Groups oppose aquaculture in Gulf

A coalition of environmental groups on Wednesday strongly opposed a draft plan to open federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico to large-scale fish farming operations.

Wearing lime-green buttons saying "I'm with the fish," representatives from the Gulf Restoration Network, the Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch and other groups said a plan being considered by fisheries regulators this week in Mississippi fails to address economic and ecological concerns for the Gulf's existing fishing industry and fish species.

"This practice could threaten the economic well-being of the Gulf's active fishing industry," said Sascha Bollag, fish campaign organizer with Food & Water Watch, a Washington nonprofit group.

Offshore commercial fish farming, or aquaculture, is prevalent elsewhere in worldwide seafood production, but has yet to get off the ground in the United States. The Bush administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are interested in jump-starting a domestic industry, and officials are looking to the Gulf as a test market.

Aquaculture on land is common throughout the South, where pond-raised catfish and crawfish populate seafood markets and restaurant menus. Water flow and pollution can be more easily regulated on land than with open-ocean aquaculture. Much of the open aquaculture in China came under scrutiny earlier this year when banned antibiotics were found in some seafood produced in Chinese fish-farm facilities.

Those who showed up to comment Wednesday pointed out a slew of environmental concerns, from chemical pollution to genetic complications if farm-raised fish were to escape and mix with wild stocks.

"If one of these aquaculture operations is hit by a storm -- and they will be -- what is the effect of their release into the water?" asked Howard Page, chairman of the Mississippi chapter of the Sierra Club. "There could be hormones and antibiotics that are going to be introduced into the natural environment in large, large quantities."

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, meeting in Biloxi this week, will not take final action on a 400-page aquaculture plan, but could do so as early as January. The draft plan would set up a permit system in the Gulf for aquaculture operations, and would place limits on the types of fish allowed to breed and the location of facilities.

Several Gulf council members point out that fish farming is a necessary step for the United States to remain competitive in the global seafood market.

The United States already imports more than 80 percent of the seafood it consumes.

"Are we going to have to keep doing imports for the rest of our lives? That's not an option," said Harlon Pearce, a Louisiana representative on the Gulf council who is a seafood dealer in Kenner. "I understand the concerns of the fishermen here. But if we don't catch enough fish to stay on the plate, we're going to lose that market anyway."

The plan still must be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and lawyers at the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, before the Gulf council can take any action.

Congress considered a nationwide aquaculture bill this summer.

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