Pew Cautions Against Unregulated Fish Farms in U.S. Federal Waters
November 12, 2009During this year's Global Week of Action, a week devoted to farmed salmon awareness, the Pew Environment Group today raised concern about the creation of fish farms in U.S. waters without adequate uniform national aquaculture standards in place. In the past two months, tens of thousands of farmed salmon have escaped from open-net fish farms in British Columbia, Norway and Scotland. This poses serious threats to wild salmon populations and coastal marine ecosystems. While monetary losses amount to millions of dollars, the ecological damage caused by these fish is immeasurable. Escaped fish spread disease to wild fish and compete and interbreed with wild salmon populations. This September, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) allowed a plan to move forward that will establish fish farms in the Gulf of Mexico. Without necessary safeguards in place, U.S. waters could suffer the same environmental problems affecting other fish farming regions across the globe. NOAA has not yet mandated a set of uniform, national standards to regulate open ocean aquaculture in federal waters. Full release.