MARA Act of 2025
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes the purposes of the MARA Act: authorizing NOAA demonstration projects for offshore aquaculture, commissioning viability studies, supporting workforce development, creating Aquaculture Centers of Excellence, defines key terms for the Act including aquaculture, offshore aquaculture, exclusive economic zone, aquaculture stakeholders, cultured species, offshore aquaculture facilities, and Tribal/Indigenous communities, and establishes the Office of Aquaculture within NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service with regional coordinators, responsibilities for permit administration, research programs, stakeholder outreach, and performance. It relies on appropriations, reporting requirements, definition changes, and compliance mandates. The main policy areas are Agriculture, Education, Fisheries & Aquaculture, and Research.
Who Benefits and How
Offshore aquaculture industry could gain revenue opportunities, Offshore aquaculture companies could gain revenue opportunities, and Tribal colleges and universities could gain revenue opportunities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Offshore aquaculture demonstration project operators would take on compliance duties, NOAA would take on compliance duties, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Establishes the purposes of the MARA Act: authorizing NOAA demonstration projects for offshore aquaculture, commissioning viability studies, supporting workforce development, creating Aquaculture Centers of Excellence...
- Defines key terms for the Act including aquaculture, offshore aquaculture, exclusive economic zone, aquaculture stakeholders, cultured species, offshore aquaculture facilities, and Tribal/Indigenous communities.
- Establishes the Office of Aquaculture within NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service with regional coordinators, responsibilities for permit administration, research programs, stakeholder outreach, and performance...
- Requires NOAA Administrator to establish within 180 days an assessment program to evaluate offshore aquaculture viability, including facility designs, environmental monitoring technologies, wildlife protection...
- Establishes permit requirements for 10-year offshore aquaculture demonstration projects including native species cultivation, escape prevention, environmental compliance (Clean Water Act, ESA, MMPA, NEPA), coastal state...
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes the purposes of the MARA Act: authorizing NOAA demonstration projects for offshore aquaculture, commissioning viability studies, supporting workforce development, creating Aquaculture Centers of Excellence, defines key terms for the Act including aquaculture, offshore aquaculture, exclusive economic zone, aquaculture stakeholders, cultured species, offshore aquaculture facilities, and Tribal/Indigenous communities, and establishes the Office of Aquaculture within NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service with regional coordinators, responsibilities for permit administration, research programs, stakeholder outreach, and performance.
Key Policy Areas
Agriculture, Education, Fisheries & Aquaculture, Research
Primary Purpose
The bill establishes the purposes of the MARA Act: authorizing NOAA demonstration projects for offshore aquaculture, commissioning viability studies, supporting workforce development, creating Aquaculture Centers of Excellence, defines key terms for the Act including aquaculture, offshore aquaculture, exclusive economic zone, aquaculture stakeholders, cultured species, offshore aquaculture facilities, and Tribal/Indigenous communities, and establishes the Office of Aquaculture within NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service with regional coordinators, responsibilities for permit administration, research programs, stakeholder outreach, and performance.
Policy Domains
Title I - Offshore Aquaculture Program
Identified Gains
- Offshore aquaculture industry
- Offshore aquaculture companies
- Tribal colleges and universities
- Native Hawaiian-serving and Alaska Native-serving institutions
- Minority-serving institutions
Identified Costs
- Offshore aquaculture demonstration project operators
- NOAA
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Government Accountability Office
- Federal permitting agencies (EPA, Army Corps, etc.)
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Wicker (for himself and Mr. Schatz) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Aquaculture applicants with permits in process, Aquaculture demonstration project operators, Aquaculture industry
Offshore aquaculture facility operators faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: Aquaculture applicants with permits in process, Aquaculture industry, Aquaculture industry (future regulatory clarity), Aquaculture permit applicants, Aquaculture workforce trainees, Aquaculture workforce/employees, Legal and regulatory clarity for aquaculture sector, Offshore aquaculture companies, Offshore aquaculture industry, Offshore aquaculture industry (regulatory predictability)
Negative-direction: Aquaculture demonstration project operators, Offshore aquaculture demonstration project operators
Congress, Congress and policymakers, Federal permitting agencies (EPA, Army Corps, etc.)
Positive-direction: Congress, Congress and policymakers
Negative-direction: Federal permitting agencies (EPA, Army Corps, etc.), Government Accountability Office, NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority-serving institutions, Native Hawaiian-serving and Alaska Native-serving institutions
Commercial fishing industry, Fishery workers impacted by COVID-19 or disasters, For-hire recreational fishing operators
Environmental justice communities, Marine wildlife and ecosystem, Marine wildlife and protected species
Coastal communities, Coastal states seeking aquaculture partnerships
Financial institutions lending to aquaculture
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- "the_administration"
- → National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of NOAA
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Commerce
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of NOAA
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of NOAA
- "comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General of the United States (GAO)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Aquaculture conducted in the exclusive economic zone (federal waters beyond state jurisdiction)
Any activity involved in the propagation, rearing, or attempted propagation or rearing of cultured species; excludes capturing juvenile finfish to rear to maturity or rearing for wild population enhancement
Any species propagated and reared for marine aquaculture, including larval marine shellfish that self-recruit; excludes birds, reptiles, and mammals
An installation, structure, or area of seabed/water column used for offshore aquaculture
Any coastal State or Indian Tribe whose land, Tribal land, or waters are adjacent to or used as a support base for a project, with reasonable probability of significant effect
Includes facility owners/operators, Regional Fishery Management Councils, interstate fisheries commissions, conservation organizations, fisheries associations, state/county governments, Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and other interested parties
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology