Senator Murkowski Reacts to Administration's Offshore Aquaculture Proposal

SENATOR MURKOWSKI REACTS TO ADMINISTRATION'S OFFSHORE AQUACULTURE PROPOSAL

Sen. Lisa Murkowski today said that the Administration's proposal to begin the permitting of offshore aquaculture in Federal waters, as announced today, is flawed and should be a source of concern for anyone who cares about coastal communities and the environment.

"Despite having been years in development, the bill released today clearly shows NOAA's failure to communicate effectively and consult adequately with communities and organizations concerned about the implications of fish farming," Sen. Murkowski said. The Administration's proposal, the National Offshore Aquaculture Act, calls for development of regulations to permit fish farming in federal waters and intends to quintuple fish farming by 2025. Ocean resources would be divided into privatized zones with renewable leases good for 10 years.

Sen. Murkowski introduced legislation (S.796) earlier this year to prohibit fish farming in federal waters until Congress acts to ensure that every federal agency involved does the necessary analyses (in areas such as disease control, engineering, pollution prevention, biological and genetic impacts). She said that the new proposal does not contain the firm guidelines necessary to evaluate potential environmental and economic risks and how they will be addressed.

"The fact that members of Congress and local communities were not adequately consulted in drafting this proposal is troubling. While the bill calls for consultation with coastal states, it does nothing to mandate cooperation," Murkowski said. "If we are going to put into practice a plan that could very well affect the livelihoods and health of our coastal communities, then we certainly need to be working with those communities before we act." Among other requirements, Sen. Murkowski's legislation would require approval from the regional fishery management councils before aquaculture permitting could take place.

In allowing foreign entities to establish fish farms in U.S. waters, the proposal is silent on whether such entities will or should follow U.S. law on such things as labor standards, minimum wage laws, and Jones Act requirements. NOAA is also proposing that offshore aquaculture permitting be exempt from provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which controls current fishing activities and is the basic law providing for conservation and environmental protection of fish species. This would not only loosen requirements for fish farm site permits, and remove regional fishery management councils from the decision structure, it could lead to a laxness in considering effects of fish farming on nearby or similar natural stocks.

Sen. Murkowski also noted that however the issue is resolved in the future, offshore aquaculture has the potential to significantly affect the quality of the human environment and any proposal should be subject to a Legislative Environmental Impact Statement (LEIS) as provided by Section 1506 of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

"I urge the agency to recognize that this requirement does apply to this plan, and to voluntarily choose to prepare such an impact statement, which is required to be presented to Congress within 30 days of the time that a legislative proposal is received. While lacking the scoping process that is integral to other types of environmental impact statements, such a process should at least begin to identify the concerns the agency has addressed and those it has ignored," Murkowski said.

http://murkowski.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=238549