Unprecedented red tides outbreaks in have ravaged our coastline over and over again but instead of cracking down on industries that pollute our waters, Trump’s EPA wants to open up the Gulf to industrial ocean fish farms. They want to give Kampachi Farms a permit for a floating factory farm 40 miles off our shores — a sure way to further distress the balance of our ocean ecosystem, negatively impact our public health and threaten our local economy.
Industrial ocean fish farming — or offshore finfish aquaculture — is the mass cultivation of captive finfish in net pens, pods and cages that:
- Discharge toxins such as untreated fish waste, excess feed, agricultural drugs and pesticides, heavy metals and chemicals.
- Contribute to the spread of disease and pests that threaten wild fish stocks and other marine wildlife.
- Threaten marine mammals, sea turtles, sharks seabirds, and other marine life by entangling them in netting and cages.
- Risk the wild fish stocks upon which that sustainable seafood producers rely.
- Release fish food and the waste it becomes that contributes to nutrient pollution that fuels algal blooms and red tide outbreaks.
Industrial fish farm operations across the world have been linked to all of the above. With overwhelming evidence of the devastating effects that off-coast industrial fish farming has, Washington state and Denmark have taken action to ban these practices. The hearing in Sarasota is especially significant as it would be the first license requested from the EPA for federal waters. The outcome of this permit decision could set a dangerous precedent for our state and country that would pave the way for more fish farms off our coasts and in public waters. This is why we need to make a stand now.
Industrial ocean fish farms are not the answer to meeting seafood demand. If anything, our government should be building more support for sustainable seafood production alternatives to meet our nation’s food security needs. Offshore fish farming endangers our way of life, our tourist economy and our wildlife.
Will you stand with us? The time is now.
