More than 130 people joined Lewis & Clark Law School in person and online on September 30 for the 38th Annual Environmental Law Distinguished Visitor and Graduates Event, an evening celebrating environmental law scholarship, alumni achievement, and the next generation of environmental advocates.
Hosted by the Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law Program, the annual event featured Professor Robin Kundis Craig, JD ’96, as this year’s Distinguished Environmental Visitor. Craig presented her lecture: “Food Security and Resilient Ecosystems: Marine Aquaculture for the Anthropocene,” exploring the connections among food security, marine ecosystems, and environmental law.
In her lecture, Prof. Craig detailed the various ways of raising aquatic animals and plants today, and how those practices serve various purposes and are deeply intertwined with our planetary health systems. Craig provided examples from shellfish and seaweed to finfish, describing their environmental and economic benefits as well as their drawbacks in three parts: Food Security, Ecosystem Health, and Adaptation in law and policy.
Food Security
Aquaculture offers a viable alternative to reduce pressure on wild-caught fisheries, especially for stressed, threatened, or endangered species. According to Prof. Craig, many fish stocks are at capacity and “there are no more fish to be caught from the wild.” Aquaculture that relies on “better” alternatives such as seaweed, shellfish, and native plankton-eating finfish is rising to meet market demand without driving fragile species such as Atlantic bluefin tuna to the brink of extinction. Beyond the dinner table, aquaculture can also reduce demand for wild clownfish, clams, and seahorses involved in the aquarium trade.
Ecosystem Health
Discussing ecosystem health, Prof. Craig introduced subcategories of ecosystem-relevant marine aquaculture. She discussed aquaculture’s role in combating climate change, detailing how seaweed and kelp aquaculture sequesters carbon dioxide, and how efforts to transplant staghorn coral reefs from the lab back to their wild habitat are resulting in more heat-tolerant coral reefs.
Aquaculture projects, done right, also do wonders for improving water quality. Prof. Craig pointed to Northeast coastal efforts in the U.S. and highlighted projects in the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. Projects like Maryland’s Water Quality Trading Programs incentivize the state and local oyster aquaculture to clean and restore the watershed. Shellfish aquaculture can also clean up water, with Chesapeake Bay projects removing up to 40% of nutrient pollution.
Adaptation in Law
While aquaculture varies by type, Prof. Craig emphasized that current law and policy do not always acknowledge those important differences in regulatory requirements. Zooming into U.S. law and policymaking, Prof. Craig notes that at the state level, there are “significant splits” in how states define and treat aquaculture as an “industry.” Emerging legal issues for states include, but are not limited to, identifying best practices and designing legislation for new forms of aquaculture and addressing aquaculture of non-native or transgenic species like farmed Atlantic salmon.
Beyond the first three miles from shore and in the navigable waters of the United States, the federal government has regulatory jurisdiction under the 1953 Submerged Lands Act and 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. At the federal level, Prof. Craig summarized a more basic issue facing aquaculture regulation: figuring out which agency is in charge.
Three Takeaways
To conclude her lecture, Prof. Craig offered three key perspectives to reframe how we think about aquaculture. First, when someone says “marine aquaculture,” don’t assume Atlantic salmon. Kelp, abalone, giant clam, caicos conch, food algae, and other farmed marine species contribute to the “right” kind of aquaculture practice worldwide. Marine aquaculture regulation is in flux. Uncertainty is pronounced in federal waters, but also in coastal states, especially when states receive new requests from renewable wind energy companies. Lastly, thoughtful statutes and regulatory regimes can allow certain forms of profitable aquaculture that promote both food security, marine environmental quality, and more resilient marine ecosystems.
Graduate and Student Awards
The evening also recognized five Distinguished Environmental Law Graduates whose careers reflect the breadth of the field: Chris Gunn, JD ’11; Bubba Cook, JD ’03; Paul Conable, JD ’97; Marc Fink, JD ’95; and Oday Salim, LLM ’09. Their work spans energy policy, fisheries conservation, environmental litigation, public lands, and environmental justice. The Environmental Law program faculty spoke about the honorees’ contributions to environmental law practice from the perspectives as their mentors and professors during their academic years at L&C.
Tory Dille ’26 was also honored as the 2026 Williamson Award recipient. The award recognizes a graduating student for outstanding contributions to environmental law and the Lewis & Clark environmental law community. As Tory’s professor and mentor, Prof. Daniel Rohlf highlighted her contributions to the L&C academic community program, especially in public land and public interest environmental work.
For those unable to attend, a recording of the event is available online, offering an opportunity to hear Craig’s lecture and learn more about this year’s honorees.
