US government will pursue offshore aquaculture
An initiative to include permitting of offshore aquaculture operations in a bill for offshore energy projects was cancelled last week, according to the following article by Allison Winter of Greenwire;
The Obama administration will develop federal aquaculture regulations, including a system that could permit offshore fish farming in the ocean waters for the first time, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said today. Locke addressed a Senate hearing as another Cabinet agency, the Interior Department, turned away from a controversial Bush administration proposal that would have expedited a permitting system for offshore aquaculture under the Minerals Management Service. He said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will oversee the preparation of the Obama administration's fish-farming guidelines.
In its final rule for offshore renewable energy projects, released yesterday, Interior said it would not authorize aquaculture projects. The move is a reversal from the Bush administration's proposal, which would have opened the door for the government to fast-track offshore fish farms.
The new rule passes oversight of any deepwater fish farms to Commerce's NOAA and the National Marine Fisheries Service. But Locke made it clear today that the administration is not giving up on efforts to advance aquaculture that started under the Bush administration, although his department may take a different course. "As wild fish stocks decline, it is important to be able to have more aquaculture," Locke told the Senate Appropriations panel overseeing funding for his department. "NOAA needs to engage in a program to set up criteria and rules in which safe aquaculture can be provided. We intend to pursue this and help provide those guidelines."
In remarks to reporters after the hearing, Locke said the government must develop guidelines and policies for all aquaculture, including offshore fish farms. "It has to be done carefully, especially given the concerns of consumers for safe seafood," Locke said.
The Bush administration made several attempts, starting in 2005, to create a permitting system to expand U.S. aquaculture to as far as 200 miles offshore. The proposals did not gain traction on Capitol Hill, because lawmakers said they feared there were not enough safeguards to protect wild fish. The issue surfaced again earlier this year when a federal fisheries council in the Gulf of Mexico voted to open its waters to offshore fish farms -- a proposal that must go through NOAA for final approval.
Locke and NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco have indicated that if they move forward with new regulations, they intend to have more safeguards. Lubchenco said at her confirmation hearing that scientists and policymakers have not yet identified the "right conditions under which aquaculture is sustainable."
