WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2024 43 nutrition, and related issues based on public policy, the best available science, and effective management. Our goals are to provide economic opportunity through innovation, helping rural America to thrive; promote agriculture production that better nourishes Americans while also helping feed others throughout the world; and preserve our Nation’s natural resources through conservation, restored forests, improved watersheds, and healthy private working lands. In this regard and within the frameworks of programs administered by our 29 agencies and offices, USDA is committed to supporting commercial farmers of fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants.2 The Agricultural Research Service (ARS)3 is the chief intramural research agency of USDA, and the ARS National Program for Aquaculture (NP106)4 conducts research and delivers information and technologies that improve domestic aquaculture production efficiency and product quality while minimizing impacts on natural resources. Aquaculture offers Americans safe, affordable, and healthy food choices that are produced with minimal impacts on the environment, providing communities with opportunities for jobs and economic prosperity. Expanding U.S. aquaculture will diversify and complement our well-managed fisheries and terrestrial food production systems by adding an important underdeveloped sector to enhance the resiliency of the overall food supply. Conducted responsibly, aquaculture can help ensure global food security for future generations. It can also increase our capacity to mitigate the effects of climate change through the local production of diverse species requiring less storage and transport to market, feed conversion ratios that are more efficient than those for terrestrial livestock, and less use of freshwater resources. Aquaculture can play a role in responding to the economic challenges facing many rural, urban, coastal, and tribal communities. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)1 provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, USDA ARS Stakeholder-Driven Research in Aquaculture Caird Rexroad III (CONTINUED ON PAGE 44) FIGURE 1. A map of the United States highlighting the locations of USDA ARS laboratories conducting aquaculture research. Different color shading reflects the administrative Areas including Pacific, Midwest, Plains, Southeast and Northeast Areas.
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