Seafood News - Industry Events - Seafood Market

Monterey County Herald    6/04/2005 11:26:22

Hannah HickeyPlans for giant, fish-filled pens anchored miles offshore are moving closer to reality, but local opinions are mixed on whether offshore aquaculture is moving ahead too quickly.

With the U.S. fishing industry unable to keep up with the growing appetite for seafood, offshore fish farming is being promoted as an alternative to depleting wild stocks and importing billions of dollars in seafood. The trade deficit for seafood in 2003 was $8 billion. The only natural resource with a bigger trade gap was oil. So the federal government's fledgling Aquaculture Program, formed in 2003, has a target of quintupling the aquaculture industry to $5 billion by 2025.

Art Seavey, co-owner of the Monterey Abalone Co., said he's excited at the prospect.

"In the long run, I think it will make more fish available to the consumer, and that will be good," said Seavey, whose company has been raising red abalone at the end of Monterey's Wharf No. 2 since 1992.

People tend to equate all aquaculture with controversial salmon farming, he said, even though salmon farming isn't permitted in California waters. Other types of aquaculture have fewer problems, Seavey said.

"Mankind has been hunting and gathering in the oceans for a long time," said Seavey. "And in some parts of the world, people have been farming in the oceans for a long time."

Seavey is among those who believe it's time for the United States to join Chile, Norway and other countries in farming the seas, partly because space limitations and coastal regulations on a heavily urbanized coast mean the greatest opportunities for aquaculture in this country lie offshore.

Legislation that would allow the federal government to issue permits for aquaculture in federal waters is likely to go before Congress in a few months, said Michael Rubino, director of the federal Marine Aquaculture Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Rubino said he can't discuss details of the legislation while it is in review, but he said it gives the federal government authority to issue permits for offshore farms.

Pilot projects in New Hampshire, Hawaii and soon California and Puerto Rico are testing cages large enough to hold 30,000 mid-sized fish. Engineers are working to make bigger cages, mechanized feeding tools and stronger anchors to protect against powerful currents in the open ocean. The cages sit 40 to 60 feet beneath the surface to stay out of the way of boats and to avoid most of the turbulence caused by waves.

Though more expensive, the offshore farms have the benefit of being flushed by stronger currents than coastal farms. This lowers the potential for disease in the closely packed animals, reduces the need for antibiotics and disperses animal waste.

In California, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego has proposed a research project, partly funded by Chevron, to attach pens to a natural-gas platform 10.5 miles off the coast of Ventura. The four pens will house all native species -- bluefin tuna, California yellowtail, striped bass, and red abalone -- said project director Paula Sylvia. Rigid, conical cages filled with thousands of small animals will be used as holding pens, to feed the animals and wait until they grow to marketable size. The project is awaiting a permit.

"There's a clear need for increased aquaculture production in the U.S., but also globally, to meet the seafood demand," Sylvia said.

Not everyone sees large-scale aquaculture as a clear-cut solution.

Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, sent a letter to the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in July requesting an environmental impact review before the legislation is put before Congress.

"There are several issues such as water pollution, possible introduction of invasive species and spread of disease, that concern me about expanding aquaculture offshore," Farr said in a recent e-mail. "I sincerely hope NOAA is focusing on the cumulative environmental impact of ramping up offshore aquaculture, instead of blindly promoting it as an economic opportunity."

Farr said that once the legislation reaches Congress he will again ask for an environmental impact report to assess the cumulative impact of offshore farms.

Zeke Grader, director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, was among 15 people to sign Farr's letter.

"Among the fishing community, I think you'd be hard pressed to find any fisherman that would be supportive," Grader said of the proposal. He cited problems with disease and escape of non-native species from other aquaculture projects.

Grader also questions the suggestion that aquaculture will allow marine ecosystems to recover.

"What they're proposing is probably not going to result in an increase in (wild) fish protein -- it will be a decrease," Grader said.

This is because the most economically attractive fish for farming, like salmon, cod and trout, are carnivores. A farm-raised salmon eats more than its own weight in fish meal -- meaning aquaculture still puts pressure on wild stocks.

"We have to make sure that it's a net gain to the ocean, not a net loss," said Michael Sutton, director of the Center for the Future of the Oceans, a new policy institute at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

"I think the danger here is that the federal government is poised to make the same mistakes they made with fishing over the years," Sutton said. "And that is, subsidize the heck out of a new industry with little thought to the long-term effects."

The Monterey Bay is an unlikely site for offshore operations because it has no oil platforms to act as anchors, and it has deep underwater canyons, said Tom Moore, who regulates aquaculture for the California Department of Fish and Game.

However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has contacted the Monterey Bay Aquarium about hosting public discussions on the issue.

After a similar meeting last month, Alaska passed a resolution opposing offshore aquaculture in the state. The federal government responded with an assurance that permits will not be issued against the state's wishes.

States control waters up to three miles from the coast. The federal government has jurisdiction from there out to 200 miles, the beginning of the international high seas.

"I think this is something that's going to develop slowly, carefully," Rubino said. The aquaculture coordinator sees a common goal among environmental groups, coastal representatives and fishermen: "How to do it here, how to provide more of our seafood from domestic sources."