The plan forces the federal fisheries regulators to revisits details about ecological health and safety. The regulators agree to resume the discussion on introducing the offshore aquaculture concept to the Gulf. It is said that if the plan approved then the area would be the nation’s first testing ground for open-ocean fish farms, which use submersible cages or industrial-strength nets to raise fish for commercial sale.
As the United States imports 80 percent of its seafood consumption these fish farms could yield more domestic seafood supply and break the dependence on imports. But the plan is facing huge opposition as it would affect wild fish populations and the extent of government safeguards on production. Chuck Wilson, executive director of the Louisiana Sea Grant College program based at LSU, said that the plan should be economically feasible and environmentally safe, and that those safeguards be in place. It’s all about taking risks and understanding the benefits.
According to commercial fishing groups the excess supply could drive out of business fishers already hobbled by overseas competition. While the aquaculture supporters counter that any methods to boost US seafood production is the only way to correct the trade deficit. Michael Rubino, the aquaculture program manager at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, informed that the plan would work under strict terms of management practices and environmental regulations.
