Tag Archives: Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute
Carlsbad Fish-Breeding Program Is a Mess, Report Confirms
For years, the state has paid the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute to breed and release white seabass into the ocean. The goal was to spawn enough new fish to help overcome threats from pollution, overfishing and habitat destruction. But years of experimental fish breeding at Hubbs’ Carlsbad hatchery have done nearly nothing to help restock the ocean, according to a new report by an independent panel of scientists. Instead, the program has potentially threatened the health of the wild white seabass population. The state has spent $22 million on the program over the past 15 years. In recent years, that’s amounted to about $12 per fish released into the ocean. >click to read< 08:49
$40 Million Later, A Pioneering Plan To Boost Wild Fish Stocks Shows Little Success
Back in 1983, it seemed like a good idea. Local populations of California white seabass, a favorite among recreational and commercial fishermen, prized for its mild, tender, flaky white flesh, were declining.,, But as is often the case, things weren’t so simple. Some 35 years and nearly $40 million later, the future of the Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery Program (as it’s formally called) is in jeopardy: The first formal scientific evaluation has concluded that the program had increased white seabass populations by less than 1 percent — a stunningly low success rate. >click to read< 09:52
The Many Problems With the Proposed Fish Farm in San Diego
If you’ve ever driven north on Interstate 5 and passed through the section with industrial feedlots for cattle, you know the smell. It’s unforgettable. Besides the obvious odor, though, there are serious environmental, animal welfare and human health issues associated with these large-scale meat production facilities. Those issues are similar to environmental concerns about offshore aquaculture – or factory fish farms in the ocean. In Ry Rivard’s Jan. 19 story, “State Probing Experimental Hubbs Fish Breeding Program That’s Spawned Deformities, Mixed Results,” he called attention to the prevalence of disease and deformity in hatchery-raised white seabass in a smaller project run by Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Read the rest here 22:57
“Super-sized 11-million-pound commercial fish factory” protested
Water-quality advocates with San Diego Coastkeeper announced this week that the group is petitioning the federal Environmental Protection Agency to deny a discharge permit for the proposed Rose Canyon Aquaculture Project , which detractors say would place a development “like large-scale feedlots, but in our ocean” just a few miles off the coast of Ocean Beach. The project, the first of its kind aimed at farming large quantities of deep-sea fish such as yellowtail in American waters, was developed by Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, a nonprofit arm of the SeaWorld theme-park chain. Read the post here 20:51
