“Food & Water Watch commends Representative Gene Taylor (D-MS) and co-sponsors for introducing a bill today to stop regulations that would for the first time allow development of ocean fish farms in U.S. federal waters. Ocean fish farms, or offshore aquaculture, is the mass production of fish in huge net pens or cages between about three and 200 miles from shore.

“The ‘Offshore Aquaculture Is Not Fishing Act of 2009’ asserts that under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act – the primary law that regulates fisheries nationwide – the Secretary of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the regional fishery management councils do not have authority to permit or regulate the commercial ocean fish farming industry. This bill, when passed, will essentially nullify the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council’s controversial plan to allow open ocean aquaculture in Gulf waters.  The Gulf plan, currently being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Commerce for final approval, has a long list of critics, including many members of Congress, recreational and commercial fishermen, consumer and conservation groups and other concerned individuals.

“The federal law that gives the Gulf Council and NOAA authority to regulate fish and fishing region-by-region was not intended to govern risky industrial enterprises like ocean fish farms. Offshore aquaculture could result in potentially devastating environmental consequences and threaten human health and the livelihoods of fishermen – serious problems that are not just limited to one region.  A more comprehensive review of national impacts from such a program should take place before any one region can move forward to allow ocean fish farming.

“Although this new bill is generally a step in the right direction to protect our oceans from a potentially ecologically destructive and economically devastating regional plan, we are not ready for the national legislation that the bill seems to also promote, which would allow such a risky industry to develop nationwide. As stated in the bill, we need a ‘federal permitting and regulatory process that ensures ecological sustainability and compatibility with healthy, functional ecosystems.’ However, open ocean aquaculture has not demonstrated that it can be environmentally sustainable on a commercial scale. Instead, we should be researching more innovative aquaculture technologies, like land-based, re-circulating systems, to supplement rather than replace wild fisheries, and help meet U.S. seafood demand in a sustainable manner.”

(Food & Water Watch, 31/07/2009)