Tag Archives: Center for Food Safety

Judge hears lawsuit over fish farms in Puget Sound

Whether Cooke Aquaculture’s plan to raise native steelhead at fish farms in Puget Sound is a simple business transition or a complex threat to the marine ecosystem is being debated in King County Superior Court. Judge Johanna Bender heard testimony Thursday over Zoom in a lawsuit environment groups brought against the state Department of Fish & Wildlife for granting a permit to the seafood company to raise steelhead. “Did the department make a mistake in comparing the impacts of one type of stock to another, as opposed to comparing it to Puget Sound without fish farming at all?” she said.,, , the state Legislature passed a law that phases out Atlantic salmon net pen aquaculture by 2022 >click to read< 15:48

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

Organizations threaten NOAA with lawsuit over industrial ocean fish farm funding

Friends of the Earth and Center for Food Safety today formally accused the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of violating the Endangered Species Act. The groups sent a letter to NOAA notifying them of their intent to sue over NOAA’s Sea Grant program which has funded an industrial ocean fish farm in violation of federal law.  In October 2018, Sea Grant awarded a federal grant to a floating factory farm for non-native Steelhead trout off the coast of New Hampshire. According to a limited number of records gathered pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request, these funds were provided without fulfillment of Endangered Species Act mandates. >click to read<10:55

NOAA accused over funding for industrial ocean fish farm – >click to read<

Victory! Court Shuts Down Offshore Aquaculture in Gulf of Mexico

Today, Center for Food Safety, representing a coalition of fishing and public interest groups, won their lawsuit challenging the Department of Commerce’s new federal rules that would have permitted, for the first time, industrial aquaculture offshore in U.S. federal waters. “This is a landmark victory for protecting our oceans, for fishing communities and conservationists,” said George Kimbrell, CFS Legal Director and lead counsel in the case. “Allowing industrial net-pen aquaculture and its known environmental harms in the Gulf of Mexico is a grave threat. Very simply, as the Court properly held, aquaculture is not ‘fishing.’ These types of harms cannot be allowed under existing fisheries law never intended for that purpose.” >click to read<18:51

NOAA, NGOs debate effects of ocean farms on wildlife, Litigation may be deterring investors

Federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico have been open to fish farming for two years, but no farms yet exist. In January 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service issued a rule that would let companies apply for 10-year permits to farm fish in federal waters of the Gulf, with five-year renewals thereafter.,, Paul W. Zajicek, executive director of the National Aquaculture Association, suspects companies interested in starting offshore farms are waiting for results of a federal lawsuit against the fisheries service.,, Those behind the lawsuit say NOAA’s fisheries service is trying to regulate aquaculture as fishing but lacks authority to expand into aquaculture. >click to read<21:43

Marine feedlots and the tide against wild fish

In a time of eclipse, for the People of the Salmon the moment was catastrophic. At the height of their season for the most prized of wild salmon in the Salish Sea, Lummi fishermen south of Cypress Island hauled in several flaccid, broken-mouthed farm fish, the first of thousands of Atlantic salmon that had escaped from a failed pen. They knew something was terribly wrong. Days would pass before Cooke Aquaculture, a subsidiary of the international company responsible for the pen, would stop blaming the sun and moon, and admit to the full scale of the collapse.  click here to read the story

First Nations, environmentalists occupy salmon farm in British Columbia – A group of First Nations and environmentalists are occupying a salmon farm near Alert Bay, B.C., and say they won’t leave until the provincial and federal governments revoke permits for the facility. click here to read the story 10:43

Offshore Aquaculture: Groups divided over Gulf fish farming

While proponents of aquaculture support expanding fish and shellfish farming in the Gulf of Mexico, local fishermen and food safety groups are wary of the consequences. “Developing offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico will benefit everyone. Consumers will get additional access to sustainable domestically grown seafood,” said Jim Gossen, president of the Gulf Seafood Foundation. “Using the latest proven management practices, this should provide more wild fish to both the recreational and commercial fisheries.” In 2016, NOAA filed a final rule implementing the nation’s first comprehensive regulatory program for aquaculture in federal waters. The rule allowed for the establishment of a regional permitting process to manage the development of an environmentally sound and economically sustainable aquaculture industry in the Gulf. However, local and national groups oppose the current plan in its entirety or how it’s being implemented. click here to read the story 08:56

Pacific Bluefin Tuna Heads Toward Protection

pacific bluefin tunaThirteen conservation groups and a former National Fisheries biologist petitioned for federal protection for Pacific bluefin tuna, and the marine agency agreed listing may be warranted. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced Tuesday that it will begin a 12-month status review of the iconic fish as the first step in the long process to secure Endangered Species Act protection for the overfished species.  The Center for Biological Diversity, a frequent petitioner and litigator on behalf of imperiled species, was joined by Earthjustice, Defenders of Wildlife, WildEarth Guardians, Sierra Club, Turtle Island Restoration Network, the Ocean Foundation, Center for Food Safety, Greenpeace, Mission Blue, Recirculating Farms Coalition, The Safina Center, SandyHook SeaLife Foundation, and Jim Chambers, a retired NMFS biologist, owner of Prime Seafood sustainable seafood restaurant supply company and member of the Seafood Choices Alliance. Read the rest here 08:42

Center for Food Safety lawsuit challenge’s NOAA’s push for aquaculture in offshore U.S. waters

Center for Food Safety has filed a new lawsuit challenging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) new federal regulations permitting, for the first time, industrial aquaculture offshore in U.S. federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The plaintiff coalition CFS is representing in the case make up a broad array of significant interests in the Gulf of Mexico, including commercial, economic, recreational, and conservation groups. Read the rest here 09:09

Canadian Risk Assessment Finds GMO Salmon Susceptible to Disease, as Food and Drug Admin Rubber Stamps Approval!

A never-before-seen draft environmental review of AquaBounty Technologies’ (ABTX) genetically engineered (GE) salmon reveals that Canadian government scientists disagree with the engineered (GE) salmon (FDA) on key questions related to the safety and performance of what may be the first GE animal approved for human consumption. In light of these findings, Food & Water Watch, and Consumers Union today called on the FDA to terminate its ongoing review of GE salmon. Read the rest here 15:14