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Aquaculture
Offshore Aquaculture: The Next Wave for Fish Farming?
By Jill Schwartz
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production system in the world. It helps take pressure off of wild caught fisheries to supply one of the most popular types of protein consumed globally. But are traditional aquaculture farms – farms located near the shoreline or on land – enough to meet the growing demand for seafood?
The solution may be siting aquaculture facilities in the ocean, a few miles from the coastline. Just what this type of industry would look like in the United States is being debated on Capitol Hill. The National Offshore Aquaculture Act of 2007 (H.R. 2010 and S. 1609) would allow aquaculture facilities to be built in federal waters and establish a scientific research program for marine aquaculture.
Currently, there is no regulatory framework for commercial offshore aquaculture in federal waters. In the United States, four commercial aquaculture facilities are in operation in an offshore environment – Snapper Farm, Kona Blue, Cates International and AE Lang Fisheries, an offshoot of the University of New Hampshire Open Ocean Aquaculture Program – but they are in state, not federal, waters.
The program created by the Act would be overseen by a new office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency working on marine commerce and fisheries management, among other things.
As with other types of aquaculture, one of the key controversial issues related to offshore farming is minimizing the impact farming has on sensitive habitats (e.g., marine protected areas and ocean sanctuaries), endangered species, and other flora and fauna. Similar to other types of aquaculture, there also are concerns that species raised in offshore aquaculture facilities would spread diseases to other fish, high levels of fishmeal and fish oil would be needed to feed the fish, and the water would be polluted by chemicals used at the facilities. Offshore aquaculture is such a new field that there is not enough scientific data available to assess whether its impacts are more or less severe than the impacts associated with near-shore aquaculture.
The Act would require that the regulatory and permitting process established by NOAA “avoid, minimize and mitigate” the impact of offshore aquaculture on the environment. For example, procedures would be created for tracking the movement of fish, monitoring the effects of offshore aquaculture on marine ecosystems, reducing the use of fishmeal and fish oil, and evaluating site suitability. Also, offshore farms would be required to post a performance bond to guarantee proper clean-up and would be subject to all local, state and federal environmental regulations.
Other issues under discussion include:
- Permit length: In the latest version of the Senate bill, the length for an offshore farming permit is 10 years, with automatic renewal at the end of that time period if all requirements have been met. There are some people advocating a 20-year timeframe to justify the significant investment that is needed to build and maintain offshore aquaculture facilities. Offshore aquaculture is expensive because it generally requires the use of submerged facilities to minimize damage from waves, currents and wind – all which are stronger offshore than near the coastline. Proponents of the shorter timeframe contend that a 20-year limit would be too long if the environmental impacts of offshore aquaculture are significant. Regardless of what time period is chosen, the secretary of the agency that administers the Act would have the authority to revoke permits for environmental reasons.
- State opt-outs: States would be allowed to designate certain locations where offshore aquaculture facilities could not be located and specify types of aquaculture species to exclude from the program. This would be limited to federal waterways that are up to 12 miles from state waterways. Alaska would be allowed to completely opt out of offshore aquaculture development in its adjacent federal waterways.
The Act, which is based on a proposal from 2005, is expected to be debated throughout the year, if not longer.
“Driven initially by constraints on space for expansion in near shore waters, farms in the open ocean waters are realizing both environmental and fish health benefits,” said Richard Langan, director of the University of New Hampshire Open Ocean Aquaculture Program. “Where the offshore sector goes in the U.S. depends on the regulatory climate and whether the National Offshore Aquaculture Act is passed by Congress. Without an acceptable regulatory and policy framework, private sector investment will likely go toward development overseas."
Offshore aquaculture is being explored in Asia, Mexico, the Caribbean, Mediterranean and countries in Europe.
Please share your views about offshore aquaculture with us at aquacultureinfo@wwfus.org.
For more information on the Act, go to http://aquaculture.noaa.gov/us/2007.html
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