Celebrating Aquaculture Week: Farming from Tide to Table

September 25, 2023

Join us for Aquaculture Week 2023 to learn how marine aquaculture—or farmed seafood—is vital for supporting our nation’s seafood production and year-round jobs, enhancing coastal resilience, and more.

Feature Story |

National

A man in boots dig for clams in the mud next to an orange bucket.

Digging for surfclams. Credit: Island Creek Oysters

Welcome to National Aquaculture Week, when we celebrate those who increase our access to fresh seafood while protecting coastal resources. Seafood farming, if done responsibly as it is in the United States, is increasingly recognized as one of the most environmentally sustainable ways to produce food and protein. Marine aquaculture can expand and stabilize the U.S. seafood supply in the face of environmental change and economic uncertainty.

NOAA’s Tide to Table series profiles members of the aquaculture community, who provide valuable jobs and increase access to fresh, sustainably sourced American seafood. Aquaculture is more than seafood production. It is about ecosystem stewardship, coastal communities, and economic opportunities.

National Aquaculture Week 2023 Features

Tide to Table Profile: Superior Fresh

A man holds a large farmed salmon in front of a tank. — Kyle Woolever, aquaculture manager at Superior Fresh based in Hixton, WI holds a farm-raised salmon. Credit: ©Sara Stathas

Superior Fresh is a family-run farm, and at 13-acres the largest indoor hydroponics system in the world, growing sustainable salmon and organic leafy greens in Wisconsin.

Tide to Table Profile: Holdfast Aquaculture

A bearded man wearing a hat on a boat holds a freshly shucked oyster. — Holdfast Aquaculture co-founder Nate Churches shucking an oyster. Credit: Holdfast Aquaculture

Holdfast Aquaculture fosters sustainability from the bottom of the food chain through seaweeds and shellfish, like oysters and mussels in southern California.

Tide to Table Profile: Turtle Creek Aquaculture

An adult man and his father stand with arms around each other with saltmarsh and a fish pond in the background. — Nasir Kureshy and his father standing near one of their fish ponds at Turtle Creek Aquaculture. Credit: Turtle Creek Aquaculture

Turtle Creek Aquaculture is growing sustainable redfish, or red drum, in coastal Texas. This family-owned and operated farm uses outdoor ponds to prioritize raising fish in harmony with the local environment.

Tide to Table Profile: Island Creek Oysters

Five people in waders and baseball caps sit on oyster crates on a dock surrounded by blue water. — Island Creek Oyster staff on a dock in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Credit: Island Creek Oysters

Island Creek Oysters in New England's Duxbury Bay is dedicated to growing food that is good for people and the environment. The company runs its own shellfish hatchery, has retail stores in Duxbury and Portland, Maine, and owns a group of Boston restaurants.

Video: The Mighty Oyster

This Mighty Oyster video by NOAA's Milford Laboratory in Connecticut spotlights these important shellfish and the ecosystem services they provide.

StoryMap: Farming from Tide to Table

NOAA's Tide to Table series profiles members of the aquaculture community who provide valuable jobs and increase access to fresh, sustainably sourced American seafood. Explore this ArcGIS Story Map to learn about aquaculture growers across the country and pick up a few new recipes, too!

StoryMap: Farming from Tide to Table

Podcast Episode: Seaweed: The Miracle Macroalgae with Major Economic and Environmental Value

Two aquaculture workers pull a line of kelp out of the water and into their boat, on Seagrove Kelp Co's farm site. Buoy markers are present on the water's surface. — Sustainably grown, organic Alaskan kelp is harvested at the Seagrove Kelp Co. farm in Doyle Bay. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Jordan Hollarsmith

Listen to the newest episode of Dive In with NOAA Fisheries to discover the versatility of seaweed and the contributions of seaweed farming—or seaweed aquaculture—to working waterfronts and environmental sustainability.

Podcast Episode: Seaweed: The Miracle Macroalgae with Major Economic and Environmental Value