America's Seafood Industry Receives Competitive Award for Expansive Technology

The National Science Foundation has awarded $15 million—with potential to grow to $160 million—to a New England seafood innovation network anchored by the University of Rhode Island. The goal: make American seafood competitive again.

By the University of Rhode Island — summarized for agInnovation

The NSF Seafood Engine aims to grow New England’s historical seafood industry and rising tech sector into even stronger and more profitable pillars of the regional and national economy. (URI Photo / Nora Lewis)

Commercial fishing was the first industry of the United States. New England’s fishermen were hauling cod and lobster before the country had a Constitution. Today, that legacy industry accounts for 25% of the nation’s total seafood value, and yet the U.S. runs a $20 billion annual seafood trade deficit, importing far more than it produces. A major new federal investment is aimed at changing that.

The National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines program has awarded $15 million to the NSF Seafood Engine in New England, a coalition spanning Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Led by the coastal ocean observing network NERACOOS and including the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Sea Grant, the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, and the Ocean Tech Hub, the Seafood Engine is designed to do something this industry has needed for a long time: systematically bring cutting-edge technology (AI, advanced manufacturing, robotics, biotech, precision sensors) to bear on every link in the American seafood supply chain.

The initial $15 million award is just the starting point. As the Seafood Engine builds momentum, it can grow to up to $160 million over ten years. The focus goes beyond a single piece of technology: the Engine will fund a portfolio of R&D projects that put fishing vessel operators and aquaculture farmers in direct collaboration with academic researchers and tech companies; it will build workforce pipelines through regional apprenticeship programs; and it will help blue-tech companies move innovations from the lab to commercial deployment. Over time, it aims to reshore American seafood processing—a capacity that the U.S. has steadily lost to foreign competitors over decades.

URI’s role is anchored in its strength in aquaculture research, fisheries science, and blue technology innovation, built over decades of public investment in a world-class coastal land-grant university. That long-term investment is precisely what made URI a credible partner in the first place, and it’s what makes this kind of competitive federal award possible.

Read the full story to learn more about how this investment could reshape the American seafood industry for the next generation.

Read the full story: NSF Seafood Engine in New England Wins $15M Award to Strengthen Fisheries and Aquaculture

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