Lawsuit filed to stop Gulf fish farming

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Daily Comet

Lawsuit filed to stop Gulf fish farming

By Meredith Burns

Published: Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at 9:21 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at 9:21 p.m.

A coalition of fishermen, business people and environmentalists is suing federal officials over the recent decision to allow industrial fish farming in the Gulf of Mexico.

On Feb. 12, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration opened the Gulf Aquaculture permit application for the first open-ocean commercial fish farms in Gulf federal waters after years of regulatory debate.

The Center for Food Safety and other groups filed a suit challenging the legality and consequences of NOAA regulations allowing fish farming in the Gulf.

“Offshore industrial aquaculture will cause irreparable harm to the Gulf ecosystems and coastal communities,” George Kimbrell, senior attorney for Center for Food Safety and counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a news release after the Feb. 12 lawsuit was filed. “We need to better manage and protect our native fisheries, not adopt destructive industrial food practices that put them at risk. This lawsuit, brought by a range of concerned stakeholders, aims to halt these shortsighted plans.”


Read more: http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20160301/ARTICLES/160309973/1030/OPINION02?Title=Lawsuit-filed-to-stop-Gulf-fish-farming

[AxionExcel]

1. TPP will spawn more industrialized fish farming with its irreparable harms

...and more industrialized corporate agriculture with its vast and irreparable harms.

[Darb]

2. So how do you propose to feed the world's population?

The oceans are quickly being depleted. Serious question.

[AxionExcel]

3. I'm flattered that you think I have the answer. I would instead refer you to

...some of the many thousands of people who have expertise and understanding in sustainable, non-polluting systems. If you are sincerely looking for questions, you might well begin here:

Summary of the United Nations Special Rapporteur Report on the Right to Food

https://www.leopold.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/UN_Right-to-Food.pdf
,

[Darb]

4. I was not claiming fish farming is bad.

I am not sure if it is or isn't. You were tying it to TPP for some reason and making some kind of negative point. It was a fair question. If "fish farming" out at sea is bad, what do you propose?

[AxionExcel]

5. Anyone paying attention knows the TPP will vastly increase industrial exploitation

of the commons, including the fisheries. I did The Google for you (see link below), but from here on out you will have to do your own basic research. I do not propose anything, since I have no standing, but I do support clean sustainable fisheries. Once again, if you are sincerely interested in that VAST subject, you will have to do your own googling.

http://www.citizen.org/documents/fww-tpp-fish-imports-april-2014.pdf

[Darb]

6. Sorry, just fail to see the connection between

TPP and the "anti" fish farming position in the Gulf of Mexico. I think that the proposal is to allow American companies to farm in American waters, or near to. As far as the connection to TPP allowing more "imported" fish, well, that may be, but what does that have to do with domestic fish farming? Or is it not "domestic"?

I really wanted to have a discussion about the pros and cons of fish farming. The TPP part is a whole other matter.

Since you brought up the point of discussion that TPP is intertwined with fish farming and fish farming is bad, I wanted to discuss it. My point is that you are adding TPP into the mix without explaining how it is connected. Allowing domestic fish farming in the Gulf of Mexico is related to the TPP?

Don't get it. Or rather, I think I do get it.