The future of Aquaponic/Aquaculture Farms

Today's young people may someday tell their grandchildren how, when they were kids, they could go to the store and buy wild seafood. And the grandchildren will be amazed.

Our already stressed fisheries can't keep up with the demands of a growing world population, so just as we no longer rely on wild berries and bison to feed ourselves, we must accept that aquaculture is part of our future.

The question is: How will we get there?

Next Wednesday, at its meeting in Bay St. Louis, Miss., the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hear public comment on a fisheries management plan for regulating fish farms in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The plan would open the door to aquaculture — enclosed areas in which fish are raised and harvested — up to 200 miles offshore in the Gulf.

Support for the concept comes from many directions.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been pushing for years to develop U.S. aquaculture, while Congress dragged its feet.

Richard Langan, who has overseen successful demonstration projects as director of the Atlantic Marine Aquaculture Center at the University of New Hampshire, said, "Moving forward is the only way you're going to find out what this is all about."

Bob Jones, executive director of the Southeastern Fisheries Association, based in Tallahassee, said there is a need for more seafood, the Gulf is the place to raise it, and so his group supports the plan "with some reservations."

If you've dined on shrimp, tilapia or salmon recently, it's likely you've already benefitted from aquaculture. But the threats that give pause to opponents include disease spreading to wild fish, pollution (just look at the Gulf's "dead zone" caused by farming on land), and using wild fish as feed, thus putting even more pressure on fisheries.

At 550 pages, the Gulf Council's plan includes more detail on permits, protections, disease and environmental impact than most people would care to read. Still, it fails in several areas, according to George Leonard, director of the aquaculture program for the Ocean Conservancy.

Mr. Leonard said that the council's plan is not specific enough on environmental and liability issues, that a regional council's authority to adopt the plan is dubious, that the plan may be illegal from a national environmental perspective, and that it undermines the role of Congress, encouraging a fragmented system of regulation.

"We believe that farmed fish have to be part of our future," Leonard said, before adding, "It has to be done right."

Let's do it right, which — if we're talking about federal waters and our nation's food supply — means getting the federal government to act on the issue. There's a new president and a new Congress, and soon there will be a new administrator at NOAA. So there's hope.

The council's work on the fisheries plan has been valuable, but at this point, it would be wise to take the public input — and then wait. Just a bit longer.

Give the federal government one more chance to help make certain that the United States can compete in the world of offshore aquaculture while keeping our food and waters safe under a unified set of regulations.

Source: http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20090124/OPINION01/901240303/1006/OPINION

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