NOAA launches aquaculture plan, economic incentives

The Obama administration next week reintroduces to the nation the rough outlines of an offshore ocean aquaculture policy dating back more than a decade, which while still lacking specifics, offers powerful economic incentives if environmental, technological and political problems can be solved.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where the policy template has resided since the Clinton administration, announced a series of "listening sessions" in Rhode Island, Louisana, Washington state, Hawaii and California to be followed by a national call-in event on May 6.

The first listening session will be held in Narragansett, R.I., next Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Corless Auditorium on the Narragansett Bay campus of the University of Rhode Island.

The launch of the ocean aquaculture policy begins four days after the public comment period on the pending catch share program closes Saturday. The radical transformation of the wild stocks from shared ownership into allocated catching rights ripe for investment has dominated the national debate on oceans and fishing almost from the moment Jane Lubchenco was confirmed by the Senate to head NOAA 13 months ago.

Lubchenco helped promote catch shares as an academic scientist and vice chairwoman of the board of the Environmental Defense Fund, which is fascinated with the power of investment to solve environmental problems.

The debate over ocean aquaculture, described by NOAA as "the propagation and rearing of aquatic marine organisms in controlled or selected aquatic environments for any commercial, recreational, or public purpose" at least three miles from shore where federal jurisdiction begins and runs for 200 miles, arrives with much less certainty than Lubehenco's catch shares.

The privatization idea arrived all but fully formed, but Lubchenco has conceded doubts about ocean aquaculture.

"I understand that there are very real and legitimate questions that have been raised about offshore aquaculture," she told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in her confirmation questioning. "I do not believe that we have identified the right conditions under which aquaculture is sustainable."

In contrast, writing in the May issue of National Fisherman, Washington lawyers Drew Minkiewicz and David Frulla, with commercial fishing clients, bemoaned what they took to be Lubchenco's closed mind on catch shares. "We are concerned an agency headed by a scientist ... is showing so little scientific curiosity," they wrote.

Mike Rubino, NOAA's director of aquaculture, said the idea has "been in the works for many years, and many lessons have been learned at the working waterfront level." He said any program must show "buy in and receive acceptance by the commercial sector."

Rubino noted that inshore aquaculture — oysters, clams and mussels — have proved successful, but the problems of scale and transportation, management and weather inherent in anchoring systems at sea have not been solved here or elsewhere.

"Attempts to farm things like halibut, flounder and Dover sole have not done real well," said Rod Moore, a West Coast commercial processor and member of the Pacific Fishery Management Council. "An effort was made in Falklands a couple years ago and, as I recall, they went out of business."

Nearly all the farmed seafood comes from inshore operations, and there is a lot of it and more to come.

"We import 84 percent of our seafood and half of that is from aquaculture — yet we are a minor producer," NOAA noted in a new fact sheet published for use in the impending re-launch of the program.

"Globally, aquaculture already supplies half of the world's seafood and the United Nations projects that most of the future increase in seafood supply must come from aquaculture. From a national perspective, a compelling case can be made for growing more seafood in the United States. Aquaculture, as a complement to wild harvest fisheries, can help meet the growing demand for seafood and help rebuild our wild fish stocks.

"Domestic aquaculture is also critical to maintaining an infrastructure in coastal communities to support both commercial fisheries and aquaculture and all of the jobs associated with the seafood industry."

Despite his commercial processing perspective, Moore was not dismissive of ocean aquaculture.

"As much as we all love wild fish and fishermen and your friendly neighborhood seafood processor, the fact remains that the world demand for seafood outstrips likely supply from wild sources. ... Does it not make sense to develop the capability, under an agreed-upon set of rules that will allow business decisions to be made rationally, to have our own aquaculture program?

On this question, there is much disagreement.

"It seems to be a very unwise investment," said Marinne Cufone, director of the fish program for the consumer group, Food & Water Watch. "It could possibly devastate wild harvesting. The commercial fishermen are already struggling."

She said for now it was impossible to say how economic forces might align around ocean aquaculture as pressure builds for universal certification of seafood sustainability under the influence of Walmart's purchasing power.

"Whoever's driving the bus is someone who's been around through multiple administrations," she said.

Another perspective comes from Sebastian Belle of the Maine Aquaculture Association in Hallowell.

"Domestic production is a good thing," he said. "We operate with the highest standards in the world. The environmental community has asserted that aquaculture is a threat to the wild fisheries — it's a red herring.

Belle said he thought the fault line that will develop will be between the people of the working waterfront and a "bunch of elitists who are using environmental concerns to advance their preservationist policies."

After the listening session in Rhode Island next week, the focus moves to New Orleans on April 19, then Seattle on April 22, Honolulu on April 27, and Menlo Park, Calif., on April 29, before the national call-in on May 6.

Times, locations and details are available from the NOAA Fisheries Service Web site at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/policy1/

Richard Gaines may be contacted at 978-283-7000 x3464 or rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.

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