Protect Our Oceans, Coastal Communities and Consumers
- by: Food & Water Watch
- recipient: Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Administrator, cc: U.S. Congress
This January, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council approved a devastating plan to permit industrial ocean fish farms in U.S. waters. The plan, openly advertised as a blueprint for ocean waters nationwide, is now headed to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for approval.
Congress has been protecting us from widespread development of ocean fish farming by rejecting bills in recent years, similar to the Council's plan. But now, the Gulf proposal provides a back door to get around Congress' protection! Luckily, there is a new leader at NOAA - Dr. Jane Lubchenco - who is known for basing decisions on sound science and it is under her leadership that NOAA will review and approve or reject the Gulf plan.
Let NOAA Administrator Dr. Lubchenco know that you support regulations developed from the best available science - NOT private interests. Urge Dr. Lubchenco to support cleaner, greener and safer fish production methods - and to reject the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council's plan for open ocean aquaculture.
Dear Dr. Lubchenco,
I was pleased to learn of your nomination and subsequent confirmation as NOAA Administrator. Your known commitment to sound science is crucial at a time when the U.S. needs a leader to revive our ailing oceans. NOAA will soon be reviewing a plan from the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to allow industrial ocean fish farming in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. I write to urge you to reject this plan. The plan has been in the works throughout the Bush administration, and is likely to benefit only a few private entities at the expense of our sensitive ocean ecosystems, the livelihoods of countless commercial and charter fishermen and people who love and enjoy the Gulf of Mexico. It is not based on sound science, nor the best science available, and the Government Accountability Office has already issued a report (in May of 2008) calling for further studies before we open federal waters to open ocean aquaculture.
This plan envisions mass production of up to 64 million pounds of aquacultured fish annually. That's twice the amount of ALL commercial wild fish caught in the Gulf each year. Though this may sound like a way to increase seafood supply in the U.S., the Council has failed to complete a thorough study of potential socioeconomic impacts based on experiences of fishing and coastal communities elsewhere when similar facilities were developed. The costs likely greatly outweigh any benefits.
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Additionally, there are few specifics in the plan - where the facilities could be located, the kinds of fish that may be grown, and what type of systems might be used - all are left up to the discretion of National Marine Fisheries Service on a case-by-case basis. There are few meaningful safeguards to protect marine wildlife and coastal communities.
We do need to reduce our reliance on imported seafood - but we do not need to harm our oceans, push already struggling coastal communities out of business, and privatize a public resource to do it. We should instead be focusing on cleaner, greener, safer methods of fish production, like land-based, re-circulating aquaculture.
To ensure the best use of our public resources and to protect our oceans, I urge you to reject the Gulf of Mexico's plan for open ocean aquaculture.
