Natural Stock Conservation Act of 2005

The Natural Stock Conservation Act of 2005 (S. 796) proposed a temporary ban on the federal government issuing permits for commercial fish farming, known as marine aquaculture, in U.S. federal waters. Under this bill, federal agencies would have been prohibited from authorizing these facilities in the exclusive economic zone—the area extending from 3 to 200 miles offshore—until Congress passed specific laws establishing a formal regulatory framework for the industry. The bill was designed to pause the expansion of offshore fish farms to ensure that environmental protections and industry standards were legally defined before large-scale operations could begin.