Tag Archives: offshore fish farms
NOAA can’t make rules for offshore fish farms
A federal appeals court in New Orleans has upheld a decision that throws out rules regulating fish farms in the Gulf of Mexico. The law granting authority over fisheries to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration does not also let the agency set rules for offshore fish farms, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its 2-1 decision on Monday. “I think this is the final nail in the coffin for industrial aquaculture in federal waters unless Congress gives authority,” said George Kimbrell, who represented opponents of the plan as legal director for the Center For Food Safety. >click to read< 21:47
Offshore Fish Farms Opposed
Last month, President Trump signed an executive order the White House said will ‘remove unnecessary regulatory burdens’ and improve America’s seafood industry. But Dr. Ryan Orgera, CEO of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, said the order will fast-track approval for fish farms, which he said don’t belong in our waters. “This would be a way to do things quickly without proper environmental checks,” Orgera said. “I think in 10 years when we’re having fisheries emergencies and the collapse of several stocks, I think we would turn back and say, ‘Why would we do that for a short-term gain?’”One Hawaii fish farm company, Ocean Era (formerly Kampachi Farms), has already applied to put a small, test fish pen in the gulf 40 miles offshore Sarasota. >click to read< 10:09
Groups March in Washington, DC During Oceans Week To Oppose Offshore Fish Farms
Today, (6/9/18) hundreds of people join together in a March for the Oceans in Washington, DC. Preventing development of industrial ocean fish farms is a prominent issue for participants, wearing pins and carrying signs with the hashtag “#dontcageouroceans”.,,, Worldwide, ocean finfish aquaculture has caused a wide range of problems, including fish escapes; deaths of sharks, seals and other marine life; and changes in ocean ecosystems. Marianne Cufone, Executive Director for the Recirculating Farms Coalition said, “Industrial open water finfish farming is an outdated and unnecessary practice. It poses serious risks to our oceans and public health.” Now, Capitol Hill legislators are developing a new initiative for industrial aquaculture in U.S. waters. Opponents are collectively rising to protect fishing communities, public health and our oceans. >click to read<12:58
The government wants more offshore fish farms, but no one is biting
Off the coast of San Diego, America’s eighth largest city, commercial fishermen harvest about 1,100 metric tons of seafood from the Pacific every year. That sounds like a lot. But it isn’t much to Don Kent, who says he can do better with just one fish farm. If Kent gets his way, he would raise 5,000 metric tons of yellowtail jack and white sea bass in a grid of net pens measuring about a square mile, anchored four miles off San Diego in federal waters. The species are prized in Southern California sushi restaurants, which now serve their customers imported fish almost exclusively, most of it from China, Japan, Greece or Chile. The US imports about 91% of its seafood. Whether consumers know it or not, about half of that is farmed in aquaculture facilities much like the one Kent wants to build. While the federal government has permitted shellfish farming for years, it didn’t allow farming of finfish such as bass and salmon until earlier this year. Read the story here 10:41
