at a TCU or another land-grant institution). When the student has completed the scholarship requirements, including a paid internship, USDA may convert the student to a permanent USDA employee without further competition. Eligible applicants include graduating high school seniors, full-time students currently enrolled at a 1994 land-grant tribal college or university, or recent TCU associate degree graduates. For FY 2024, 27 scholarship slots are available at: Agriculture Research Service, Farm Service Agency, Farm Production and Conservation, Forest Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and Natural Resources Conservation Service. The application deadline is December 1, 2023. 

Visit the USDA 1994 Tribal Scholars Program or email [email protected] for further information.

Terra Preta do Indio Tribal Faculty Fellowship Program

This Faculty Fellowship program seeks to strengthen tribal college and university research capacity, and introduce TCU faculty and staff to USDA programs and services. In June 2024, the Faculty Fellows will spend a week in Washington, D.C. to meet with USDA program leads, identify areas for collaboration, and learn more about USDA resources. During a second week, they are placed at a USDA research facility that aligns with their academic research interests. This year’s research collaborations will take place with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, Forest Service, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The Faculty Fellows return to their institution with new knowledge to benefit their community, cooperative research opportunities, and advance their tribal college land-grant mission of research, education, and extension. The application deadline is December 1, 2023. 

Learn more at USDA’s Tribal College Program website.

The ruling was made after the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and the Northwest Aquaculture Alliance’s (NWAA) filed a complaint against the DNR,

According to NWAA, the decision essentially declares that the “ban” on commercial net pens that Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz touted in her press conference on 18 November 2022 has no legal effect in Washington.

NWAA has issued the following statement today: “Last Friday, October 20, we got confirmation from Thurston County Superior Court that fish farming in commercial net pens is not illegal in Washington, contrary to the inflammatory public statements made by the Commissioner of Public Lands during her November 18, 2022, press conference, where she announced that ‘Washington’s public aquatic lands will no longer be home to commercial finfish net pen aquaculture,’” said Jeanne McKnight, NWAA executive director...
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Meteorologist Pete Parsons' Seasonal Climate Forecast has been updated. See his November 2023-January 2024 prediction as a PDF or a PowerPoint document.
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Forecast Video

Objective
Globally, flavobacteria (family Flavobacteriaceae and Weeksellaceae) are leading causes of disease-related losses in fish-farms and hatcheries. One route flavobacteria gain access to aquaculture facilities is via source water. Ultraviolet (UV) light treatment of source water has been effective in reducing the risk of disease outbreaks caused by nonflavobacteria; however, the UV dose required to inactivate flavobacteria has been understudied. The primary objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of UV light treatments for reducing the viability of fish-pathogenic and fish-associated Flavobacterium and Chryseobacterium species in a planktonic form.

Methods
Sixty-five flavobacterial isolates belonging to ten Flavobacterium spp. and Chryseobacterium spp. were exposed to a low (25 mJ/cm2) and high (126 mJ/cm2) dose of UV light via a collimating beam apparatus under in vitro conditions, after which treatment efficacy was determined via culture.

Result
All assayed flavobacteria were reduced by an average of ~1000-fold or ~100,000-fold at the low and high UV doses, respectively; however, substantial differences in reduction at the same UV dose were noted among isolates of the same flavobacterial species, including F. psychrophilum, F. columnare, and F. oreochromis. In addition, F. psychrophilum multilocus sequence typing variants ST10 and ST78, which are two of the most widespread variants in the United States of America, were among the least susceptible to ultraviolet light.

Conclusion
Overall, results demonstrate that viable flavobacteria can be reduced substantially by ultraviolet doses of 25–126 mJ/cm2, suggesting such treatments represent a promising tool for minimizing flavobacterial loads in hatcheries and aquaculture facilities, thereby enhancing biosecurity and reducing the risk of epizootics.
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View the full study here.

U.S. lawmakers last week reintroduced the Science-based Equitable Aquaculture Food (SEAfood) Act, legislation designed to foster and encourage more offshore aquaculture development.

If passed, the legislation would authorize NOAA to establish an offshore aquaculture assessment program and a grant program that would help minority-serving educational institutions create aquaculture centers of excellence. The law would also require the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog organization, to put together a report detailing regulatory requirements for offshore aquaculture, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study on the science behind offshore aquaculture regulations...
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