Projects stall after feds allow fish farming in open ocean
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Some 90 percent of seafood consumed by Americans is imported — a fact that the Obama administration vowed to start turning around by expanding fish and shellfish farms into federal waters.
A draft of NOAA's five-year strategic plan calls for marine aquaculture production to jump 50 percent by 2020, and expanding into federal waters is key.
Critics fear it will open the doors to massive fish farms like those in other countries that have polluted waters from the accumulation of feces and resulted in escapes of farm-raised fish that can affect wild stocks.
Federal officials are working to improve coordination between agencies and identify gaps in scientific data, so they are addressed and don't cause delays, and federal grants for research have been increasing.
The university received a permit for a pilot project in federal waters on the feasibility of a commercial operation off Massachusetts, but it's stalled until they find $100,000 to cover costs, including bi-monthly inspections of its mussel beds, which will be 8 miles offshore.
Another federal permit holder found it more profitable to harvest wild mussels in Massachusetts state waters for now, said Scott Lindell, at the Marine Biological Laboratory, a nonprofit institution that assisted the applicant.
Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego applied last October for multiple permits to start an offshore commercial fish farm to someday harvest 5,000 metric tons of yellowtail jack annually, with the potential for more than $30 million in profits.