Saving Seafood

‘Aquaculture’s Next Wave’ Explores How Maine Entrepreneurs Are Navigating Changing Seas

October 2, 2018 — This week we’re taking a deep dive into aquaculture and its potential to add real value to the state’s coastal economies. In “Aquaculture’s Next Wave” we will meet the innovators who are trying to take seafood farming to a new level in Maine.

Worldwide, aquaculture now provides more than half the world’s seafood. Yet here in the U.S. and in Maine, it’s far behind wild caught harvest. At the same time, we in the U.S. import roughly 90 percent of our seafood. For some investors and entrepreneurs, including Maine lobstermen, that spells opportunity.

Maine Public reporter Fred Bever spoke with Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz about aggressive exploration of new technologies and new markets for farmed seafood.

Gratz: Why is aquaculture important right now?

Bever: It’s because marine ecosystems and economies are being disrupted. Actively farming fish, shellfish, even seaweed — that can be a hedge against disruption and, long term, maybe the most profitable response. There’s a growing set of Maine visionaries who are pursuing that.

The planet’s oceans are always in flux and wild harvests have long been vulnerable to natural variation and overfishing, right?

Yes, but with the oceans warming, the dynamics are accelerating, and that’s nowhere more true than in the Gulf of Maine.

Scientists say the Gulf is warming faster than 99 percent of the world’s oceans, correct?

That’s almost a truism now. We’ve seen epic disruptions in recent decades — the crash of cod, fisheries for marine shrimp, for urchin and now herring are all restricted, lobster populations are making a slow march ever north and east following the warming trends.

Read the full story at Maine Public

‘The Wave Of The Future Is Breaking, Right Here In Maine’ – Aquaculture And Maine Entrepreneurs

October 2, 2018 — Maine’s 21st century saltwater farmers are using new techniques and technology to produce scallops, oysters, salmon and eels — to name just a few. All this week Maine Public Radio is profiling innovators who want to take Maine’s aquaculture industry to the next level.

Maine Public reporter Fred Bever has spent some time with these entrepreneurs, reporting for our series, “Aquaculture’s Next Wave.” He joined Nora Flaherty on Maine Things Considered to discuss the project.

Flaherty: Fred, you’ve been doing a lot of reporting on this. What’s the bottom line?

Bever: The bottom line is that Maine fishermen are increasingly turning to farming fish and shellfish as a hedge against uncertainty about the wild fisheries.

Now, is that because the Gulf of Maine is warming so fast? Is it overfishing?

It’s both, and there are other factors, but the Gulf is warming faster than most saltwater bodies on the planet, which is disrupting ecosystems and wild-caught harvests. The herring fishery is recently in trouble — we’ve seen a lot about that in the news lately — but cod, urchin, Maine shrimp, they’re all restricted now or completely off-limits.

But the warmer waters have been good for lobster populations here and for the lobster industry, right?

Incredibly good, we’ve seen record hauls this decade. But an appreciable number of lobstermen are not taking that for granted. Lobster populations are slowly moving north and east, herring for bait are an issue now, and the plight of the North Atlantic right whale threatens to force expensive, and maybe prohibitive, gear changes by fishermen.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Mississippi’s Palazzo gives US House it’s own offshore aquaculture bill

October 2, 2018 — Those who seek to clarify that the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has authority over offshore aquaculture now have bills in both chambers of Congress, but time is short.

Representatives Steven Palazzo, a Mississippi Republican, and Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat, introduced the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act (HR 6966) on Friday, giving a companion to a similar bill (S. 3138) introduced in June by senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican.

Both HR 6966 and S. 3138 seek to create an Office of Marine Aquaculture within NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service that would streamline the approval process for new aquaculture facilities in federal waters, three to 200 miles offshore. They would help fund research and extension services for several existing aquaculture priorities.

“The bill would make no changes to current environmental standards, but instead uphold and maintain existing standards,” a press release assures.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

NOAA Statement on Recent Court Ruling on Aquaculture

October 2, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA is considering whether to appeal the Eastern District of Louisiana’s finding that NOAA does not have regulatory authority to regulate aquaculture under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Given conflicting court decisions and the desire for regulatory certainty, NOAA supports congressional efforts to clarify the agency’s statutory authority to regulate aquaculture.

