Tag Archives: Food & Water Watch

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

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

Letter to theEditor: Catch share aid corporations, not fishermen – Meredith Moore, Senior Policy Analyst, Food & Water Watch, Washington, D.C.

Once again, representatives in Congress are being attacked for suggesting common-sense precautions to slow the spread of catch shares management in our nation’s federal fisheries. And once again, those attacks are based in,gdt icon

at best, deep misunderstandings and, at worst, deliberate obfuscations, about the effects of catch shares. continued

Tell Your Members of Congress: Stop the Approval of GE Salmon – Food & Water Watch

This holiday season, the FDA has disregarded the concerns of hundreds of thousands of consumers around the country by moving forward with the approval of genetically engineered salmon. This frankenfish would become the first genetically engineered meat to hit the market, potentially opening up the floodgates for more GE food animal to come. And, to add insult to injury, the GE salmon may not even be labeled, preventing consumers from making informed decisions about their food..The best way we can fight the FDA’s abuse of its approval power is by  asking our legislators to keep GE salmon out of our grocery stores. Join us in sending an email to your members of Congress today asking them to block the approval of GE salmon. Read More