A pair of United States senators have reintroduced legislation that would effectively ban offshore finfish farming in U.S. federal waters.
U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) have introduced the Keep Finfish Free Act, a bill that would bar federal agencies from permitting, authorizing, or facilitating commercial finfish farming in federal waters. The legislation would prevent the establishment of any finfish aquaculture operations within 3 to 200 nautical miles of U.S. shores until Congress explicitly approves a permitting system.
“Alaskans are deeply invested in protecting the health of our marine ecosystem and maintaining the sustainability of our world-class fisheries,” Sullivan said in a statement. “That is why I’m introducing legislation with Senator Booker to ban risky fish farming operations in federal waters that could jeopardize the health of our fish species and undermine Alaska’s coastal fishing communities.”
Advocates of offshore finfish aquaculture have argued that Congress needs to pass a uniform permitting system for fish farming operations in federal waters. Instead, companies have had to rely on a permitting process run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, although the U.S. Federal Court for the Western District of Washington ruled last year that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ permit system was unlawful because it hadn’t adequately considered the environmental impacts of finfish farming. Opponents of these aquaculture operations – including Booker – frequently site pollution and other environmental damage as a key reason to reject any permits.
“Industrial finfish aquaculture operations are like underwater factory farms, polluting our oceans and spreading potentially deadly diseases and parasites to wild fish,” Booker said in a statement. “These operations use millions of pounds of wild fish to feed the caged fish at an unsustainable rate of consumption that depletes marine resources in traditional fishing areas. As we make decisions that will impact the future of our oceans, we should not go down the unsustainable road of allowing commercial finfish aquaculture in our federal waters. Instead we should chart a different path built around the health of wild fish stocks and ocean ecosystems.”
First introduced in 2021 by since-deceased U.S. Representative Don Young (R-Alaska), the Keep Finfish Free Act was unable to gain momentum in Congress. Now, four years later, Sullivan and Booker are hoping to breathe new life into the legislation.
The bill has been endorsed by SalmonState, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of NJ, and Clean Ocean Action.
“The last thing our ocean needs is industrialization, especially off New Jersey and New York coasts,” Clean Ocean Action Executive Director Cindy Zipf said in a statement. “Offshore finfish farms would harm and contaminate our wild and free ocean with pollution including from pharmaceuticals, chemical feed, and concentrated fecal matter. It will also promote diseases and genetic mutations which will threaten native species. In short, nothing but yuck. We need strong laws to ensure our ocean is clean and healthy for all to enjoy today and for future generations.”
