CFA SIGNS ON TO AQUACULTURE LETTER

Commercial Fishermen of America (CFA) has signed onto a letter cautioning U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke against approving the Aquaculture Fishery Management Plan (FMP) adopted by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council in January 2009.   The adoption was the first attempt to create a FMP for an aquaculture species.  The letter was backed by a coalition of conservation organizations, consumer organizations, seafood businesses, independent scientists, and other concerned parties.  The signers raised four primary issues.

 

First, the letter claims that the Gulf Council and NOAA do not have authority under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to develop a permitting system for open ocean aquaculture.  Second, the letter claims that the FMP that was developed is incomplete and illegal because it does not meet the requirements of NEPA and the ESA.  Third, the FMP lacks standards to protect Gulf ecosystems and communities from impacts that may result from the rapid expansion of open ocean aquaculture.  Lastly, the letter states, “a decision by [Locke] to approve the Aquaculture FMP will directly undercut the role of Congress in fully considering federal legislation to develop a coordinated national framework for open ocean aquaculture, with explicit environmental performance standards, to regulate this nascent industry.”

 

A draft of the letter may be found at http://www.mangroveactionproject.org/news/action-alerts/help-appeal-the-open-ocean-aquaculture-fishery-plan-in-the-gulf-of-mexico 

 

(From THE INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES RESOURCES AND THE PACIFIC COAST FEDERATION OF FISHERMEN'S ASSOCIATIONS Newsletter)