July 23, 2020 — A boat traveling southwest from Sarasota into the Gulf of Mexico for a little over two hours will reach a spot where the ocean is 130 feet deep and the sandy sea floor holds no corals, seagrass or shipwrecks.
For almost three years it’s been the proposed site for anchoring a submerged mesh cage — one about the size of 20 backyard swimming pools — to raise a fast-growing native fish called the almaco jack. A company’s small pilot project aims to show how offshore fish farming can be done responsibly with minimal environmental impacts to produce sustainable seafood. Opponents are deeply concerned that, if permitted, the project would lead to larger fish farms that spark algae blooms and compete with regional fishers.
A Trump administration executive order introduced in May could now accelerate the launch of offshore fish farms as part of its mission to boost domestic seafood production. The order calls for investigating two U.S. locations to start up commercial aquaculture, the farming of aquatic animals and plants. Florida representatives, including U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott and Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Nicole Fried, have asked for Florida’s federal waters, defined as three to 200 nautical miles from shore, to be one of those locations.
Fish farm proponents point to a growing population with growing demands for seafood that can’t be met by wild-caught fish. Over 80% of seafood eaten in the U.S. is imported, though some of that includes U.S. seafood processed elsewhere then imported back to the U.S.
“We’re essentially exporting our ecological footprint,” said Neil Sims, CEO of Ocean Era, the company applying to raise captive fish in the Gulf. “We need to figure out how to grow these fish ourselves in U.S. waters where we can have control over the environmental standards and the food safety standards.”