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Aquaculture

The Future of U.S. Fish Farming: Solid National Vision or Unsafe Piecemeal Approach?

Fish farming is one of the fastest-growing responses to our declining wild fish supply and now accounts for more than 40 percent of the world's seafood consumption. Without thoughtful planning and regulation, fish farming can severely harm ocean ecosystems. Unfortunately, in the US this industry is expanding offshore for the first time without any national standards in place.

In January 2009, fishery managers in the Gulf of Mexico approved the first-ever plan for commercialsize fish farms in US federal waters, the area between three and 200 miles from shore. US fish farming— sometimes called "aquaculture"—is expected to grow five-fold by 2025, but it carries with it considerable environmental and economic risks.

LATEST NEWS

On December 16, 2009, Representative Lois Capps (D-CA) introduced the National Sustainable Offshore Aquaculture Act of 2009. This legislation establishes the first legally-binding national standards for how fish farming should be conducted in the open-ocean. Please encourage your representatives to support this plan.

DIVE DEEPER

Learn more about George Leonard, Ocean Conservancy's Director of Aquaculture, featured in our newest publication, Splash. Read it now »

The Gulf plan claimed to draw its authority from the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the nation's primary fisheries law. But there’s one catch: Congress has not explicitly authorized any federal agency—not the Gulf Council, not the National Marine Fisheries Service, not anyone— to manage the farming of fish in federal waters. It is an unregulated industry and there is no clear mandate for who should manage it.

The fact is that fish farming is not fishing, and therefore the nation's fishing laws—primarily the Magnuson-Stevens Act—are inappropriate, ineffective, and inadequate for managing this growing industry.

To ensure a safe and sustainable industry, and to protect our vast and valuable ocean, the federal government must establish strong standards for aquaculture.

Facts and Figures

We need these standards now. Already, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Gulf Council have spent over a quarter-of-a-million dollars developing their plan, but what's needed is a national vision, not a regional approach.

Here are the facts:

• Under the Bush Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration set a goal to increase US aquaculture from $900 million to $5 billion annually by 2025.
• The proposed plan would grant the National Marine Fisheries Service authority to issue permits for single farms raising up to a total of 64 million pounds of fish (29 million kgs.) annually—roughly the output of 80 standard commercial fish farms today.
• Nearly all commercial wild species managed by the Gulf Council could be farmed in the Gulf of Mexico.
• The ten-year permits would be transferable. Applicants would also have to acquire a site permit from the Army Corps of Engineers and another from the Environmental Protection Agency allowing discharge into the ocean.
• Permit applicants would have to post a bond to pay for removal of their farms in the event of trouble— but there is one key missing piece: the bond fails to cover environmental remediation.

Environmental Risks

Open-ocean aquaculture poses a host of environmental risks, most of which are not properly addressed by the proposed management plan. Additionally, the plan’s provisions for site approval do not require comprehensive scientific data that would minimize harmful impacts.

Risks from aquaculture include:

• Nutrient and chemical pollution: Feed, fish excrement, medication, and chemicals released into the ocean can affect wild fish, other species, and ocean habitats. These impacts must be fully understood and managed. The current plan relies on Clean Water Act regulations designed for landbased discharges, not discharges into the water from ocean-based fish farms.
• Escapes: The peer-reviewed scientific literature documents the harmful effects of the accidental release of farmed fish (escapes) on wild fish populations, but the plan largely ignores these risks. Impacts include reduced genetic diversity, the spread of disease, increased competition for food and habitat, increased predation, habitat alteration, and colonization. Any comprehensive plan would need to include genetic tagging or other methods of marking fish farmed in the ocean. Identification would also provide accountability in the use, and possible misuse, of ocean waters, a public resource.
• Feed: Increased demand for fish meal and fish oil needed to feed farm-raised fish may further stress sardines, menhaden, and anchovies. The Council does not currently regulate any of these fisheries, and it has not fully considered the likely impacts on them. In addition, the Council does not require any safeguards regarding the use of antibiotics or chemical additives in feed beyond those provided by FDA and EPA regulations.

Legal responsibility for environmental impacts is also lacking. As written, the plan requires bonds adequate to cover only the removal of aquaculture facilities in the event of problems. Considering the likelihood of major storms and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico that could damage aquaculture facilities, the impacts from escapes, habitat alteration, and waste accumulation pose a great risk to the public. The permit holder, not the general public, should bear the financial responsibility for any environmental damage.

History: Broad and Diverse Opposition

In 2002, the Gulf Council began work on a Gulfwide plan for fish farming. This work evolved into the proposed Aquaculture Fishery Management Plan passed in January 2009. During public hearings, government agencies, conservation organizations, fishing groups, seafood business, more than 10,000 members of the public, and Congressional representatives expressly opposed the plan on legal, socio-economic, and environmental grounds. That opposition succeeded in delaying final action on the plan, but it wasn’t enough. With minor revisions, the Gulf Council narrowly approved the plan anyway and sent it to the Secretary of Commerce for final approval.

A 60-day comment period followed. By August 2009, the Secretary had received almost 20,000 public comments in opposition to the plan, including a joint statement from 77 national and local conservation, business, and fishing organizations. Thirty-seven members of Congress signed a letter requesting that the Secretary decline the plan. Scientists from across the US and Canada submitted a detailed analysis urging the Secretary to follow suit based largely on ecological concerns.

Despite the real and scientifically- documented risks, and overwhelming public opposition, the United States now appears to be on the verge of expanding this new industry. In early September, the legally dubious—and oxymoronic— "Aquaculture Fishery Management Plan" went into effect.

Window of Opportunity

A number of influential bodies, including the Pew Oceans Commission, have stated that a coordinated national framework with rigorous environmental standards is a necessity before the nation’s waters, including the Gulf of Mexico, are opened to aquaculture. Moving forward with the Gulf Aquaculture Fishery Management Plan sets a dangerous precedent for future piecemeal permitting decisions across the nation. Now is the time for national standards, before the industry has taken root.

In the absence of Congressional guidance, with this plan the Gulf Council and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are overstepping their authority. Congress must now take the lead and develop a precautionary national law that ensures the protection of wild fish and our ocean waters for generations to come.

How You Can Help

• Confirm the source of the seafood you buy
• Join Ocean Conservancy's online community to learn more and stay up-to-date on ocean issues.
• Let legislators know your specific concerns regarding open-net aquaculture in our ocean.

Visit www.oceanconservancy.org/contactus for regional office addresses and email information.

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