Stop floating factory farms from polluting our oceans with plastic!

Plastic is used at every level in industrial ocean fish farms. Nets. Tanks. Feed bags. Piping. Liners. Transportation. Chemical storage. They all add up to plastic pollution that fills our oceans.

There are an estimated 51 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans right now. It entangles marine species, who also ingest fragments that cause injuries and death. We need your help to stop industrial ocean fish farms from adding to the plastic crisis.

Comments

Dear Ms. Sagar:

Thank you for accepting public comments on NOAA’s response to President Biden’s recent Executive Order on the climate crisis. I am writing today to express my deep concern that NOAA is considering expanding industrial offshore aquaculture as a potential climate-friendly food solution. I urge NOAA to instead focus on truly sustainable seafood production methods, like wild-capture fishing and certain regenerative, recirculating systems on land, that do not carry the significant risks that are found in floating factory farms.

Industrial ocean finfish farming – also known as marine finfish aquaculture or simply offshore finfish aquaculture – is the mass cultivation of finned fish in the ocean, in net pens, pods, and cages. These are essentially floating feedlots, which can have devastating environmental and socio-economic impacts. They can cause massive, catastrophic fish spills -- like the release of more than 263, 000 Atlantic salmon from a floating feedlot in Washington State in 2017 -- which spread disease, risk genetic degradation, and create unnecessary competition with our already struggling native fish stocks. They attract and harm predators and other wildlife. These industrial fish farms directly discharge a whole host of pollutants into public waters aside from spilling farmed fish, including anti-foulants, excess feed, and untreated fish waste. Moreover, they are corporate-driven, which only means higher profits at the expense of sustainable operations and quality products. In fact, these factory farms are leading to the demise of our wild fishing communities and related industries by placing downward pressure on fishing prices and creating competition for limited marine space.

There are too many risks associated with this industry to expand it in our oceans. Moreover, it is clear that supporting this industry counteracts the very purpose of the EO’s mission to support resilient fisheries and protected ocean resources due to the direct, unavoidable harm it causes to sustainable fisheries, fishing communities, and the marine and coastal ecosystems on which they rely. It is entirely possible and reasonable to meet seafood demand in the U.S. without destructive offshore finfish farming and without posing risks to domestic fisheries.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit these comments.

Sincerely,
{user_data~First name~A concerned constituent} {user_data~Last name}
{user_data~City}, {user_data~State} {user_data~Postcode}

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