Aquaculture
The US government is laying the groundwork to open its offshore waters to industrial-scale fish farms. It calls for the federal government to grant permits for farms in the waters between three miles and 200 miles offshore. To receive those permits, owners would have to comply with strict water-quality standards. The fish they could farm would be limited largely to local native species. If owners wanted to grow nonnative species, they would have to show that the harm to wild species in the area would be small if fish escape. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would grant and oversee the permits.
Some 40 percent of the fish Americans eat come from overseas fish farms, according to the US Commerce Department. This contributes to an $8 billion seafood trade deficit. The Bush administration aims to expand today's $1 billion-a-year aquaculture industry to $5 billion a year by 2025. But, using fish farms to meet the world's growing demand for protein is controversial.
Advocates see industrial scale aquaculture as inevitable. Marine scientists estimate that some 70 percent of marine fisheries are so heavily fished that the species either aren't reproducing fast enough to replace the losses, or they are barely keeping pace. Aquaculture, can help meet demand for fish and help allow wild fish stocks to rebuild.
Opponents, cite a range of problems. Based on experiences with modern aquaculture so far, relatively pampered farmed fish can escape and breed with wild stocks, rendering wild fish less genetically fit to survive the harsh conditions they face. Similar concerns accompany the prospect of farming genetically modified fish. Farms can undercut the quality of seawater in the area as nutrient levels - as well as antibiotics or other drugs in the feed - increase beyond the ecosystem's ability to cleanse the water. And fish farming can lead to over fishing of the species used as feed. Growers raising carnivorous finfish must supply roughly three pounds of fishmeal and oil to raise one pound of farmed fish.
On the heels of two major reports in 2003 and 2004 on the need to overhaul US ocean policy, Sens. Ted Stevens (R) of Alaska and Daniel Inouye (D) of Hawaii introduced legislation two years ago designed to jump-start aquaculture in federal waters out to 200 miles.
It's unclear how quickly offshore aquaculture would grow if a bill passes. Frequent storms and the high cost of operating ships to maintain and repair undersea pens and environmental monitoring equipment are among the challenges.
January 10, 2007 6:51 AM | Category: Fish