The Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council is said to take final step on a draft plan for permitting open-ocean aquaculture in the Gulf. The council feels that the new draft plan is a bigger threat to all Americans, not just those along the Gulf Coast or seafood lovers. 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 council said 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. It further adds that the aquaculture will relieve the relentless pressure on already stressed fisheries in the Gulf, assist in the re-building of overfished stocks and improve fishing.
In its report to the government of USA the council made comprehensive recommendations that recognized the potential damage of free-for-all industrial development in the nation’s coastal ocean. The Gulf Council also mentioned that it is high time to bring order to the oceans through integrated and comprehensive ocean governance.
