US aquaculture coalition pleased with early impact

Since announcing its formation six months ago, the Coalition of U.S. Seafood Production (CUSP) has met twice with federal agencies and legislators in Washington, D.C. to support government action to grow domestic aquaculture, and they are optimistic about progress made to date.

“CUSP has already had an impact,” said Don Kent, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute president. “There has been a lack of cohesiveness in the aquaculture industry with the different players not talking to each other. CUSP was conceptualized as representing a horizontally and vertically integrated business community, spanning different aquaculture methods and seafood species, and the entire supply stream — feed and equipment companies, fish farmers, seafood distributors, retailers and restaurants. CUSP is the aquaculture industry in a nutshell — and your voice gets heard more effectively the larger the group responded.”

In March, a group of CUSP members, including representatives from the Soy Aquaculture Alliance (SAA), Icicle Seafoods, Bell Aquaculture, and the Maine Aquaculture Association (MAA), met in Washington, D.C. with newly appointed NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan. The group urged for finalization of the Fishery Management Plan for Regulating Offshore Marine Aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico, which was approved by the Gulf Regional Fisheries Council and sent to NOAA in 2009.

Although the agency could not specify when the plan would be finalized at the meeting, one week later the Plan was released to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, a critical step in finalization.The group also met with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who encouraged CUSP to work on public/private partnerships for aquaculture demonstration projects. This subject was further discussed with Dr. Jo Handesman, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

At a follow-up meeting with the OSTP, CUSP members, including representatives from the SAA, MAA, Zeigler Feed and Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems, had further discussions about a workshop with industry, federal agency and NGO stakeholders. The planned workshop will explore development of commercial scale, successful aquaculture projects to demonstrate the viability of domestic aquaculture, while providing important data for environmental and economic evaluation.

In May, the group also met with OMB to present comments to the Gulf Plan submitted by CUSP’s internal working group of ocean aquaculture specialists (Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, Icicle Foods, MAA and the Ocean Stewards Institute). The comments addressed what needs to be changed in the current plan so that aquaculture projects in the Gulf can be commercially viable. Once the OMB reviews the plan, it will go back to NOAA for public comment.

“A lot of us in CUSP are U.S.-based, but we’re involved with aquaculture on a global scale and are savvy about how it works. Zeigler was recognized by the Department of Commerce as Small Business Exporter of the Year for 2013, and we target our business in Asia, Africa and Europe because that’s where the growth is. But we would love nothing more than a healthier domestic market for our products,” said Chris Stock, Zeigler Feed sales manager.