Saving Seafood

Open-ocean fish farm proposed off San Diego coast could be first in federal waters

September 21, 2020 — A prestigious San Diego research institute and a Long Beach social-benefit investment group are teaming to create what could be the first fish farm in federal waters.

The proposed Pacific Ocean AquaFarm would be about four miles offshore of San Diego and would generate 5,000 metric tons of sushi-grade yellowfish each year — enough for 11 million servings of the popular seafood.

A partnership between Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and Pacific6 Enterprise, the project also would create a diversity of economic opportunities and provide a local source for a fish that is now mostly imported.

The institute submitted a federal permit application for the project Sept. 9. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will lead the environmental review of their proposal, which will take about 18 to 24 months. Construction would take about a year, and the first set of fish stocked there would be ready for market 18 to 22 months after that, Kent said.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

Maine shellfish farmers gaining confidence with scallops

September 21, 2020 — In Maine, Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) are one of the most valuable fisheries in U.S. waters, the target of deep-sea draggers and divers on dayboats.

But compared to a seasonal fishery, an aquaculture crop has the key advantage of a year-round supply and steady pricing. In an attempt to build a fledgling scallop farming industry, Maine shellfish farmers started trialling a Japanese technique called ear hanging in 2017. Taking advantage of a sister state agreement with Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, growers in Maine are working to establish semi-automated commercial aquaculture operations (the Advocate covered these efforts in 2016).

Since then, progress has accelerated. In 2018, community development and business advising firm Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), which has been part of the ear hanging work since 2016, received a grant from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research for a three-year program to further develop ear hanging in Maine.

CEI purchased three machines from Mutsu Kaden Tokki Co., Ltd., in Mutsu City, Aomori. Five farms have utilized the equipment implementing small-scale commercial trials with several thousand scallops on each farm, while market research by CEI has been gauging the potential demand for ear-hung farmed scallops.

Read the full story at the Global Aquaculture Alliance

ASMFC Awards Grants to Four Aquaculture Pilot Projects

September 16, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, with the support of $575,000 from NOAA Fisheries, has selected four aquaculture pilot projects along the Atlantic coast to receive funding. NOAA Fisheries provided the funds as part of its efforts to foster responsible aquaculture and seafood security in the U.S. After rigorous reviews, which included an evaluation of the technical aspects of the proposals as well as their compliance with environmental laws, the following projects were selected.  All four projects explore promising, but less commercially-developed, technologies for finfish and shellfish aquaculture, with projects ranging from flounder to seaweed aquaculture. The projects started in July and are scheduled for completion in 2021.

For more information, please contact Dr. Louis Daniel, at ldaniel@asmfc.org or 252.342.1478.

Read the full release here

The future of food from the sea, explained

September 15, 2020 — In the year 2050, Earth will have almost 10 billion humans who will eat over 500 billion kilograms of meat. That is 2 billion more people and 177 billion more kilograms of meat than Earth currently has. With land-based meat fraught with climate and environmental impacts, how much animal protein can be sustainably supplied by the ocean? A new (open access) paper in Nature titled, The Future of Food from the Sea, answered that question and provided an economic roadmap for sustainable ocean food production.

The authors conclude that by 2050, the ocean could sustainably provide 80-103 billion kilograms of food, a 36-74% increase compared to the current yield of 59 billion kilograms. Crucially, the 2050 numbers were not a simple calculation of the carrying capacity of food production, but instead reflected the economic realities of growing and harvesting food in the ocean. The authors identified four key steps towards a more bountiful ocean:

  1. Improve fishery management
  2. Implement policy reforms to address mariculture
  3. Advance feed technologies for fed mariculture
  4. Shift consumer demand

In this post, I explain the numbers behind potential food production in the ocean and what the policy and governance process might look like going forward.

Read the full story at Sustainable Fisheries UW

Study Discovers Bias in Lice Counts on Farmed Salmon When Done by Farm Operators

September 14, 2020 — Mandatory self-monitoring can save taxpayers money, but a study out of Simon Fraser University found bias in the routine counting of sea-lice on farmed salmon in pens off the coast of British Columbia.

The scientists found that industry’s monthly counts two species of sea-lice are underestimated significantly. Canada’s federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans found the numbers increased by a factor of nearly 2 for one species of lice and just over a factor of 1 (in other words, doubling the amount) for another. Less lice means less delousing treatments, which are costly.

Read the full story at Seafood News

RHODE ISLAND: DEM to accept applications for $3.1M in fisheries assistance

September 14, 2020 — The R.I. Department of Environmental Management on Friday said it will begin accepting applications for a total of $3.1 million available for fisheries assistance starting Sept. 14.

The funds come from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Applicants can include commercial harvesters, commercial aquaculturists, seafood processors and dealers, for-hire vessels and business owners.

Eligible applicants must have incurred, as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a documented fishery-related loss in revenue between March and May 2020 greater than 35% to related average revenue earned in the same timespan over the previous five years, or applicable years in operation.

Read the full story at the Providence Business News

Regulators say Cooke’s Washington trout farming plans unlikely to impact water quality

September 14, 2020 — The C announced this week it will be holding public hearings on Cooke’s draft permits to switch from farming Atlantic salmon to rainbow trout for four existing netpens in the state.

The permits are for Cooke’s Clam Bay, Fort Ward, Orchard Rocks and Hope Island netpens.

Washington state has already held one public comment period where citizens were able to review Cooke’s permit applications to switch species.

“We considered all comments, then evaluated the water quality impacts around the change in species, and developed updated draft permits,” Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Aquaculture Specialist and Permit Coordinator Laurie Niewolny told IntraFish.

Read the full story at IntraFish

Cooke gets draft revised permits for steelhead trout farms from Washington’s Department of Ecology

September 11, 2020 — Cooke Aquaculture Pacific has received drafted revised water quality permits from Washington’s Department of Ecology, another step forward in its effort to shift from farming Atlantic salmon to steelhead trout in its net-pens in Puget Sound.

Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada-based Cooke has already received a five-year permit from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WSDFW) to farm steelhead trout in at one site near Hope Island in Skagit Bay and three net-pen in Rich Passage.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Pacific Ocean Aquafarms launching offshore yellowtail farm project in California

September 9, 2020 — Long Beach, California, U.S.A.-based Pacific6 has filed a permit application to build an offshore yellowtail farm four miles off the coast of California.

Pacific6 is the same group that purchased the assets of Catalina Sea Ranch, the only permitted aquaculture facility in U.S. federal waters, in May 2020. It has since formed a collaborative group with Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI), a San Diego, California-based nonprofit research institute that works in cooperation with, but is independent of, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

LOUISIANA: Trump administration moves forward with Gulf fish farming plan despite court decision

September 9, 2020 — Floating cages with fish by the thousands may be popping up in the Gulf of Mexico after all.

President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing ahead with a controversial plan to start an offshore aquaculture industry in the Gulf despite a federal appeals court ruling last month that appeared to block it.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans decided on Aug. 3 that the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration does not have the authority to set rules for offshore fish farms. Environmental and commercial fishing groups celebrated the decision, calling it a landmark victory in a long battle to prevent aquaculture in federal waters.

But NOAA and other federal regulators say the ruling won’t halt plans they are carrying out in accordance with an executive order Trump signed in May that aims to remove regulatory barriers impeding aquaculture. The Trump administration says offshore fish farming will broaden markets for the seafood industry and help meet growing demand for fish.

Read the full story at NOLA.com