Ocean Conservancy Disappointed by Gulf Council's Vote to Open Federal Waters to Aquaculture without National Standards

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The vote last night by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council opens up federally managed oceans to aquaculture expansion without the necessary national environmental, socio-economic, and liability standards. In spite of vast public opposition voiced about the plan over the past several months, unanswered concerns raised by the scientific community, and lingering legal questions over what standing the Council has to develop a permitting system for aquaculture in federally managed waters, the Council has moved their plan forward. The Gulf Council is the first of the eight regional fishery councils to approve open-ocean aquaculture in federal waters.

“With this vote, the Gulf Council has set a dangerous precedent at a time when we need national leadership on the future of U.S. aquaculture,” said George Leonard, director of Ocean Conservancy’s aquaculture program. “Without a precautionary approach including overarching environmental, socio-economic, and liability standards the Council is putting much of the Gulf’s ecological and economic foundation at risk as well as the progress that the Council has made in restoring wild caught stocks such as red snapper. We urge the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington DC to reject this plan. Today’s vote should serve as the impetus Congress needs to debate the merits of a precautionary aquaculture bill that protects the nation’s oceans from the risks of an expanding domestic open ocean aquaculture industry.

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