NOAA proposes first federal aquaculture guidelines

Yesterday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration unveiled the federal government's first policy guidelines for aquaculture. The guidelines pave the way for "farm-raised seafood to be produced in federal waters as long as the operations do not threaten wild fish stocks or saltwater ecosystems," Cornelia Dean of The New York Times reports. In 2009, farmed fish and shellfish passed wild-caught stocks as the major source of seafood worldwide, Dean writes. NOAA estimates that the U.S. imports 84 percent of the seafood consumed in the country with half of that produced through aquaculture. Public comment on the guidelines is open until April 11.

"While shellfish aquaculture is common in state waters, which typically extend to three miles offshore, most fin fish farmed in the United States are freshwater plant-eating fish like tilapia," Dean writes. "There has been little farming of saltwater fin fish." NOAA allowed an aquaculture plan for the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to proceed in 2009 because the agency said in the absence of a federal policy they had no grounds to block the gulf plan. NOAA officials told Dean that plan would be re-evaluated in light of the new guidelines. The guidelines call for more research on "alternate feeds" and call for a ban on stocking fish farms with non-native fish. (Read more)