The Ocean Stewards Institute (OSI) on Monday opposed legislation that would delay development and implementation of a permitting framework for open-ocean mariculture in the Gulf of Mexico by three-and-a-half years.
Introduced by U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) in late May, the bill, titled the Aquaculture Opportunity and Responsibility Act, is designed to protect the Gulf ecosystem, which is being threatened by the Deepwater Horizon oil leak.
But OSI President Neil Sims said that bill would only quash the opportunity to increase domestic seafood production.
“Just as our president sees the Deepwater Horizon tragedy as a wake-up call for America to seek secure, sustainable energy from domestic sources,” said Sims, “so should we view the marine ecosystem consequences of the Gulf [oil] slick as a wake-up call for creating secure, sustainable domestic sources of seafood. And open-ocean mariculture is our best hope.”
Vitter called the bill “a common-sense reprieve” to give scientists and economists the time to investigate the potential effects of open-ocean aquaculture on the ecosystem and on the region’s fishing communities.
“We share the senator’s concerns with the plight of Gulf fishermen, but open-ocean mariculture can provide stable employment for displaced fishermen, and can protect working waterfronts,” said Sims. “Open-ocean mariculture provides consumers with assurances of product quality and can alleviate pressure on wild fish stocks.”
Vitter’s bill comes over a year after the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council voted to establish a permitting framework for fish farming in Gulf waters, a plan the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration approved last September. (The agency is currently developing an national offshore aquaculture policy.)
The bill is backed by Washington, D.C.-based environmental NGO Food & Water Watch.
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