Tell Congress: Say no to factory farms in our oceans!

Congress is considering a bill that will hand over our oceans to massive industrial fish farms. These corporate-owned operations are essentially floating factory farms that devastate our ocean ecosystem, public health, society and the economy.

You still have a chance to stop this bill and protect our oceans from these polluting facilities. But you need to speak up now!

Dear Legislator,

I was alarmed to hear that legislation has recently been introduced in the Senate to create a new regulatory and permitting program for offshore aquaculture in federal waters. This bill, S. 7423, is very similar to the AQUAA Act (H.R. 6191), which was previously introduced in the House in March of this year.  I am deeply opposed to both of these bills and ask that you please refrain from supporting these efforts.

There are a number of inherent impacts from this industry that cannot be mitigated or avoided, and countries like Canada and Denmark are now moving away from this industry after experiencing decades of harm. No amount of environmental and socio-economic safeguards will sufficiently protect the ocean ecosystem, coastal communities, and consumers.

I was extremely concerned that the AQUAA Act introduced in the last Congress seemed to ignore the significant impacts that these factory fish farms have on wild-capture fisheries, the environment, and protected species. This Congress, the reintroduced bills have many of the same pitfalls. Most troubling is the lack of rigorous requirements on the use of pharmaceuticals, feed, stocking density, and species of fish for cultivation (including GMO and non-native species). There is also a dearth of meaningful ways to protect and support our pre-existing seafood producers. Moreover, I am against placing jurisdiction within NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, which has exhibited a real conflict of interest in attempting to both promote and regulate this industry. NOAA is charged with protecting our oceans and conserving marine species and their habitats. Allowing marine finfish aquaculture in our marine ecosystem contradicts every aspect of the agency’s mission. Rather, jurisdiction should fall under an agency like USDA, which is charged with regulating and overseeing all other forms of animal husbandry.

I am very disturbed over the potential impacts this new industry will bring to our wild-capture fishing industries and other marine- and coastal-reliant communities. Commercial fishermen will be forced to directly compete with farmed fish in the marketplace and will directly suffer from a degraded ocean ecosystem. Further, permitting massive aquaculture facilities in federal waters will privatize already limited marine space, preventing others from accessing public waterways.

I urge you to do everything you can to prioritize opposing this legislation (S. 7423/H.R. 6191). Please do not hand over our oceans to industrial finfish farms, and instead support truly sustainable seafood production alternatives.

Thank you,
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