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Promote and facilitate the contribution that fisheries and aquaculture can make to economic growth.

Dr. Isabella Kauakea Yau Yung Aiona Abbott will forever be an icon in Hawai‘i for her academic achievements, revolutionary seaweed research, various accolades, and over a hundred limu-related publications. However, it’s the values she embodied as a person that make her a timeless inspiration to Native Hawaiians and to the entire state of Hawai‘i.

Dr. Abbott grew up in an era when Native Hawaiians confronted harmful misconceptions and offensive stereotypes, and a time when women were seen as lesser than men. She rejected those narratives and instead lived authentically as a passionate young Native Hawaiian woman who became the world’s leading expert on algae in the Pacific. She always credited her love for algae to the limu lessons she learned from her mom while playing on the beach as a child. Her upbringing led her to understand that Hawaiians have always been scientists. She uplifted Hawaiian culture and the relationship that Western science has with Hawaiian culture throughout her algal research in Hawai‘i and California. She inspired University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa to create a Hawaiian ethnobotany bachelor’s degree and touched the lives of countless students through her teachings. She once said in an interview, “Hawaiian culture is unbelievably sophisticated,” and every day she embodied the meaning of those words.

Dr. Abbott is a treasure to scientists, Hawai‘i, Native Hawaiians, and anyone told that they can’t do something because of their background. She will always be remembered and honored as one of Hawai‘i’s most inspirational leaders.

The first U.S. National Report on Aquaculture for the 41stU.S. Japan Natural ResourcesPanel on Aquaculture overviews major policy items, current trends in aquaculture production, andother important developments affecting contemporary U.S. aquaculture.　Policy- April 2013 saw the release of the National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan (NOP-IP), a document to translate President Obamaʼs 2010 National Ocean Policy (Executive Order13547 --Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes) to specific federal actions.Aquaculture featured prominently in the Implementation Plan. The Joint Sub-committee onAquaculture (JSA) was re-named the Interagency Working Group onAquaculture (IWG-A),and was tasked with identifying and supporting milestones in the NOP-IP. The NOP-IP alsosupported the National Shellfish Initiative to increase shellfishproduction and restoration in U.S.waters. NOAA and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Councilare working on a FisheryManagement Plan to permit aquaculture in federal waters in theGulf of Mexico. The U.S.currently does not have a framework to permit aquaculture in the EEZ, and this would be a firstfor the U.S. if it goes into effect.　Developments- For the first time in some years, in 2013 many new sites for shellfish aquaculturehave been permitted. This is attributed to increased interest in shellfish aquaculture, particularlyin the northwest and northeast, federal interagency and state efforts on behalf of the WashingtonShellfish Initiative, and state-level successes at streamliningpermitting. In September 2013,the California Shellfish Initiative was launched. A program isunderway to permit and restoreHawaiian fishponds, a form of traditional Hawaiian aquaculture,for cultural heritage, subsistence,and possibly commercial production.　Production Trends- Aquaculture production in the U.S. is largely composed of catfish, crawfish,trout, salmon, oysters, mussels, clams, tilapia, and shrimp. For the 15-year period from 1996-2011,the value of U.S. aquaculture showed 3% average year-over-yeargrowth, though total volumefell by an average of 0.5%. Mariculture (salmon and shellfish),on the other hand, showed robust4% by volume and 5% by value year-over- year average growth inthe same period. 2011 is themost current year published aquaculture statistics are available. From 2010 to 2011, total U.S.aquaculture went down -18.8% by volume (to 277,335 metric tons)but grew 4.2% by value (to1.34billion dollars). From 2010 to 2011 mariculture decreasedby -12.4% by volume (to 35,739metric tons) while growing 0.3% by value (to 314 million dollars). However, in the previous yearfrom 2009-2010, mariculture grew 21.6% by volume (to 40,823 metric tons) and 28.5% by value (to312 million dollars). Most of the growth in value for marine aquaculture was from salmon (Salmosalar) and oyster (mainly Crassostrea gigas and Crassotrea virginica) production.

Nutrient bioextraction using Gracilaria tikvahiae McLachlan was tested at two sites: one off Fairfield, CT (LIS), and the other at the mouth of the Bronx River Estuary (BRE), during the summer and fall of 2011 and 2012. The estimates of nitrogen (N) removal by Gracilaria over a 90-day growing season were up to 28 and 94 kg N ha^-1 at the LIS and BRE sites, respectively. In July 2012, Gracilaria grew up to 16.5% day^-1 at BRE and 4.8% day^-1 at the LIS site. Tissue N contents at the same periods were 3.7% (BRE) and 1.5% (LIS), respectively. These results demonstrate rapid assimilation of nutrients fueling the growth of new Gracilaria tissue at the BRE site, while nutrients appeared to limit growth at the LIS site during the summer months. The estimated C removal by Gracilaria at the BRE and LIS sites were up to 300 kg ha^-1 (LIS) and 727 kg ha^-1 (BRE), respectively. The potential economic values of N and C sequestration for the period examined in this study were as high as $311 (LIS) and $940 ha^-1 (BRE) for N, and $5.51 (LIS) and $13.32 ha^-1 (BRE) for C if seaweed aquaculture would be included in Connecticut's Nitrogen Trading Program. This represents a potential additional economic incentive for seaweed growers, beyond the direct value of seaweed products. The findings in this study showed that seaweed (Gracilaria) aquaculture can be a useful technique for nutrient bioextraction in urbanized coastal waters, such as the estuaries of New York City (BRE) and Long Island Sound.