Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS) has submitted a comment letter opposing the U.S. Coast Guard’s proposed Atlantic Shipping Safety Fairways

Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS) has submitted a comment letter opposing the U.S. Coast Guard’s proposed Atlantic Shipping Safety Fairways.

The Fairways proposal seeks to establish shipping safety fairways and related vessel routing measures
along the Atlantic coast, from Long Island, New York to Port St. Lucie, Florida, to preserve safe and
reliable transit of vessels along well-established traffic patterns and routes and to further improve
navigation safety.

SATS notes the proposed fairways “would likely have the effect of preventing all or most open ocean aquaculture development on the Eastern seaboard, with the Gulf of Maine being the first in a line of proposed fairways.”

In the letter, SATS contends the proposal would:

• Establish overly broad navigation corridors that remove much of the limited federal waters suitable for open ocean aquaculture
• Undermine federal efforts to identify Aquaculture Opportunity Areas and expand domestic seafood production
• Increase uncertainty for projects currently moving through the federal permitting process, including proposed developments in the Gulf of Maine

“These fairways would likely have the effect of preventing all or most open ocean aquaculture
development on the Eastern seaboard, with the Gulf of Maine being the first in a line of proposed
fairways. SATS opposes this overly broad attempt to foreclose important ocean uses such as open ocean
aquaculture.

“The proposed fairway configuration, particularly Fairway Zones 2 and 3, would materially impair or
effectively foreclose commercially viable open ocean aquaculture development across much of the Gulf
of Maine federal waters region. The proposal does not merely reduce siting flexibility; it entirely
removes the functional siting options for open ocean aquaculture in federal waters by converting the
region’s limited viable footprint into an exclusionary Fairways navigation area.

The coalition is urging the Coast Guard to pursue the “No Action” alternative.

“The bipartisan Marine Aquaculture Research for America (MARA) Act of 2025 (S.2586/H.R.5746) would advance open ocean aquaculture in U.S. waters, building on years of bipartisan effort and incorporating key provisions from prior legislation, including the AQUAA Act.”

Stronger America Through Seafood (SATS) is pro-fish farming lobby organization, a coalition representing companies across the seafood supply chain, that supports increased U.S. production of healthful, sustainable, and affordable seafood. In particular, SATS supports the expansion of aquaculture in U.S. federal waters. We submit the following comments for your consideration regarding the U.S. Coast Guard’s proposal to develop Shipping Safety Fairways and Associated Vessel Routing Measures Along the Atlantic Coast. SATS objects to the creation of broad and exclusive navigational fairways in the Gulf of Maine and other areas along the eastern seaboard in the Atlantic Ocean. SATS supports the “No Action” alternative in the draft PEIS.

Read SATS’ letter here.