Seafood Summit held in Michigan
According to an article in the Great Lakes Echo earlier this year by Logan Clark, “Great Lakes aquaculture could become a $1 billion (~€900 million) industry in Canada and the US, according to a 2014 paper. One key for reaching that potential is for the Great Lakes states to follow Canada and legalize offshore aquaculture, reports the paper that was sponsored by Michigan Sea Grant, NOAA, Michigan State University and the state of Michigan. Offshore aquaculture involves farm-raising up to several million fish in cages along the coasts of natural bodies of water instead of the inland practice of using large landlocked tanks. This allows fish to remain in their natural environment, and provides a more efficient way of harvesting them. It is legally done in the ocean on both coasts of the United States. Only Great Lakes states have outlawed it. In Canada, the practice has sustained dozens of farms in northern Lake Huron for 15 years”.
Dubbed as “The First Annual Seafood Summit”, the event was named “An Economy of Scales; A Look at the Food Fish Industry in Michigan”. In a subsequent issue of Upwellings, which is published by the Michigan Sea Grant office, a couple of important perspectives discussed at the Seafood Summit were described:
SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE:
“As human populations expand, agriculture lands become saturated, and water becomes limiting to expanding food production, we must look to new production methods like aquaculture and maintain existing production systems that are efficient, like commercial fisheries, to help feed the growing population and maintain our quality of life. Protein is important to our food supply, and production of fish remains one of the most ecologically and economically efficient means of producing this protein. Michigan has been a leader in fisheries for inland states and should become a leader in aquaculture using ecologically sensitive methods in order to boost our economy and the food supply for future generations.”
— Jim Diana, Professor of Fisheries and Aquaculture, UM and Director of Michigan Sea Grant.
AQUACULTURE PERSPECTIVE:
“It’s important because holding a summit says: This matters. There has long been a perceived conflict between aquaculture and commercial fishing and recreational fishing. But when we put them all together, there is a potential here that has been held at bay for years. We have a chance now to build a really robust food fish industry in Michigan. We’ve worked on broadening this discussion and taking it more mainstream. We’re able to finally have reasonable discourse with state regulators, and we’ve got people talking about where our food fish comes from. It’s good timing. In the past five years we’ve had a quantum shift in seafood production and availability is going to change in the next 10-15 years.”
— Dan Vogler, President, Michigan Aquaculture Association; Owner, Harrietta Hills Trout Farm
