US Oceanic Fish Farming is Underway
Open-Ocean Aquaculture Gets Federal Approval After Long Debate
Sep 7, 2009
US plans for industrial-sized aquaculture sites have been up against strong opposition from fishing interests and environmentalist groups for years, both sides voicing concerns about ecological safety and health. Now it seems an end is in sight to the argument, as farming in the Gulf of Mexico will soon be a reality, due in full to recent federal approval.
Opposition of Aquaculture
Concerned opponents are worried about the negative ecological effects that are brought about by aquaculture. Aquaculture has been seen in recent studies to adversely affect wild fisheries and even the farmed fish themselves. In such dense groupings, the farmed fish catch and transmit sickness amongst themselves almost too easily, and those infections can – and do – spread to wild fish. Furthermore, sea lice flourish in such dense populations.
When antibiotics are used to curb infections, those too spread to wild fish and in high enough saturation, can potentially provide health risks to consumers. Relative to their weight, farmed salmon have more antibiotics administered than any other kind of livestock. They also house drastically higher levels of dioxin (a toxic pollutant that stays in the body, according to the WHO, for 7 to 11 years), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other carcinogens than do wild salmon.
These farmed fish, potentially contaminated like the farmed salmon, escape occasionally, and by doing so, infect wild fish populations. There is essentially no oversight regarding antibiotic levels in seafood.
Environmentalists and animal-rights activists are disheartened not just by the sicknesses, but by the constraining nature of aquaculture, as cages can often be overpopulated, and health and wellness problems can abound. One argument is that by keeping fish in such close proximity to each other can inhibit their muscles through lack of proper use, much to the effect of the concern involving agri-livestock.
Other opponents of the US aquaculture plan fear (perhaps rightly) that these domestic, industrial-scale fish farms will slam already suffering fishers completely out of business. US fishers have already sharply suffered because of foreign suppliers, as most (a whopping 80 percent) seafood in the US is imported.
Aquaculture and its Proponents
Proponents of US aquaculture present an equally convincing argument. First and foremost, farming fish for American people within their own country will bring that drastic statistic of 80 percent imported fish down, perhaps significantly, and in a political climate of anti-outsourcing, this could be quite persuasive. Breaking US dependence on imports is a key point in the debate, and though supporters admit that imports aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, boosting US seafood production is a great way to counter the trade deficit.
Some environmentalists support the plans for the US’s first open-ocean fish farm as well, as it would be a great domestic leap forward in quelling participation in the overfishing crisis. With more and more species of large fish making mass-disappearances, any and all efforts can help with a global problem. This kind of project has potential to increase the amount of sustainable fish eaten in the States.
American Fish Farms? Not Quite Yet
Though these fish farms have essentially been given a go-ahead by the federal government, it isn’t yet clear how long it will be before the Gulf of Mexico hosts this large, open-ocean aquaculture site. In the meantime, NOAA’s Fisheries Service will be developing national guidelines, and also be keeping a proverbial eye out in the development.
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