Saving Seafood

The Battle Over Fish Farming In The Open Ocean Heats Up, As EPA Permit Looms

September 19, 2019 — Americans eat an average of 16 pounds of fish each year, and that number is growing. But how to meet our demand for fish is a controversial question, one that is entering a new chapter as the Environmental Protection Agency seeks to approve the nation’s only aquaculture pen in federal waters.

Fish farming has been positioned by its boosters as a sustainable alternative to wild-caught seafood and an economic driver that would put our oceans to work. So far, restrictions on where aquaculture operations can be located have kept the U.S. industry relatively small. In 2016, domestic aquaculture in state-controlled waters accounted for about $1.6 billion worth of seafood, or about 20 percent of the country’s seafood production.

But the biggest potential home for aquaculture, federally controlled ocean waters, has so far been off limits. States control up to three miles offshore from their coastlines, but between three and 200 miles falls under federal control. Attempts to introduce aquaculture in federal waters have so far been stymied by concerns about aquaculture’s impact on ocean ecosystems and wild fisheries.

Read the full story at WVTF

US foodservice giants urged to buy local seafood

September 5, 2018 — A group of U.S. non-governmental organizations have begun a nationwide campaign urging the nation’s three largest foodservice management companies to buy more local and community-based products, including seafood.

The Community Coalition for Real Meals, which includes the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA), Friends of the Earth, and Real Food Challenge, say that Aramark, Compass Group, and Sodexo need to reorient their business models away from “a system of exclusive relationships with ‘Big Food’ corporations toward greater investments in real food that support producers, communities, and the environment,” according to one of the organization’s statements.

The coalition of farmers, fishers, farmworkers, and others kicked off the campaign with a march against Aramark at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, on 2 September. In the next few months, the Coalition will be holding a series of coordinated actions across the country to urge Aramark, Compass Group, and Sodexo to meet their “real food” targets within five years.

“The reality we’re facing is that the globalized seafood market leads to massive consolidation, where the average seafood travels thousands of miles from point of harvest to point-of-consumption, and is fraught with labor and environmental destruction,” said Julianna Fischer, a NAMA community organizer. ”We envision a different reality – where ecologically responsible, community-based food producers are able to feed their communities first, are paid a fair price, and those working across the food chain are afforded lives with dignity.”

Aramark, Compass Group, and Sodexo, which together manage over half of the country’s cafeterias at universities, hospitals, and other institutions, purchase billions of dollars worth of food from “multinational corporations that pay workers and producers unlivable wages,” the coalition said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source