National Seafood Supply Act of 2023

National Seafood Supply Act of 2023

This bill expands Department of Agriculture (USDA) support for domestically harvested seafood.

USDA must establish an Office of Seafood Policy and Program Integration to coordinate USDA's seafood policies and activities and to work in coordination with the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to support domestically harvested and processed wild and farmed seafood.

The bill establishes requirements that must be met to label fish as wild USA seafood or wild American seafood. 

The bill also includes commercial fishing in the definition of farming for the purposes of certain USDA farm loans.

Further, the bill expands the Agricultural Marketing Service's Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements to include cooked king crab and tanner crab and cooked and canned salmon. Under COOL, retailers must provide their customers with information regarding the source of certain foods (e.g., wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish).

In addition, the bill requires a school food authority to receive a waiver of Buy American requirements to purchase foreign seafood commodities and products under the National School Lunch Program unless the commodities or products are not produced domestically or available domestically. Further, the newly created Office of Seafood Policy and Program Integration must develop a plan to increase seafood in the school lunch program to levels commensurate with federal dietary guidelines.

Finally, USDA must conduct a study to identify barriers to local and regional food production, processing, and market delivery in locations facing food security challenges, including Alaska and Hawaii.