NOAA remains committed to expanding the social, environmental, and economic benefits of sustainable marine aquaculture in the U.S. It is important to note that this ruling is not a prohibition on marine aquaculture, either nationally or in the Gulf of Mexico, and we will continue to work with stakeholders through existing policies and legislation to increase aquaculture permitting efficiency and predictability.

Read the full release here

Bipartisan aquaculture bill filed in US House

October 1, 2018 — American aquaculture supporters scored a victory late last week as two U.S. congressmen announced the filing of a bill that would give the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regulatory authority over fish farming in federal waters.

U.S. Reps. Steven Palazzo (R-Mississippi) and Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota) introduced the Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture, or AQUAA, Act in a joint statement on Friday 28 September. The House bill is a companion piece to a bill with the same name filed earlier this year by U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi).

It also comes just days after a federal judge in Louisiana ruled that NOAA Fisheries could not use the Magnuson-Stevens Act to regulate aquaculture in offshore waters.

Prior to that ruling, aquaculture supporters touted the AQUAA Act as a way to streamline the process for which developers received permits for such projects. The procedure, which could require approvals from such agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Transportation, was seen as expensive and burdensome as agencies sometimes could not agree which one should take the lead.

“The United States does not have a comprehensive, nationwide permitting system for marine aquaculture in federal waters. Our bill seeks to rectify this by establishing an office under NOAA that would be charged with coordinating the federal permitting process,” Palazzo said. “It would also fund research and extension services for several existing aquaculture priorities.”

Palazzo had been lined up to be the Republican sponsor of the bill for weeks as an industry trade group sought support from the Democratic side. Stronger America Through Seafood touted Peterson’s bona fides in a statement shortly after the bill was announced.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US aquaculture advocates: Judge’s ruling on Gulf of Mexico proves need for law

September 28, 2018 — A lobbying group organized by more than a dozen powerful seafood companies says a ruling this week by a federal judge that the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) doesn’t have the authority to oversee fish pens in federal waters is why new legislation is needed.

In a 15-page opinion handed down Monday, US district court judge Jane Triche Milazzo, in the Eastern District of Louisiana, granted a motion by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and a coalition of fishing and public interest groups it represented to grant a summary judgment in its lawsuit against NMFS to block its efforts to establish aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico.

Milazzo has given the plaintiffs 10 days to file a proposed judgment.

CFS filed its lawsuit against NMFS, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in February 2016, arguing that the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), passed in 1976, was meant to give NMFS authority over the harvesting of wild fish, not aquaculture.

“In analyzing the plain text, statutory scheme, and legislative history of the MSA, this court finds that the term ‘harvesting’ was intended to refer to the traditional fishing of wild fish,” Milazzo wrote in her opinion. “There is nothing in the MSA or its legislative history to suggest that Congress might have intended that the term be defined to include the farming of fish.

“… It is often said that ‘Congress does not ‘hide elephants in mouseholes’, and this court cannot imagine a more fitting example,” she added.

NMFS, in January 2016, with the help of the Gulf Council, finalized regulations to authorize a federal commercial aquaculture permitting scheme in the gulf. According to CFS, the program would have allowed up to 20 industrial facilities and collectively 64 million pounds of fish to be grown each year in the area.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

“Humane aquaculture” could boost US seafood consumption, study finds

September 27, 2018 — Humane production practices could have a huge impact on market expansion for farmed seafood in the United States, according to a new study from surveying firms Changing Tastes and Datassential.

Previewed this week in Ecuador at the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s annual GOAL conference, the study – titled “Humane Aquaculture: Opportunities on the Plate” – assesses the influence that humane production practices have on both American consumers and foodservice purchasers when it comes to buying seafood.

Half of the American consumers and foodservice purchasing decision-makers polled for the study said they were more likely to buy fish and seafood that is humanely harvested, with more than half of the survey participants in both groups also subscribing to the belief that humanely produced fish and seafood is likely to be higher quality, taste better, and have better texture.

