Maine's embattled fish farms took another hit this week when a report on the state of the seas called aquaculture a "major threat" to the world's oceans and recommended new federal regulation. The Pew Oceans Commission Report was released Wednesday after three years of work by an independent panel of 18 lawmakers, environmentalists, scientists and fishermen.
The United States controls 4.5 million square miles of ocean, more than the land area of the nation. Yet the government has rarely approached the seas as a whole, resulting in a "hodgepodge" of legislation that addresses single issues or species to the detriment of others - and to the ocean itself, the report said.
The report identifies several major threats to the oceans including pollution, invasive species, aquaculture, coastal development, overfishing, habitat alteration, bycatch and climate change.
For Maine, which is the nation's largest producer of farm-raised fish, Pew recommendations on aquaculture could have the most immediate impact. The report calls for a moratorium on the expansion of marine fish farms and on the use of genetically altered fish until federal marine aquaculture standards are drafted.
"Because the aquaculture industry is still young and relatively small, there is time and opportunity for it to develop in an ecologically sound way," the report said.
The report recommends oversight of the industry be shifted from the U. S. Department of Agriculture to a new cabinet-level oceans department created from parts of other agencies.
The report specifically cites several problems with disease and fish escapes at Maine farms. It also details environmentalists' criticism of the industry, particularly the pollution created by fish farms. An average salmon farm can release as many nutrients into the water as a small city, the report said.
The criticisms are nothing new, and efforts are already underway to correct the problems, Sebastian Belle of the Maine Aquaculture Association responded Thursday.
Conversely, the report points to ecologically responsible aquaculture as a means of meeting growing demand for seafood while worldwide fish stocks are declining. According to the report, the average American consumer ate 15.2 pounds of seafood last year.
The report called the decline of New England's fisheries "notorious." By 1989, cod, haddock and yellowtail flounder had reached historic lows, it said.
Maine's lobstermen got one of the rare commendations from the commission. The fishery's co-management system, in which a central body sets regional quotas based on scientists' findings, while councils of local lobstermen are empowered to figure out the details, was called "one of the best examples of innovation in fishery management."
This balance between centralization and local autonomy should be expanded to other overstressed fisheries, said Patten White, a York lobsterman who was the sole Mainer on the commission.
Others, however, criticize the idea of centralization, worried that a large, ineffectual ocean bureaucracy could result.
"It would be farther distanced from the people who are affected ... it wouldn't be very democratic," said Lewis Flagg, a deputy commissioner of Maine's Department of Marine Resources.
The Pew report also calls for the consolidation of scientific efforts, describing a future in which entire ecosystems, the whole network of predators and prey, are managed in concert. The report proposes tripling the funding available for scientific research.
But Flagg said that so-called "ecosystem management" may be years away.
"It's a laudable goal, but we need a whole lot more information and a lot more tools than we have right now," he said.
While environmental groups applauded the report's global vision, fisheries regulators like Flagg were less enthusiastic.
Although many of the ideas sound good, implementing them could prove tremendously difficult, said Tom Hill, chairman of the New England Fisheries Management Council.
Several fisheries regulators also commented on the report's negativity, and the dearth of information about how proposed policy changes would affect fishing families and communities.
"I think it definitely takes the perspective that fish should come first", said Hill.
Before any policy changes are made, however, the commission's recommendations will likely be considered alongside a report from the President's Ocean Commission, which is due this fall. Legislators will then be responsible for seeking the balance between environment and economy.
source: http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/articles/060603studyfindsfishfar_medgecomb.cfm?& 22aug03
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