US consumer group opposed to gulf aquaculture
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service have tried to set up aquaculture operations using hundreds of abandoned or soon-to-be abandoned oil drilling rigs in the Gulf through a regional fishery management process, rather than waiting for a comprehensive national policy on ocean fish farming to be approved by Congress.
According to GROWfish, The consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch is concerned that such activity will have a negative impact on coastal communities. It states that the two agencies were authorized to regulate fish and fishing, bout not "to govern risky industrial facilities like ocean fish farming", according to its Executive Director, Wenonah Hauter.
Accusing the Gulf Council of having "a number of members with aquaculture interests", the Food & Water Watch staff attorney Zach Corrigan said that "they are trying to cobble together a plan for fish farming that is severely lacking in content, primarily because they just don't have the legal authority necessary to include what needs to be included in a comprehensive aquaculture regime".
Food & Water Watch will be monitoring the Gulf Council process on the ocean fish farming plan as it develops, and the Plan is scheduled for completion in April this year.
