Open Ocean Aquaculture is not Fishing – Part 1
This month, the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council will take final action on a draft plan for permitting open-ocean aquaculture in the Gulf. This should raise serious concern for all Americans — and not just those along the Gulf Coast or seafood lovers.
It represents the first step in the largest industrial development of America's federally managed oceans since 1953.
The Gulf Council's plan epitomizes what is wrong with fisheries management in the United States. The regional fishery councils have long been dominated by commercial fishing interests who ignore, at will, science in favor of continued exploitation of threatened stocks.
In this tradition, the Gulf Council has proceeded helter-skelter in developing its aquaculture plan, against skepticism from scientists and objections from a broad array of recreational and commercial fishing interests, conservation organizations, and a broad swath of private citizens.
Let's make one thing clear: Open ocean aquaculture is not fishing. It is a major industry, akin to factory farming on land, with many well-known environmental impacts and numerous potential unintended consequences.
Large-scale aquaculture operations overseas have been responsible for the introduction of non-native fish, altered genetics of local fish stocks, the spread of disease, and pollution from excess feed and drug applications.
The Gulf Council makes dubious claims that aquaculture will relieve the relentless pressure on already stressed fisheries in the Gulf, assist in the rebuilding of over-fished stocks and improve fishing.
But this assertion is based much more on wishful thinking and hoped-for results than scientific fact and analysis.
To survive and to prosper, we must make good use of the ocean, but we must not use it up. In its landmark 2004 report to President Bush, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy made comprehensive recommendations which recognized the potential damage of free-for-all industrial development in the nation's coastal ocean.
Key among these was the recommendation that ocean development should be preceded by planning that takes into account all the potential uses of the ocean, including offshore aquaculture.
Source: http://www.al.com/opinion/press-register/insight.ssf?/base/opinion/1232878580174400.xml&coll=3