The Council is said to take final action on a draft plan for permitting open-ocean aquaculture in the Gulf. It is regards the first step in the largest industrial development of America’s federally managed oceans since 1953. The Gulf Council’s plan epitomizes what is wrong with fisheries management in the United States. The regional fishery councils have long been dominated by commercial fishing interests who ignore, at will, science in favor of continued exploitation of threatened stocks.
The Gulf Council told that it has proceeded helter-skelter in developing its aquaculture plan, against skepticism from scientists and objections from different heads. The Gulf Council also made it clear that open ocean aquaculture is not fishing. It is a major industry, akin to factory farming on land, with many well-known environmental impacts and numerous potential unintended consequences.
The Gulf Council makes dubious claims that aquaculture will relieve the relentless pressure on already stressed fisheries in the Gulf, assist in the rebuilding of over-fished stocks and improve fishing. It is opined that this sort of planning is a familiar concept. On land, it’s called zoning. Congress should be putting in place strong national environmental, health and liability standards that cover not just the Gulf of Mexico, but all of our federally managed oceans.
