Not sure what I think about this.
Regional fishery managers have a plan to open the Gulf to the first industrial-scale fish farms in federal waters.
The proposal — intended to help reduce the nation’s reliance on imported seafood — calls for raising millions of pounds of amberjack, red snapper and other Gulf species each year in submerged pens three miles to 200 miles off the coast.
But the plan has raised concerns from environmental and fishing interests about how to protect the Gulf’s wild fish stock and waters from disease, pollution and other threats that have troubled fish farms in other countries.
What’s more, some of the plan’s critics contend that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, which is responsible for the Gulf’s fish population, shouldn’t act before Congress establishes federal regulations for the emerging industry.
“We’re not fundamentally opposed to fish farms,” said George Leonard, director of the Ocean Conservancy’s aquaculture program. “But we need to get it right the first time, and one way of doing it is to have a national debate.”
The time is apparently now, because the plan was approved, though it still has to get past the Commerce Department.
Those against the plan say the large cages and pens that would raise fish far offshore would pollute the oceans with fish waste and chemicals. Farmed fish, which often get heavy doses of antibiotics, can also escape into the wild and interfere with native species.
“We simply do not want this,” said Avery Bates, vice president of the Organized Seafood Association of Alabama. “Do not allow this, I don’t care who’s pushing your buttons … Don’t put us out of business.”
Bates, who represents about 200 commercial fishermen in Alabama, said there was fear that foreign companies would buy permits to farm fish offshore and then sell the fish at reduced prices, undercutting U.S. fishermen.
The United States takes in about $10 billion in seafood imports a year and exports only about $2.7 billion, according to data from the Commerce Department. About 80 percent of all seafood consumed in the United States is imported.
Commercial seafood company owner John Ericsson favors the plan. He said the United States has fallen behind countries such as Greece, Norway and Chile, where offshore farming has taken off.
His said his company, Florida-based BioMarine Technologies Inc., is looking at growing fish in cages that could contain up to 60,000 cobia, also known as king fish in the Northeast, and amberjack. He said it would take about $10 million to set up an offshore fish farm.
“It’s a serious business commitment,” he said.
Besides creating jobs, fish farming is important for the nation’s food security, he said. “Just think if someone was able to wipe out our cows and other land creatures with an anthrax. Where would we get our protein from?” he said.
I have to say, neither of those arguments strike me as particularly compelling. Surely the advocates on either side can do better than that. I think I’m just going to have to read around and see what I can learn about them before I come to any judgment about this. What do you think?