“Humane production practices may increase the attractiveness of farmed fish and seafood both to U.S. consumers and to the businesses that purchase it and offer or serve it to them,” said Arlin Wasserman of Changing Tastes in a statement detailing the study’s findings. “Increasing the attractiveness of farmed fish and seafood can create meaningful opportunities over the next several years.”

Farmed seafood, if positioned right, could become a viable replacement for beef on many American consumers’ plates, especially if an earlier study conducted by Changing Tastes pans out, the research firms said. According to that study, U.S. consumers were on-trend to reduce their beef consumption by 20 percent by 2025.

Several recent studies from Datassential also show that more Americans are planning on reducing the amount of time red meat hits their plates.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Judge: NOAA can’t regulate fish farming under fisheries law

September 27, 2018 — A federal judge in New Orleans has thrown out the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s rules for fish farms in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the agency lacked authority to make them.

Tuesday’s ruling halts a plan that would have allowed, “for the first time, industrial aquaculture offshore in U.S. federal waters,” according to the Center for Food Safety , which sued NOAA on behalf of what U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo described as “a bevy of special interest groups representing both food safety advocates and Gulf fishermen.”

The government considers fish farming, including that on the open sea, to be “vital for supporting our nation’s seafood production, year-round jobs, rebuilding protected species and habitats, and enhancing coastal resilience.” Opponents say huge numbers of fish confined in nets out in the ocean could hurt ocean health and native fish stocks, and the farms would drive down prices and devastate commercial fishing communities.

“It’s a landmark decision,” George Kimbrell, lead counsel for the Center for Food Safety, said in a telephone interview from San Francisco.

“NOAA wanted to do this sort of industrial permitting not just in the Gulf of Mexico but in the Pacific and along the Atlantic coast,” he said.

The agency was working on rules for waters around Hawaii and other Pacific islands.

NOAA is considering whether to appeal the ruling handed down Tuesday, it said in an emailed statement.

The decision doesn’t forbid aquaculture, the statement emailed by spokeswoman Jennie Lyons noted. “NOAA remains committed to expanding the social, environmental, and economic benefits of sustainable marine aquaculture in the U.S.” it said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post

Plans for second-largest oyster farm in US state of Maine runs into resistance

September 27, 2018 — An effort to launch what would be the second-largest oyster farm in the US state of Maine is running into some resistance, the Portland Press Herald reports.

Doug Niven and Dan Devereaux, owners of The Mere Point Oyster Co., in Brunswick, have planned a 40-acre oyster farm in Maquoit Bay, consolidating 26 aquaculture licenses to produce about 5 million oysters annually.

The bay is about 3,000 acres and the Maine Department of Marine Resources limit for aquaculture farms is 100 acres. A site review shows the farm unlikely to affect boat traffic or hinder lobster harvesters and bait fishermen.

But some residents, calling themselves the Maquoit Preservation Group, attended a meeting of the Brunswick Town Council last week to voice concerns about the proposal, including especially the impact on the environment and the amount of noise produced by the oyster tumbler. One resident compared the oyster sorting machine to having a cement mixer on the water. They say they were surprised to learn of the size of the farm, as most other oyster farms in the area are just five to 10 acres.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Federal officials promote aquaculture, or fish farms, as next big thing in seafood production

September 26, 2018 — Offshore fish farms could soon dot the seascape along with those oil and gas platforms being proposed for U.S. waters by the Trump administration.

The fish farms, which would be installed from 3 to 200 miles out, are being touted as a way to boost seafood production, provide jobs and reduce the nation’s $16 billion trade deficit due to America’s importing nearly 90 percent of its seafood favorites.

The U.S. Commerce Department is holding meetings around the country through November to talk about its strategic plan for getting aquaculture off the ground. At a recent session in Juneau, NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Chris Oliver said that wild harvests simply can’t keep up with global demand.

“Aquaculture is going to be where the major increases in seafood production occur, whether it happens in foreign countries or in U.S. waters,” Oliver said.

“Aquaculture would seem like an ideal industry for the country, since it has the second-largest exclusive enterprise zone in the world — meaning it has proprietary marine resource rights over an area totaling roughly 4.4 million square miles in three oceans, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico,” wrote Seafood Source.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News